Chapter 147

• I was standing behind the counter with a pen in my hand, trying to remember whether I had already signed the last invoice, when Claudia called my name from the front door. Her voice had that half-distracted tone she used when her hands were full. I looked up and saw her carrying the mail, a loose bundle of envelopes and a couple of small padded packages balanced against her hip.
• She dropped them on the counter, muttering something about the delivery guy being in a hurry, and went back to helping a customer by the display wall. I started flipping through the stack without thinking, the way you do when most of it will probably be bills or catalogues we never asked for.
• Halfway through the pile, there was an envelope that didn’t look like the others. No return address, just my name written in handwriting that looked careful but a little uneven, like the person had taken their time but still felt nervous. The paper was thicker than usual, not glossy or bright white, more like the kind you buy when you want to make something feel deliberate.