Owen sat on the floor and unfolded a program dated October 1998.
On the back, in Helen’s distinctive handwriting, was a sentence Daniel had never noticed.
“Nora knows where the second book went.”
Daniel read the words twice.
Across the street, Nora’s porch light flicked on despite the bright afternoon sun.
Chapter 4 — Three Rings
Daniel waited until Owen finished his homework before he walked to number eight.
He knocked once, waited, and then knocked again.
The terrier barked behind the door, and a chain rattled.
Nora opened the door only wide enough to show one blue eye and the edge of her cane.
“Frank has been here,” she whispered.
Daniel glanced over his shoulder.
“He was arrested this morning,” he said.
Nora shook her head slowly.
“Not since this morning.”
Daniel felt a cold pressure settle beneath his ribs.
He told her about the surviving address, the choir program, and the note from Helen.
Nora closed her eye, and for a moment he thought she might faint.
Then she unhooked the chain and let him enter.
The house smelled of lemon furniture polish and the soup she had always served with hard bread.
A television murmured in the living room, but the sound was low enough for Daniel to hear a clock ticking in the hallway.
Nora pointed to the kitchen table.
On it sat an empty cream-colored envelope and a sheet of pale blue paper.
“I gave Frank the sealed envelope on Sunday night,” she said.
Daniel stared at her.
“Why would you give him a letter meant for me?”
“I did not know that he would burn it,” she answered.
Her left hand trembled as she pushed a glass of water toward him.
She explained that a stranger had delivered the letter to her house on Friday and asked her to pass it to Daniel discreetly.
The stranger had said his name was Simon Vale and claimed to have worked with Helen at Bellwether.
Nora had recognized his voice from the old choir offices, although she had not seen him for years.
On Sunday evening Frank arrived with groceries, saw the letter on the counter, and became visibly upset.
He told Nora that the sender was an impostor connected to a scheme that had once ruined several families.
He offered to give Daniel the letter himself so that Nora would not have to walk across the street.
“I believed him because I wanted to believe he was helping,” she said.
Daniel felt anger rise, but Nora looked so ashamed that he could not turn it into an accusation.
