“Then get legal advice,” I answered.
“I’m not your attorney.”
He inhaled sharply.
“She told me it was just a letter about a contest.”
I gripped the phone.
“Who told you?”
“You know who.”
“I’m not discussing this with you privately.”
He swore and hung up.
I wrote down the call time and sent the information to Evelyn.
The temptation to call Felix back was almost unbearable.
I wanted him to admit every detail while I held the phone.
But a confession made in a family argument could become another disputed story.
An investigator with a proper record was better than my anger.
For once I managed to trust the slower path.
Felix eventually spoke to the postal inspector with an attorney present.
His account was not a complete confession at first.
He said Celeste had called him late on Thursday and asked him to retrieve a letter that contained sensitive information about a student.
She claimed the information had been mailed by mistake and would cause terrible embarrassment if opened.
Felix admitted driving past my house twice.
He said the mailbox door would not open because somebody had added a lock to the latch years earlier.
“So you damaged it,” Evelyn said.
“I used a screwdriver.”
“Did you take the Sutton letter?”
“Yes.”
“Did you read it?”
“Only enough to see the dates and the meeting notice.”
He insisted Celeste had promised the envelope belonged to her organization.
His attorney reminded him to answer what he knew rather than guess what Celeste believed.
Felix acknowledged that he understood he was removing mail from another person’s property.
He also said he had handed the contents to Celeste at her kitchen table and discarded the envelope near the station.
The account connected the car, the damaged box, and the missing letter, but investigators still needed to corroborate key details.
I learned about the interview through official channels rather than by confronting Felix myself.
I sat at the kitchen table and listened without interrupting.
The small brass flag had begun this story.
Now the person who broke it was finally describing why.
Felix said Celeste had paid him two hundred dollars for the errand.
She described the money as reimbursement for gas and a late-night emergency.
He had accepted it because he owed rent and believed his aunt would help him find steadier work.
When he returned with the letter, she read it twice and called somebody on a private number.
Felix heard her say that a meeting had to be canceled before a committee began asking questions.
