I saved the attorney’s email confirming the dates.
That night I checked the house’s floor plans again.
The basement measurements were wrong by almost four feet.
Behind the blocked doorway under the stairs lay enough space for a small storage room.
I could not prove it contained a cabinet, but I knew why Iris kept asking whether the renovations reached that wall.
The next morning, I received an unsigned letter in my mailbox.
It contained one sentence typed on plain office paper.
“Stop asking about Arthur Vale before he remembers your daughter.”
Chapter 8: The Boundary
I drove to Sophie’s school after receiving the letter.
I did not tell her about a threatening message she could not control.
Instead, I spoke privately to her mother and arranged a temporary change in pickup plans.
We agreed Sophie would stay in Knoxville until I understood the risk.
Then I reported the letter to Officer Porter and shared the new information about Arthur Vale.
Porter recorded the threat and asked for the envelope.
She also recommended that I avoid confronting Vale or attempting to investigate his property alone.
I followed that advice.
The house had already given me more questions than I knew how to answer.
I moved my renovation supplies out of the dining room and asked Luis to suspend work around the basement doorway.
Iris came over that afternoon, but this time she stopped at the sidewalk.
She held no phone.
“I heard somebody threatened you,” she said.
“Was it Arthur Vale?”
She looked away.
“Arthur doesn’t send letters.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he prefers people to deliver them in person.”
I asked why she had defended him to Margaret’s probate attorney.
Iris sat down on the low stone wall beside the driveway.
“He told me Margaret had stolen something from him.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed he knew where Leah worked.”
She rubbed both hands together.
“I knew he was dangerous, but I thought giving him what he wanted would end things.”
“What was he looking for?”
“A notebook.”
“The one Mara Voss wanted?”
Iris nodded.
“Margaret copied records from Henley, but Mara kept the originals.”
“Why would Margaret store them here?”
“She was afraid the county would destroy them.”
Iris raised her eyes.
“I never meant for you to become involved.”
“You called the police and accused me of hiding dangerous material.”
“I hoped the officers would make you open the wall.”
“Why not tell them about Vale?”
