Chapter 4: The Box at Dawn

The courier set the box on the studio threshold and held out a receipt for Jasper to sign.

The label said Callahan Group, contents returned.

Jasper signed his name without opening it.

'You're not going to check it?' the courier asked.

'It's my stuff,' Jasper said. 'It'll still be my stuff inside.'

He carried the box to the worktable and set it between the scanner and last night's cold coffee.

Nolan looked up from the legal pad he'd been filling since six.

'That's the box,' he said.

'That's the box.'

Jasper took out his phone and photographed the sealed carton, then the shipping label, then the inventory sheet taped inside the lid.

Nolan watched him do it without comment.

'Chain of custody,' Jasper said.

'You've done this before.'

'No. I've watched other people do it and wished I'd thought of it.'

He cut the tape with a box cutter from the drawer.

Nolan lifted out the framed photo of Jasper's parents first.

He set it face-up on the shelf above the scanner, then started sorting the rest into two piles without being asked.

Jasper let him.

He watched which pile the man chose for the brass pen, and which for the ceramic mug.

Near the bottom was the blazer Fiona had returned, folded once with a dry-cleaning tag still attached.

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