Chapter 4: The Second

I woke on the museum sofa under a waxed canvas jacket that smelled like cedar.

Gray light came through the blinds.

The power was back on, and the heater ticked.

The reading room was empty.

The ledger sat on the table under its cloth, exactly where I had left it.

On top of it lay a note, in square handwriting, on the back of a lumber receipt.

"Gone to the mill. Lock the strap. I'll come at ten. G."

I held the jacket against my face for a ridiculous second.

Then I stood up, straightened my cardigan, and remembered what I had done on that table.

My face went hot.

I buckled the iron strap over the ledger and put it in the vault.

At eight o'clock the front bell rang.

I went out to the lobby with my hair in a knot and my glasses crooked.

Edna Clavering stood just inside the door, in a tweed blazer, with her reading glasses on their chain.

Beside her was a man I had never seen.

He was lean and tidy, mid-forties, with sleek black hair.

His camel overcoat did not belong in Harrow Falls.

"Thora, this is Oskar Ferris," Edna said. "He sells real estate."

"And I sit on the Hallsson trust," Oskar said, with a bright, polite smile. "I'm so sorry to come unannounced."

He took my hand.

His palm was dry and cool, and I did not like the way he held on.

"I'm told the Founders ledger has come out of its bundle," he said.

"I opened it yesterday," I said.

"And read it?"

"A little."

"Of course." His smile widened. "Then you've met the page."

The word "page" lay on the air like a dropped glass.

Edna's eyes met mine across his shoulder.

They were very steady, and she gave me the smallest nod.

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