Chapter 12: The Locked Drawer

The townhouse was empty at four in the afternoon.

I still had my key.

Teo stood on the stoop with his coat open and a pistol in his hand.

"Ten minutes," he said. "If I see his car, I knock twice."

He put the pistol in my palm and folded my fingers over it.

"In case you need to say something loud."

I went in alone.

The house smelled of lemon polish and my own perfume, and none of it felt like mine.

Franklin's study was at the end of the hall.

I had never gone in without knocking.

I pushed the door open, crossed the carpet to the desk, and tried the bottom drawer.

It was locked.

I looked at the lock for a moment, and then I remembered the spare key he kept in a ceramic dish by the front door.

I had cleaned that dish every week for four years.

The drawer slid open on a cold smell of paper.

It was full of envelopes.

Dozens of them, tied in bundles with rubber bands, and every single one had my name on the front.

*Dr. Audrey Stansfield.*

I sat down on the floor.

The first bundle was from the state medical board.

The earliest letter was dated the month after our wedding.

*Dr. Stansfield, we are reviewing your file in light of new information. Please contact our office to schedule a hearing.*

The next one said the same thing.

The third said that if I did not reply, the board would assume I did not wish to be heard.

I opened them one by one with hands that were perfectly steady.

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