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“I might,” Birdie agrees. “But I won’t.”

I can picture her at the table, one hand tucked into her back pocket to keep it away from the book. The sight of Grandma’s name inside the cover would have stopped her as surely as it stopped me when she described it. Grandma kept some of her favorites on the shelves above the children’s nook. She repaired their covers and reread them until we knew which ones would make her laugh.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” I look toward the office door. Rick walked through it less than half an hour ago, leaving us with a car I haven’t seen and a story I don’t believe. “Stay with Harris.”

“You couldn’t make him leave if you tried,” Birdie says. “Call when you’re on your way.”

I end the call and reach for my bag. Andrei is already taking out his phone.

“I’ll tell Drew we’re returning to Aldermere,” he says.

My phone rings, and Linda Park’s name appears on the screen before I can respond to him.

“Cassie?” Linda’s voice comes through the speaker, low. Office noise hums behind her, then a door closes. “Are you alone?”

“Andrei’s with me. You met him at the bank.”

“I remember.” She sucks in a breath. “Rick ordered Connor’s office cleared this morning.”

I grip the phone harder. “Cleared how?”

“Facilities brought boxes to the floor. His desk, shelves, everything. They’ve started packing, but I asked them to wait while I checked which materials belong to our department.”

Across the room, Andrei’s expression changes. He comes closer, though he leaves the phone in my hand.

“Rick was just here,” I tell Linda. “Andrei told him to preserve Connor’s records.”

“I thought you should know before the boxes leave.” Her voice tightens. “I haven’t seen an order from the police to hold the room, and Rick says the space needs to be reassigned. Connor hasn’t even been gone a week.”

“Did Rick give the order before he left for the vineyard?”

“I don’t know. Facilities showed up while he was out. There’s more.” Paper moves near her phone. “I found a list of loan numbers in the work queue Connor was reviewing. They aren’t the same as the four files I mentioned earlier. I copied the numbers, and I want you to see them.”

“I’m coming,” I tell her.

Linda lowers her voice further. “Call when you reach the building. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

The line goes dead. I keep the phone against my ear for another moment. Rick sat across from me and promised to preserve Connor’s records while people at the bank boxed up his office. He could claim he gave the order earlier. He could claim facilities misunderstood him. I can already hear how reasonable he’ll sound.

Andrei calls Reid while I tell Birdie that we have to go to Seattle first. Birdie is frustrated for me, but she agrees to keep Grandma’s book untouched.

Andrei finishes with Reid as I end the call. “Counsel is drafting the preservation request,” he tells me. “Reid will add the office and every box removed from it.”

“How long before Rick gets it?”

“Reid’s working on it now.” Andrei picks up his jacket. “We’re leaving.”

Cole is at the administration building entrance when we come downstairs. He follows us to the SUV and gets into a second vehicle, leaving the passenger seat beside Andrei for me. I put on my seat belt, then take Connor’s book from my bag and open it to the numbers. The two letters beneath them seem more accusing now than they did last night.

Rick recognized the third number. He said he needed to check the others. Then he told me Connor might have committed fraud and left with a bag of cash. If I had never opened this book, would Rick have told me any of that today?

Andrei drives through the gates while I call the detective again. I reach his voicemail and leave Linda’s information, Rick’s account of the car, and a request that he call me as soon as possible. I keep the message short enough that he can follow it without listening three times.

When I put the phone away, Andrei reaches across the console and turns Connor’s book so he can see the page at a stoplight.

“Linda may have the same five numbers,” he says.

“If she does, Rick can’t pretend he has no idea why Connor wrote them down.”