JULIAN
The report arrived on Thursday.
Not in the way of something anticipated, not in the specific and scheduled way of a man who had been waiting for information he knew was coming and had prepared himself accordingly. It arrived the way the second report had arrived and the first before it, through Richard, in the specific and careful protocol they had established in November when it had become clear that the information being gathered was the kind that required a chain of custody even before it was information about anything actionable, simply as a matter of hygiene. Richard received it from the firm. Richard's assistant delivered the sealed envelope to the office. The sealed envelope went into the secondary drawer of Julian's desk, which had a lock he did not use for anything else.
