Chapter 51
Richard Black sat alone in his office, the door closed, the noise from earlier finally settled. He poured himself a drink he didn’t really want, more out of habit than thirst, and let his eyes drift toward the cabinet behind his desk.
Something was off.
He couldn’t place it at first, just a feeling, the kind that came from decades of being a careful man, a man who noticed when things weren’t exactly where he left them. He set the glass down and walked around the desk, crouching slightly to study the cabinet.
The lock was fine. Nothing forced, nothing broken. But the angle of the handle, the way the second drawer sat just slightly less flush than the others, that was wrong. He always left it perfectly aligned. Always.
He opened it and went through the folders methodically, o
