“All we can do is try.” Sacha didn’t look super confident either. I was glad she was with me, an actual grownup, with her perfume and smart handbag and nice shoes, all the things it never occurred to me to acquire. I was thinking, who was I for anyone to listen to me? A kid, a nobody.

And once we got inside and were shown into the conference room, none of them—Larry, Doug, Ed, Boone—looked anything but peeved to be there, wondering what I was trying to pull.

“Come on in,” Ed said. “Please. Coffee?”

“Sorry, I hope we’re not too late. Parking. Oh, nice view,” I said, indicating a patch of the bay visible in one window. No one said anything. I took a seat next to Boone and across from Doug, who seemed especially annoyed that his unpaid intern was now calling meetings. I hadn’t seen him and Ed side by side for some time, and I was struck again by their resemblance, both of them fair, slim, and well turned out. Although today Ed wore a business suit, while Doug had selected some leather items from his closet.

No one spoke to us, not even to say hello. Larry was at the far end of the table, going through his phone, improving every shining hour. I was aware of his cologne, a subtle, heady scent that was probably called something like Potentate or War Lord. He turned the phone off and put it away, waiting, Boone was leaning back in his chair, not looking at me.

“Well,” Ed said. “Let’s get started. Carla, you wanted to share some information about the Mathias poems.”

“I want to discuss them, yes.”

“Do you have them?” Doug asked.

“No.” I heard a muttering start up. “But I know where they are.”

“Perhaps you’d like to tell us.” Doug again. He really didn’t have the most winning ways.

I tried to get a breath all the way in me. “I know where they are. I’ve seen them. I have not removed or in any way disturbed them.”

“That’s great, but—”

“They’re still where Viridian put them. I think she wanted me to find them.”

Larry said, “Excuse me, that’s a nice sentiment, but they aren’t yours to make decisions about. If they’re the real thing, like you say. If you have them, you should turn them over. They’re part of Viridian’s estate, they belong to Boone.”

Now it was my turn not to look at Boone. “They aren’t his yet,” I said. “Technically. Not as long as she’s alive.” I hated to hear myself saying it. “I just meant, it’s so sad, and nobody knows anything for sure.”

“What’s your point,” Ed said.