Then handed it to her.
“You want this?”
Louise held it in her palm.
The shackle had been severed cleanly.
“I don’t know.”
Tom sat beside her.
“My wife kept everything.”
“What kind of everything?”
“Receipts.”
“Birthday cards.”
“Wrapping paper she thought was too nice to throw away.”
Louise smiled.
“Harold kept screws.”
Tom laughed.
“What kind?”
“All kinds.”
“Old jars in the garage.”
“Every screw he ever removed from anything went into those jars.”
“He would say, ‘Might need that.’”
“Did he?”
“Almost never.”
Tom smiled.
“My wife kept twist ties.”
Louise laughed quietly.
Then looked at the lock.
“When Harold died, everybody told me not to make big decisions for a year.”
“I waited eighteen months.”
“Then I sold the house anyway.”
“Too many rooms.”
“Too much yard.”
“Too many stairs.”
Tom nodded.
“Same reason I’m clearing my unit.”
“My daughter says I’m storing things because I don’t know how to decide.”
“Is she right?”
“Yes.”
Louise smiled.
“They usually are when we don’t want them to be.”
Tom looked toward unit 170.
“What’s in the trunk?”
Louise’s expression softened.
“Everything ridiculous.”
Tom waited.
“Our wedding cake knife.”
“Letters Harold wrote when he was stationed in Germany.”
“The first curtains from our first house.”
“You kept curtains?”
“I told you.”
“Ridiculous.”
Tom smiled.
“What else?”
“His woodworking plans.”
“Baby shoes from our son.”
“He died as an infant.”
Tom’s smile disappeared.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
Louise looked toward the unit.
“Time doesn’t decide what matters.”
“No.”
Tom said.
“It doesn’t.”
Susan Caldwell arrived in a dark SUV.
She was fifty-two, wearing black slacks and a blue blouse.
She moved quickly.
Megan met her halfway across the lot.
They spoke for several minutes.
Susan’s expression changed as she reviewed the printouts.
Then she walked directly toward Louise.
“Mrs. Harrison?”
Louise stood.
“Yes.”
“I’m Susan Caldwell.”
“I oversee district operations for Cedar Grove.”
Louise nodded.
Susan looked at the broken lock.
Then the auction tags.
Her jaw tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
Louise said nothing.
Susan continued.
“I’ve reviewed enough to know this unit should never have entered auction processing.”
Ray had come from the office.
He approached.
“Susan, we need to be careful before we say that.”
She looked at him.
“I’ve seen the payment ledger.”
“The transfer log.”
“The returned notices.”
“And the migration record.”
Ray crossed his arms.
“I acted based on the active account.”
Susan asked:
“Did you run payment reconciliation before cutting the lock?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“The system showed three months delinquent.”
“Did you review returned mail?”
“No.”
“Did you look at the payment history?”
“The unit history showed no payments.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Ray’s face hardened.
Susan continued.