The missing pay entry arrived wrapped in a warning.
I read the warning first. Someone in Cassian's office had put it on top, and apparently I remained easy to direct with paper.
The quarry access strip appeared in the second paragraph. Correcting its boundary would remove a route the house used. Loads would have to pass along the longer road while a different agreement was arranged. The office had included a small map with the disputed stretch shaded in red.
Until then, I had understood the benefit as a line in Nessa's case. Here it was wide enough for a cart.
I spread the map across my desk. A cup held one corner down. My good hand held the other.
The shorter route cut across the boundary she had copied correctly before Cedric accused her of falsifying it. Her dismissal had made the unwanted copy easier to dismiss too. Not quite the same thing as destroying it, as the house was now discovering.
Under the map lay the final pay reference.
