“Mom.”
Ruby leaned closer.
“Grandma wrote that?”
Claire nodded.
Nathaniel waited.
Eventually Claire picked it up.
The letter was dated twelve years earlier.
Claire read silently.
Her face changed as she moved down the page.
“What does it say?” Ruby asked.
Claire hesitated.
Then she read the important part aloud.
“‘Mr. Graves, I am writing because the tenants at 114 Aldridge were promised an opportunity to purchase the building collectively before any outside sale. We raised the required deposit, and your office confirmed the arrangement. We have now been told those records cannot be found.’”
Claire stopped.
Nathaniel continued quietly.
“Your mother organized the tenants.”
Claire looked at him.
“I knew that.”
“What you may not know is that I agreed to the sale.”
Claire frowned.
“To whom?”
“To the tenants.”
Silence filled the office.
Nathaniel removed another document.
It was a memorandum bearing his signature.
Twelve years earlier, Nathaniel Graves had approved the sale of 114 Aldridge Street to a cooperative created by the residents.
