North Carolina Boundary Lines Drawn on an Oak Desk

“And they took the duplicate ledger from my shelf last night.”

Elaine set her laptop bag on my wooden kitchen table and unzipped it with a sharp tug.

“They took the physical paper copy,” she said, her voice carrying that rapid-fire clarity I had come to expect from her days in Washington.

“That was our only copy,” I said, sitting down across from her.continue reading …