I wanted to argue, was going to show him the photo of the coin from Grandmother Iris's music box, and decided against it. "There's no record of Captain Reading leaving town, then? Maybe making a few privateer voyages after the fact?" I was reaching for straws that never existed and I knew it. But damn it, defeat? Tasted like old dust and bitterness.

"You know the answer to that," Oliver said, snarky enough I could have choked him. "Nor could he have gone to sea at well over ...