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Carys Wren.

"What exactly was he looking for?"

"His biological parents."

I don't look up.

"And he thought Carys was connected."

"It appears that way."

"Did he find anything?"

"No."

"Nothing?"

"Every request either failed or came back incomplete."

I turn another page. Instead of documents, there's an error message.

FILE UNAVAILABLE

The next page.

ARCHIVE CORRUPTED

Then another.

RECORD NOT FOUND

Molly folds her arms.

"Those records existed last month."

"They vanished?"

"Overnight."

"Digital records don't just disappear."

"I know."

"Paper copies?"

She gives me a humorless smile.

"That's the really interesting part."

She reaches into a cabinet and removes a banker box. Inside are old county ledgers. Real paper. Real ink. She opens one carefully. A section has been cut away with something sharp. Not torn. Not damaged.

Removed.

Every page surrounding it is intact. Only the information relating to one adoption is missing.

Someone took the time to excise history itself.

"When did you discover this?"