What were they looking for, the people who had opened these boxes? This envelope? Chisholm stared at it, mesmerized Ethically, he should report such a matter to Sheldon Wright, now responsible for the Garfield Tate archives.

But his instinct to probe the mystery was too strong. What lay in that oblong shape beneath the paper? He had to know. To remove it without leaving a trace, he needed a solvent, which he didn't have. He'd have to use his knife and somehow camouflage the slits along the seams. Anyway, from what Sheldon Wright had hinted, it wasn't likely the archives would be disturbed again for a long time, if ever. Upstairs, in the better light, he ran his knifepoint cautiously along the rectangular shape, inserted the blade between the paper and the hidden object, and levered them gently apart.

It was an envelope. A buff envelope of the kind used by government offices. As he eased it free, he realized someone had taken time and trouble to gouge out a space for it in the cardboard cover.

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