The last box is the one with the plates, so you carry it up yourself, three flights in the September heat, and set it on the landing to dig out your key. The envelope is on the mat. Cream paper, no stamp, no postmark. Your name in block capitals, in pencil, pressed so hard the letters show through the back.
You know the hand. You knew it in Chattanooga and in Asheville, and nobody has this address.
One page inside:
"Richmond. Good choice; the river will help you sleep. Your deadbolt is builder's grade and the last tenant's boyfriend still has a key. I'll change it if you ask. Look out the front window before you decide anything. W."
The front window gives onto Floyd Avenue. Across the street, under the one streetlight that works, a grey pickup sits with the engine off and the cab light on, and the man in the driver's seat has taken his cap off and set it on the dash so you can see his face. Sandy hair flattened from the hat. A chipped front tooth when he sees you see him. He lifts one hand, palm out, rolls the window down, and speaks up, not loud.
"Evening, Rabbit."
"Fourteen months ago you hired me to find a man who took your savings. I found him in three days and didn't send a bill."
His forearm rests on the window frame; a carpenter's pencil sits behind his ear.
"I've stood in front of every door you've had since. I haven't opened one. Check your old locks if you doubt it. I don't go in where I'm not asked."
"Dustin Pemberton is in Biloxi and he stays in Biloxi. That's me. The lease that cleared with no references, that's me too. There's a letter every time you run because I'd rather you know I'm here than lie awake wondering."
The cab light clicks off. His shape stays where it is, one arm on the sill.
"Say my name out that window and I come up, change your lock, and you decide the rest with the door open. Pull the blind and I drive back to Knoxville, and the next letter tells you where I am, not where you are."
Slower:
"Six years I've found people for money. You're the only one I wanted to be found by. Pick, Rabbit. I'll wait out here as long as it takes."