My dad told us he was a mid-level manager at a parts distributor

there’s a phone number and a short phrase: “Burn after reading.”

I blink. “What the hell is Protocol Sigma-12?”

Ellie grabs the letter from me. “Is this a joke?”

But Mom shakes her head. “No,” she says quietly. “I always knew something didn’t add up. He’d be gone for days sometimes and tell me he was at a ‘conference in Kansas.’ But he’d come back with continue reading …