An identical letter arrives to the residences of Knox Greyfriar (in Kent) and Devlin Matthews (in London). The letters in a plain envelope are molested almost beyond the point of legibility. So much postage has been afixed to the front that the addresses are barely visible. The corners are so dog-eared, and the whole of them so water-stained and trodden on and mishandled that it is very clear these letters have spent a great deal of time and effort to arrive.
And by what must be magical fate it arrives at its dual destinations on precisely the same afternoon.
June 17, 2008
Dear Master Devlin Mattews & Mister Knox T. Greyfriar,
This letter has been sent to you in accordance to the wishes of the late Lucretia Santoya Mattews, which she stipulated in her final will and testament kept on file here at the offices of Gershwin, Drinkwater & Haggarty, esquires. The letter was to be mailed upon Master Devlin's coming of age at 17 years.
You are requested by the deceased to meet one another in the reading library of the British Museum in London at 8pm one week after you receive the letter. Once you arrive, you have been directed by the deceased to procure the collected works of Sophecles and turn to page 444.
The deceased also wishes to extend her apologies and deepest love to you both.
Signed,
Ms Ida K. Gershwin
Attorney
A Mother's Secret [Knox Greyfriar, Devlin Mathews] August 25