So, on Monday, I went back to the furniture store where I had been researching and ordered a new one. Nothing sophisticated. Dark brown leather, electric footrest, good lumbar support. The kind of chair in which a 55-year-old man can fall asleep while saying he’s watching television. It should be a surprise. A pleasant surprise. That was all.
Luis pointed under the old armchair. The thin black fabric covering the bottom had come loose near one of the corners. It probably happened when they leaned her over to go through the doorway into the room. At first, I thought he had found a remote control. Daniel lost at least three remote controls over the years, and each time he accused me of moving them. So I crouched down.
There was a brown envelope of documents stuck between the wooden frame and the metal tilting mechanism. He wasn’t free. It wasn’t something that had slipped down the cushions. It was stuck right there. Several strips of gray adhesive tape crisscrossed the envelope and wrapped around one of the wooden supports. Luis stretched out his hand towards him.
“Don’t touch it!” He stopped immediately. I don’t know why I spoke so harshly. Perhaps because of the tape. That’s what bothered me first. If I had seen an envelope fall inside the armchair, I might have assumed that Daniel had somehow dropped it. But nobody accidentally sticks documents inside furniture with tape.
Louise looked at me. “Do you want us to put the armchair back on the floor?”
“Just hold it for a second.” I grabbed my cell phone. I photographed the underside of the armchair from several angles, including the envelope exactly where it was. I wasn’t thinking about exams. Not yet. I was thinking that Daniel would probably tell me that there was some perfectly common reason for that. And I wanted to be able to show him exactly how ridiculous his perfectly ordinary reason seemed.
So, I removed the tape myself. The envelope was thick. No name on the front, no address, nothing.
Louise said, “Do you want us to wait?”
I stood up with it in my hands. “No. You are free to go.”
“He is sure?”
“I am sure.”
