Ink on Borrowed Hands

45. Failed academic, gifted authenticator. Can spot a forgery by feel — which means he also knows how to make one. The IP address used to open the fraudulent LLC account traces to 118 Merchant Street, where Simon works four days a week. He claims the shop's WiFi is unsecured and anyone on the sidewalk could have used it. He has a degree in archival studies from UMass and spent two years at a document authentication firm in Boston before being let go under circumstances he describes as 'a departmental restructuring.' Former colleagues at that firm describe it differently.

67. Former Yale research librarian who owns the building at 118 Merchant Street outright — meaning she controls the WiFi router and all network infrastructure. She knew Arthur Fenn personally: he occasionally brought lighthouse-related historical documents to Greystone for appraisal, and she had assessed the Preservation Society's 2018 deed transfer when Fenn asked her to look it over. She is thus one of a handful of people who knew the precise legal status of the Caretaker's Cottage before Fenn died. She told the AG's investigators she never discussed Fenn's estate with anyone after his death.

31. Her shop at 12 Harbor Walk — half a block from Greystone — is where the stranger with the legal documents was repeatedly seen in February 2023. Isla left Bellwick's marine biology program abruptly in 2019, and the reason she has never disclosed publicly is that she was under review for submitting a grant application containing falsified field data. The review was quietly closed when she withdrew. She has a demonstrated familiarity with document fabrication under pressure. Her Undertow Coffee WiFi password has been 'drowning' since the day she opened — she claims this is ironic. Three regulars place the stranger at her window table, and Isla told investigators she 'never noticed him.'

22. Creative writing senior and Undertow barista who writes everything down in Moleskine notebooks — he was working every February afternoon shift when the stranger appeared at the window table. He initially told a classmate he had 'detailed notes' from that period. When the AG's investigators asked to see his notebooks from February 2023, he produced them — but the February entries were unusually sparse compared to his surrounding months, with several pages showing evidence of removal. Elliot says he 'edits for privacy' when people might be identifiable. The investigators noted the discrepancy without resolution.

49. Amateur genealogist who has traced half of Caldmere's family trees back to the 1700s. In early 2023, she was engaged by the Caldmere Historical Preservation Society to compile a full archival record of Widow's Point Lighthouse — a project that required her to research Arthur Fenn's tenure and, incidentally, his family background. Her research would have surfaced Clement Doyle's existence and his 2019 death date. She completed a preliminary report in January 2023 and submitted it to the Preservation Society. She told investigators her research stayed within the library and was never shared informally.