“I asked you a question, Thomas,” Spencer said again, lifting his eyes to the lawyer.

“What’s the total value of the liquid transfer?”

Thomas didn’t look at Patricia.

He took one printed sheet out of the manila folder, creased it neatly down the middle, and pushed the printed list of financial accounts across the polished table straight to me.

Two hundred fifty thousand dollars, followed by a lot number on Lake Norman with eleven hundred feet of shoreline.

I had to read the second line twice before it felt real.