Judge Gomez’s wooden gavel struck sharply as the bailiffs stepped forward to carry out the arrest warrant.

The booking clerk stamped three copies of the felony commitment order and slid the top yellow page into an aluminum file tray.

Teresa’s defense attorney, Mr.

Vance, straightened his silk tie and crossed the polished linoleum toward Mariana and me.

He laid a blue legal folder flat on the high laminate counter beside the fingerprint scanner.

“The magistrate set bail at seventy-five thousand dollars,” Vance said.

Mariana looked down at the paper without touching it.