“He swore under oath that he paid every county land tax installment himself out of his own money since 2013.”

I took the navy carbon receipts out of my canvas pouch and laid them beside his court papers.

“I have eleven years of Navy Federal wire transfers showing thirty-six hundred dollars sent directly from my pay,” I said.

Daniel picked up my wire receipt from 2014 and held it close to the warm glow of the lamp on the table.

“The county records tell two different stories for the exact same tax years,” Daniel said.