“Give me twenty minutes to print the final affidavits.”

By eleven the wind had picked up across town, carrying the far-off rumble of a coming storm as I turned into the police station lot.

Detective Sarah Mitchell met me at the security desk on the second floor and took me back to her corner desk.

A gray plastic inbox next to her computer held three thick manila files marked with the county case number.

I sat down and set my black fourteen-page binder right on her blotter.