“I need an affidavit signed in front of a notary public,” I said.

“I need you to swear under oath that you never co-signed the Oakridge quitclaim deed, and that you never gave him permission to tie my personal accounts to your Willow Lane mortgage.”

Ruth gazed past my shoulder toward the front window, where the town traffic was rolling by.

“If I sign that paper,” Ruth said, “the county prosecutor’s going to take everything he’s got.”

“He took forty-two thousand dollars from me yesterday afternoon,” I said.