“He’ll use every threat he’s got to get your signature on that paper before noon Friday.”

“Can he take the house without me signing?”

“Not legally, no,” Vance said.

“That’s exactly why he needs your pen on that document.”

“A quitclaim signed under duress is void,” I said, repeating what he’d told me before.

“Only if you can prove the duress to a judge,” Vance said.

“Without third-party witnesses, it’s just your word against a regional director in a nice suit.”

Sarah was waiting in the passenger seat of my old Buick in the strip mall lot, jangling the car keys in her right jacket pocket.