He spent eight hundred dollars building an isolation box into his own house three months before she ever called.”

Claire gazed down at the signature, its thick cursive letters bold and smooth on the white grid of the form.

Next to her monitor, the brass desk clock ticked away in a steady, even rhythm.

Claire sat staring at the utility record with Thomas’s name signed across the installation work order.

Pendelton was up on his feet before the judge had even settled his glasses, and he launched in without waiting to be recognized.

“Your Honor, the wiretap statute couldn’t be clearer.