“Forty-five thousand dollars,” Judge Vance said, reading.

“Against a house with a forty-dollar duffel bag repair sitting on the kitchen table.”

“It’s a misunderstanding,” Derek said.

“It was only temporary.”

Behind him, Jenna Nolan, my sister-in-law, sat with her phone facedown on her knee and her arms crossed.

“I didn’t know about the affidavit,” she said.

No one answered her.

Douglas shut the folder but kept a finger on the page.