Major Hannah Nolan Comes Home to Chesapeake and Discovers Nineteen Thousand Dollars Gone

I took him past the kitchen toward the back bedrooms.

The drywall around the hall closet frame was scraped raw, with fresh patches of white spackle that hadn’t been sanded or painted.

Fixed straight across the seam of the wooden door was a heavy steel latch, bolted through the frame with four thick hex screws.

From the steel latch hung a heavy brass padlock, its solid body shining against the rough white spackle.

Officer Bell moved closer and pinched the brass shackle between two gloved fingers.