“Then why is there still one in that room with a bracket under it?”

He put the check back in his coat pocket, folded, neat, and buttoned it.

“Elena,” he said.

“Detective Ramirez.

She came to my door at midnight with a consent form and a very flat voice.”

I hadn’t told him her first name.

I hadn’t told him her rank.

“How do you know what she does?”