“I’m parked on Birch Street in Pine Ridge,” I said.

“Turn that car around and drive back to Oak Creek this minute,” he said.

I could hear the sharp rustle of heavy tax folders sliding across his desk at the other end.

“I just walked out of four fourteen Birch Street,” I said.

Gene went silent for four full seconds, a pause so unusual for my uncle that I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the display.

“That woman is an extortionist,” he snapped into the phone.