Somebody laughed low behind us.

Frank, clearing his throat like he does.

Then the magistrate’s wooden gavel came down on the bench one time, and the sound of it stayed in the room after the door swung shut.

Arthur Vance had the release papers in a manila folder before I got my coat buttoned.

“The encumbrances are dissolved as of four o’clock,” he said, walking me past the clerk’s window.

“The recorder will have the release stamped by Monday morning.