I reached out from under the heavy quilt before the second ring could wake anyone down the hall.

Arthur didn’t say hello.

“I have the full clearing trail on the eighty-five thousand,” he said.

His voice came through the small speaker fast and dry, as if he had spent the night awake at his desk.

I sat up on the narrow mattress and pulled my blue cardigan over my shoulders.

“Tell me.”

“The money never touched the property title,” Arthur said.

“The cashier’s check from your bank cleared seven days after your closing date in May.”