The clerk pushed the envelope under the glass before I’d even set my briefcase on the counter.

“Mr.

Sterling filed an emergency order this morning, ma’am, and your personal account has been frozen completely.”

Four thousand one hundred dollars.

I read the number twice, then the judge’s signature, then the time stamp printed at the top of the page.

“Frozen as of what time?”

“Eight oh six.

It came in with the nine o’clock batch.”