“It’s a deal.”

Then he nodded at the basement door.

“The landlord’s guy was asking about that basement too.

Last week.

He wanted to know how much room you had down there.”

I looked over at the basement door.

It had a brand-new padlock on it, still shiny from the package.

At nine fifteen I set my laptop on top of a pile of law books and called Nicole over the encrypted line.