“Irving keeps a shotgun by the hall. And Delia’s cousin is a police officer here in town. They’re counting on him.”

I went out through the side of the garage.

Irving saw me from a window and fired a shot into the air, and then he came after my old pickup in Levi’s SUV — but he took a slick curve too fast, lost the back end, and put the SUV into a stone planter.

I didn’t stop. I drove to a gas station two miles off, locked my doors, and made the two most important phone calls of my life.

Chapter 9 — The Calls

The first was to Cyrus Whitlock, our company’s chief legal counsel. “Activate the corporate fraud protocol,” I told him.

“Tonight. Cancel every executive card, revoke every power of attorney on file, and get the State Attorney General’s office on the phone. Tell them there is a man being held against his will inside a residence in Chestnut Hill — injured, drugged, in danger of his life. And tell them to be careful about the local police, because at least one officer has been paid to look the other way.”