“I want the joint house account frozen right away,” I said.

“And I want the divorce papers delivered to the Maple Street address by tomorrow morning.”

“We can file the emergency petition before noon,” Frank said, jotting a column of numbers on his yellow legal pad.

“Illinois allows an immediate freeze on joint liquid assets when unauthorized balance transfers are documented.”

My phone buzzed twice on his desk blotter.

I glanced at the screen and saw a text from Brenda at the downtown regional office.

Brenda had cleared my work calendar for the next forty-eight hours, shifting my local client calls to her own desk so my standing at the company would stay fully protected while I dealt with the filing.