“Can you order her to stay in Oakmont?” I asked.

“Can you hold her until a lawyer goes through the files?”

“I have no warrant and no court order,” Reed said.

He walked back to the cruiser, his boots splashing through the puddle by my mailbox.

The door shut with a solid thud, and the cruiser backed out without signaling.

I stood in the driveway until the red taillights disappeared around the curve.

The house behind me was dark, the kitchen windows cold and black.