I picked up a blue pen and put it back down on the blotter.

“Is she?” I asked.

“She came back inside in pieces.

She tells us you cornered her in the yard, demanded ten thousand dollars in cash, and then drove off like a maniac when she told you the well was dry.”

I looked at the blank wall of my office.

Ranata had called him less than five minutes after I backed out of the driveway.

“I never spoke to her,” I said.