“Then we have to arrest him,” I said.

Major Thomas shook his head and nudged the documents a little toward my side of the table.

“Military law enforcement can’t arrest a civilian in town,” Major Thomas said.

“The county police won’t arrest him on the basis of military regulations.

Right now he’s sitting in a jurisdictional dead zone.”

“He thinks he’s won,” I said.

“He has won, unless he commits a federal crime while he’s on federal property,” Major Thomas said.

I thought about the five-thousand-dollar check he’d handed me in the motel parking lot.