“Don’t call them, don’t answer their messages, and don’t let Dale Owens release any bank files until Friday morning,” I said.

“Where will Rebecca stay until the vote?” Mark asked.

“Somewhere clean that Garrett can’t trace through bank records or phone logs,” I said.

I swept the photos, the video phone and the certified lab sheets into my leather briefcase and snapped the locks shut.

At half past five that evening, I turned my truck into the private drive of a tidy brick apartment building on Gaston Avenue.

I used the cash advance from the credit line on my land to pay the resident manager six months’ rent up front.