I did not cry, and I did not panic.

I picked up my phone, and I bypassed the police non-emergency line, because this was bigger than local property crime, and I dialed a number I had been saving: the direct line of Special Agent Sarah Croft, at the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division.

“Agent Croft?” I said, and my voice was as calm and clear as glass.

“It’s Evelyn.

They just took the bait.”