A three AM phone call about a locked room changed everything

slid it back toward me.

“We need it by Friday afternoon,” she said.

I left the office at ten, the cold spring wind catching my coat as I walked to my car.

At one o’clock, I walked into the lobby of the real estate firm where Kara was finishing her appraisal reports.

She was sitting behind her desk, tapping her blue pen against a black clipboard in a steady,continue reading …