"Emily, we have nearly every profession represented somewhere. Leather does not erase resumes."
Despite everything, she laughed.
"Good," Hawk said. "I needed to hear that."
"Hawk, I cannot ask you to do this."
"You did not. You told me what is happening. I am deciding what to do with it."
"That sounds like a technicality."
"It is. Lawyers love them."
She laughed again, then unexpectedly started crying.
Hawk waited.
"I am so tired," Emily said.
"I know."
"I thought the tornado was the bad part."
"Sometimes the clean-up is worse because the danger wears a tie."
Emily wiped her face. "What do I do tomorrow when Crane comes back?"
"Nothing. Do not meet him alone if you can avoid it. Do not sign. Do not threaten. Do not tell him what we are checking. Just hold the line for one day."
"One day for what?"
Hawk paused.
"For us to look."
The call ended after midnight.
Emily placed the phone beside her and stared up at the steel hatch Daniel had built.
One day.
She had survived twenty minutes under a tornado.
She told herself she could survive one more day above ground.
Morning arrived pale and windless.
Emily climbed out of the shelter at six fifteen after almost no sleep. She made instant coffee on the camp stove, photographed every document she owned, and drove to the county library when it opened to make copies. One set went into a safe-deposit box. Another went to Sheriff Whitfield in a sealed envelope with instructions to open it only if she called and asked him to.
Whitfield raised an eyebrow. "You planning to disappear?"
"No. I am planning not to be stupid."
"About what?"
Emily considered telling him everything, then remembered Hawk's advice. "A property dispute. Maybe fraud. Maybe nothing."
The sheriff's expression sharpened. "Emily."
"I will call you if it becomes police business."
"Fraud is police business."
"Then I may call you sooner than later."
He accepted the envelope reluctantly.
At eight thirty, Roger Puit appeared at the property.
Emily saw his sedan while she was sorting alternators beneath the tarp. She almost admired the nerve it took for him to walk onto the land after Crane's visit.
"Mrs. Carter, I wanted to discuss your appeal rights personally."
"I know my appeal rights."
"You have a limited period to request review. I would hate for you to miss it because of confusion."
"Do you know Gordon Crane?"
The question stopped him.
Puit adjusted his grip on the tablet. "I know of Crane Land Holdings."
"That was not what I asked."