Brooks reached toward it.
“Don’t touch it.”
She pulled her hand back.
The box had a tiny status light and a wire running through a hole that had been drilled into the cabinet.
I followed the wire with my eyes.
It disappeared into the wall.
Brooks whispered, “Is that a camera system?”
“Maybe.”
There was no camera lens.
That bothered me more.
I took pictures without touching anything and called my attorney. Then I called my office supervisor, gave him the shortest version possible, and asked for a contact with the local field office.
When Brooks and I stepped outside again, Cole’s SUV was gone.
Patricia was gone too.
Only the younger deputy’s vehicle remained in front of my house.
Brooks swore under her breath and reached for her radio.
Dispatch told her Cole had not reported leaving the scene.
A supervisor was already on the way.
I checked my phone again.
The title company had sent a second message, this time with an attachment.
It was a scanned affidavit signed two months earlier by Daniel Keller. The document claimed he was the sole authorized manager of Millstone Residential Holdings.
Underneath it was an email from the title officer.
We verified this document during closing. This morning, another attorney contacted us and said Daniel Keller had been removed from the company eleven months ago.
I scrolled farther.
There was one more attachment.
Corporate records.
Millstone had two authorized managers when Daniel was removed.
One name meant nothing to me.
The other did.
Mason Cole.
Brooks was standing close enough to read it over my shoulder.
She didn’t say anything at first.
Then she sat down on the edge of my front step.
“That’s my partner.”