Chapter 4

The fax machine whirred and clicked and spat out a single page. Alma retrieved it with the careful grip of a woman handling something that might explode. She carried it across the room and set it on the booking desk in front of Kessinger, face down.

"Sheriff," she said. "There's a notary stamp on this."

Kessinger turned it over.

It was a single sheet of Department of Defense letterhead, dated today, with a signature in blue ink that he did not recognize and a notary seal from a jurisdiction in Virginia. The body of the document was short. It authorized the recovery of a specific vehicle—a 2021 Ford F-150, VIN listed in full—from the Oak County impound lot, and it directed any law enforcement officer in the state to render assistance to the named ground team. It was signed by a name Kessinger had never heard, above a title he'd only seen in movies.

Deputy Undersecretary for Logistics and Materiel Readiness.

Kessinger read the document twice. Then he read it a third time, his finger tracing the VIN.

"I need to see the vehicle," he said.

The voice on the phone was patient, the way a voice is patient when it knows it has already won. "The vehicle is in your lot. You have the paperwork in your own system. The lien form was filed by your tow operator at zero-three-hundred hours. You can verify it in your records."

Kessinger looked at Alma. She was already at her computer, fingers moving.

"Got it," Alma said. "Lien filed at 3:02 a.m. by Dutch's Towing, contract number 87-221. Vehicle entered at 3:14. 2021 Ford F-150, license plate expired, last owner listed as—" She stopped. "It's on the system. The owner is listed as a Charles A. Remick, last address in the county. There's an initial next to the entry."