Martin filed at seven forty-five in the morning.

By nine, William had received confirmation that an emergency hearing had been scheduled for eleven.

By nine-thirty, a second officer had called to say that Sandra had been located at a hotel fourteen miles away and that given the nature of the complaint — unlawful confinement, threat to a minor — they would be speaking with her that morning.

William was standing in the kitchen when Eva came in, still in her pajamas, her hair loose.

She looked at the floor drain.

Then she looked at her father.

"Is Aunt Lily okay?" she said.

"She's sleeping.

She's going to be fine."

Eva pulled out a chair and sat down.

She folded her hands on the table the way she sometimes did when she was thinking hard about something.

"Is Mommy coming back?" she said.

William sat down across from her.

"I don't know yet, sweetheart."

Eva nodded slowly.

She looked at her hands.

"She wasn't always like that," she said.

"The way she was last night.

She used to be nicer."

"I know."

"When did she change?"

William looked at his daughter.

Six years old.

Sitting at the kitchen table with her hands folded, asking a question he didn't have a clean answer to.

"I'm not sure," he said honestly.

"Sometimes people change slowly and you don't notice until something happens that shows you how much."

Eva considered this.

"Like how you don't notice the plant is dying until it falls over?"

"Yes," he said.

"Exactly like that."

She looked up at him.

"Are you sad?"

"A little.

Are you?"

"A little," she said.

"But I'm also glad Aunt Lily is out."

He reached across the table and covered her small hands with his.

The hearing at eleven lasted forty minutes.

Martin presented the bank records, the property transaction documents, the police report from the previous night, and the text message from Daniel.

The judge granted the emergency asset freeze on the account in Eva's name.

She also issued a temporary order restricting Sandra from removing Eva from the county.

Sandra was not present.

Her lawyer — Daniel's lawyer — appeared by phone and objected to the asset freeze on the grounds that the account was a legitimate savings vehicle established for the child's benefit.

The judge asked him to confirm who had funded the account.

He said he would need to review the records.

The judge granted the freeze.

Martin called William as he was walking out of the building.

"Freeze is in place," Martin said.

"Sandra's lawyer is going to push back, but the burden is now on them to prove the funds are legitimate.

Given the paper trail we have, that's going to be very difficult."

"What about Sandra?"

"The police interviewed her this morning.

She's claiming Lily entered the house without permission and that she acted out of fear for Eva's safety.

She's also claiming the threat Eva reported was misunderstood."

"Eva is six.

She didn't misunderstand."

"I know.

The officer I spoke with knows.

But Sandra has retained counsel and it will move at the pace it moves." A pause.

"William.

Gerald Foss.

The lawyer who handled the house sale.

He called my office this morning."

William stopped walking.

"He wants to cooperate," Martin said.

"He says Daniel pressured him into the transaction and that he has documentation showing Daniel directed the undervaluation.

He's looking for leniency."

"He's scared."

"He's scared," Martin agreed.

"But scared men with documents are useful.

I told him to send everything to my office by end of day."

William stood on the courthouse steps in the cold morning air.

"Is it enough?" he said.

"It's getting there," Martin said.

"One more thing.

Daniel sent that text from his personal phone.

That was not a careful move.

I've already flagged it to the detective assigned to the confinement case.

Depending on how they read it, it could be considered witness intimidation."

William looked out at the street.

"He told Lily this gets uglier," he said.

"He was right," Martin said.

"Just not in the direction he meant."