CHAPTER 12: The Lawyer Who Answered Before Dawn

Aaron's attorney answered on the first ring.
His name was Miles Bennett, and his voice carried the exhausted alertness of someone who had been expecting this call for three weeks.
Reyes put him on speaker under the cruiser trunk.
'Officer,' Bennett said, 'if you are with Maya Calder Graydon, please be advised that I represent the estate and Mrs. Graydon as temporary executor under the emergency petition filed yesterday.'
Vivian made a low sound. It was not grief.
Bennett continued, 'The court has already been notified of attempted interference. No personal property is to be removed from the home. No records, devices, or business materials are to be touched by Vivian or Lucas Graydon.'
Lucas looked toward the hallway behind him, and Maya knew he had already moved something.
So did Reyes.
'Mr. Graydon,' the officer said, 'step away from the doorway.'
Lucas obeyed slowly.
Maya stared at the warm rectangle of the open door. For three weeks, that threshold had represented everything she had lost. Now it looked like a place Aaron had fortified from beyond his own ending.
Bennett's voice softened. 'Maya, he left you instructions in the den safe. Do not open it without me.'