Emily felt sympathy for the homeowner. Frank would probably annihilate her on the witness stand as he made the case against her housekeeping and for the company that manufactured the device. Once upon a time, he’d have been on her side, David dueling Goliath. Turned out, the satisfaction of winning for the underdog went only so far when you were making a paltry $50K a year. Though Frank didn’t seem to miss it, he claimed working for the public defender had been great experience, standing up for people who more often than not had gotten themselves in trouble out of ignorance or impulsiveness, one ill-considered decision leading to another and another. Emily wondered if she and Becca weren’t doing exactly that now, helping Mrs. Murphy get rid of her husband’s trove when already there were red flags about how exactly he’d acquired it.

“Question,” she said. “Purely hypothetical. As a former defense attorney.”

“Uh-oh.” Frank closed his laptop.

“Suppose I help someone declutter their house and it turns out that the clutter they’re getting rid of isn’t theirs.”

The furrows between his eyebrows deepened. “Explain.”

“Just suppose that I suspect it’s, I don’t know, items that he or she borrowed—”

“Borrowed?” He sounded incredulous.

“Hypothetically.”

Frank cracked a smile. “In other words, hypothetically stole.”

“Like I said, I’m not sure. Do I have an obligation to report my suspicions to the police?”

Frank thought for a few moments. This was one of her favorite things about him. When you asked a question about the law, he didn’t shoot from the hip.

“Well, it’s not a crime to witness a crime,” he said at last. “And it sounds as if we’re not talking child abuse or murder, in which case you’d be obligated to report your suspicions. So no. You have no legal obligation to report a suspected theft. You’re in the clear unless you actually help the person get away with it. That’s aiding and abetting, and depending on the crime, you could be charged. But for just knowing it’s there and suspecting that it’s stolen? That doesn’t put you in jeopardy.”

That was a relief. “What if I then help this client sell the stuff that I suspect may be stolen?”

“Then . . . well, now it gets more serious. You could be charged with fencing stolen property if the police have evidence that you knew it was stolen. Which is by no means a slam dunk.” He paused and looked across at her. “What kind of value are we talking about? Hundreds of dollars or thousands?”

“Does it matter?”

“It matters.”

“Worst-case?”

“Emily, I don’t like where this is going. You really think what’s in there could be stolen?” He seemed taken aback. “Worst-case, it’s a felony to be involved in the disposal of stolen goods worth two hundred fifty dollars or more. You could go to jail.”