“No wonder Agent Takano hesitated,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of court orders, and this one would have fooled me.”

Everything looked legal to Tess, right down to the time stamp.

“So brazen. I can’t believe they thought they would just walk out of here with Chevy,” Oliver said.

“That’s Beck, brazen and shameless.” Harp walked back into the kitchen and Oliver followed. Tess heard him ask her if she was okay after shooting a man. That was a good question. Harp was shaken earlier, but now she seemed awfully calm and collected about having just taken someone’s life. True, it was obvious self-defense, and Tess had more than enough personal experience with that kind of difficult judgment call. But she had seen trained police officers break down and have difficulty with the realization they took a life, even though it was in the line of duty.

There was more to Harp, and Tess knew that after this was all over, she was going to have to find out what that was.

Right now, she couldn’t concentrate on Harp, but maybe Oliver could get what she couldn’t. She turned her attention to Steve. “Were you able to ID the dead guy?”

“No, but he wasn’t Joseph Turner, though there is a federal agent by that name. An ex-agent. He’s retired and living in New Jersey.”

“Did Chevy get a look at the guy’s ID picture? Maybe she’ll know who he is.”

Steve stared at Tess. “Wow, I have a confession to make—the thought of bringing her into this never crossed my mind. How fragile is she?”

Tess called out to Oliver.

He stepped back into the living room. “She’s shook up. Nye basically yanked her into the media room, but she heard the door kicked in, then the shots fired. Dr. Peel is with her, along with Bronwyn. I’ll check.”

He walked toward the back of the house.

“By the way,” Steve said, “Agent Bass called while you were gone. He’s sending an agent here to help with everything, but he can’t come himself.”

“I would have thought he’d hop right up here.”

“He sounded stressed. I don’t think the court battle is going the way he wants it to.”

“I hope he’s just being overly paranoid. What about the car?”

“Rental, by a corporation. Still trying to get to the bottom of that.” He cocked his head toward a pile of stuff by the door. “Got that out of the trunk.”

Just then Dr. Peel came down the hallway with Chevy right behind her. The girl looked cowed to Tess, as if she’d been deflated. And she looked young. She had on a long-sleeved shirt but had pulled the sleeve down over her right hand and brought her hand to her mouth and was chewing on the cuff.