“According to my sister’s will, I’m Maya’s legal guardian. And I am not going to allow you people to traumatize a four-year-old child by picking her up and taking her right back to the place where her mother was killed a month ago.”

“Come on. You know we won’t take her to Tanya’s apartment. We’re not monsters.”

“The answer is still no.”

“I can get a court order,” Vikki threatened.

Joe DeCurtis strode into the office. “Get a court order for what?” he asked.

“Vikki’s bosses are saying I have to send Maya back up to New York for the exchange with Evan,” Letty explained. “And I told her no. Hell, no.”

“I thought we already had this all worked out,” he said.

“Wingfield balked. And my supervising agent and the AUSA agree that it should happen in New York, where they can control the situation. Letty doesn’t agree,” the FBI agent told him.

Letty leaned across the reception desk, her palms sweaty as they flattened on the Formica surface. “If you manage to get a court order, I’ll get a lawyer and fight you. What will you do? Handcuff Maya and drag her kicking and screaming onto a flight full of alarmed snowbirds heading home to Long Island after spending the winter in Florida? Snowbirds with cell phones?”

Vikki Hill did not back away from Letty’s cold fury. She was not used to having her authority challenged. “You’re technically a fugitive from justice, Letty. I could take you into custody right now, lock your ass up…”

Letty held out her arms, fists clenched together. “That’s what you’ll have to do. Maya’s upstairs with Isabelle in Ava’s apartment. You gonna go up there and lock her up too?”

“Whoa!” Joe said. “This is getting pretty extreme, don’t you think?” He turned to Vikki Hill. “Last I heard, Wingfield wanted me to be there for the handoff. But I’m not going to New York.”

The FBI agent started to say something, but changed her mind.

Letty decided to press her point. “You both know I’m right about this. Text Evan and tell him what I just told you. That Maya is too emotionally fragile to travel right now. Which is the truth. Tell him she’s asking questions about what happened to me, and her mother. If he wants her, he’ll have to come and get her.”

“You don’t get it. It’s not just Wingfield. It’s my bosses.”

“Are you telling me you never buck The Man?” Letty asked.

“In this case, ‘The Man’ is Cheryl Shapiro, who is an extremely ballsy assistant US attorney, who is also calling the shots on this investigation.”

“Ballsier than Vikki Hill?” Joe said mockingly. “I seriously doubt that.”