“Thanks,” Steve says. “How long before you say he was out of sight?”

“He went down the alley right before we called you,” I say. “Two minutes or so before Dean had a shotgun and was down there.”

“Three minutes, tops,” Dean adds.

“It’s possible he could break in that fast and grab something, but highly unlikely,” Steve says. “I have a hard time getting in the door, let alone orienting myself around the files.”

“What do you think he was after?”

Steve scans the boxes and the case files and then the lists on the board of all the case names he’s considering taking on. “I’ll have to look through everything to know for sure what might be missing. Innocence X has a reputation for revealing botched cases, dirty cops, politicians, and bad cover-ups.”

“I gave the plate number to the officer. Who do you think he is?” I ask.

“I was hoping we’d have a couple of weeks before things got complicated.” Steve rubs his head, then pulls at his chin. “The cops don’t need to run the plates. I was able to get the name of the organization that owns the car, but they wouldn’t provide the driver’s name. Said I’d need a subpoena. The cops should be able to get that. The organization is called Liberty Heritage for a New America. They’re a special-interest think tank funded by ultraconservatives. This one has ties to white supremacists who use conservatism to cover their agenda. We’ve run into them before, but I thought they were stopping harassment and stepping up their fight through lobbying state representatives. This is aggressive, which means we must be on to something they don’t want me looking into.”

A shiver runs down my spine. This is the last thing we need.

“What’s the status of my daddy’s case?” I ask.

“The case is officially pending review for direct appeal,” Steve says. “They could review it thoroughly or treat it like the others. The hope is I can get more evidence for a new trial.”

“My dad has less than two hundred fifty-two days left until his execution date.”

“We can’t spend time thinking about the obstacles. You’ll lose your mind trying to make sense of it. We file. We research. We push. We make noise. We put pressure—”

“We pray,” Mama says at the door.

“Yes, we pray,” Steve says. “Come in, Mrs. Beaumont.”

Mama leads us in prayer. “Father God, let your holy power fill us with strength and protection.” She continues, but I lose focus, things rushing through my mind on what we should do next. Whatever it is, we must be on the right track or we wouldn’t be getting blocked like this.

I open my eyes when Mama says, “Amen.”

IF IT WALKS LIKE

A DUCK…