“Good.”
Halpern entered the name.
Waited.
The terminal loaded.
His eyes moved across the screen.
Then stopped.
He entered the address.
Another screen.
Property-registration cross-reference.
Vehicle registration.
State professional license.
Security gate resident file.
His expression changed.
Beckett noticed.
“What?”
Halpern did not answer immediately.
“What?”
Beckett repeated.
Halpern looked toward the villa.
Then at Amara.
Then back at the screen.
“Ryan.”
“What?”
“This address is hers.”
Beckett’s grip loosened a fraction.
Amara felt it.
“What?”
Halpern swallowed.
“The registered address on her license is this property.”
Beckett stared.
“That doesn’t mean she owns it.”
Amara almost laughed again.
Halpern kept reading.
“Property file lists Amara Sterling Holdings.”
Beckett’s expression hardened.
“Could be tenant.”
Halpern tapped again.
“No.”
He looked up.
“She’s the titled owner.”
Silence.
The ocean moved beyond them.
A gull cried overhead.
Rosa stood inside the open doors with both hands clenched.
The landscaper had taken out his phone.
Amara said nothing.
That silence became unbearable to Beckett.
He released her arm.
Not gently.
Just suddenly.
As though contact had become dangerous.
Halpern handed her license back.
His voice changed.
“Dr. Sterling.”
A title now.
Amara took the card.
Less than thirty seconds earlier she had been “you.”
Now she was Doctor.
Recognition had arrived.
Dignity, apparently, had needed paperwork.
Beckett stepped back.
“There’s been a misunderstanding.”
Amara looked at him.
“No.”
His expression tightened.
“No?”
“A misunderstanding is getting the wrong gate.”
“A misunderstanding is confusing two similar addresses.”
“You put your hands on me after I told you where my identification was.”
“You removed me from my pool.”
“You kicked my property.”
“And you repeatedly refused to verify the information I gave you because you had already decided I was lying.”
Beckett glanced toward the landscaper recording.
“Ma’am—”
“Doctor.”
The word came from Rosa.
Everyone turned.
Rosa stepped out of the house now.
Her fear had become anger.
“Her name is Dr. Sterling.”
Amara looked at Rosa.
She did not correct her.
Beckett’s face reddened.
“We responded to a legitimate trespassing call.”
Amara said:
“Who called?”
“We can’t disclose—”
Halpern looked at his screen.