Plumbing Question: water to the house, but will not come out of the faucets!?

We are looking at buying a house and wanted to have the water turned on for the house inspection. The water company come and turned the water on... we could hear the water and the meter was spinning but water wouldnt come out of the bathroom sink or kitchen sink. We did soon find out that a line behind the shower had seperated and water was coming out there. We also couldnt find the water shut off valve. We looked everywhere:in the house and in the crawl (which you cant really get into because there isnt enough clearance.) So I have two questions... Where else could the shut of valve be and why isnt water coming out of the two facuets? The house is a forclosure and the law firm that owns it knows nothing about it. We have no one to ask where the valve is.