"I know."
"Were you authorized to access it?"
Maya looked down at her folded hands. "There was authorization attached to the work I was doing."
"Was your name specifically assigned to that record?"
"Not in the version that came later."
Price stopped writing. "Explain that."
"I can't explain it completely without getting into the same issue Brett came here over."
"I'm already in that issue."
"You're in part of it."
Brett spoke from across the room. "She accessed material outside her assigned scope."
Price turned toward him. "You declined to answer questions."
"I'm not answering questions. I'm correcting a misleading statement."
Price looked at one of the patrol officers near Brett. "Keep him from participating unless I address him."
The officer nodded. Brett's expression tightened, but he stayed quiet.
Price looked back at Maya. "Was there an internal review?"
"Yes."
"Were you disciplined?"
"There was a finding."
"What kind?"
Maya took a breath. "That my access could not be justified under the final assignment record."
Price studied her. "'Could not be justified,' or 'was unauthorized'?"
"The wording mattered."
"It still does."
"Yes."
Price leaned back slightly. "Did you leave voluntarily?"
Maya hesitated. "Eventually."
That answer changed the atmosphere at the table. Price closed her notebook halfway. "You understand why this matters?"
"I do."
"You had access to the kind of system Brett says was compromised. You had a dispute over your access. Now he believes a memory card containing internal data may be connected to you."
"Yes."
"That gives him an argument."
"It gives him a story."
"It may also give him facts."
Maya looked at her directly. "I know."
Price appreciated that she did not deny it. "Did you create the card?"
"No."
"Did you copy the data onto it?"
"No."
"Did you ask someone else to?"
"No."
"Have you seen the contents?"
Maya paused. "No."
"Do you know what the card is supposed to contain?"
"Yes."
Price opened the notebook again. "What?"
Maya shook her head. "Not yet."
Price's frustration showed for the first time. "You keep asking me to separate Brett's authority from his conduct, and I am doing that. But you are also withholding information that may explain why he came here."