Naomi let the silence sit until he shifted. "What looked suspicious?" she asked.
"You came in demanding access."
"Access to a chief, in a public building?"
"After hours. Without proper procedure."
"Which procedure requires a shove before verification?"
His face tightened. "You were escalating."
Naomi leaned back slightly. "Officer Maddox, men like you always think the shove is the mistake. Usually, it isn't. The mistake is the assumption underneath it. The confidence. The belief that if you move fast enough, your version becomes the truth before anybody else gets to speak."
He stared at her for a long moment and said, "You don't know me."
Naomi's voice never changed. "No. I know your pattern."
That landed, because it was true. She proved it quickly: forensic recovery from Maddox's department phone pulled deleted texts between him and Sergeant Pike. The most damaging one came less than twenty minutes before Naomi arrived:
Fed woman expected around 8:00. Mercer thinks he can smooth it. Keep her downstairs till I get there.
Then another: