“We told you.”
“You said there was a call.”
“Yes.”
“I’m asking when.”
Mercer stepped closer.
“Maya.”
Her body went cold.
He knew her name.
She had never provided it.
For half a second, she wondered whether the investigation had leaked.
Then she realized.
Her name appeared on a small medical-emergency card attached inside the clear pocket of her handbag.
Visible only if someone had been close enough earlier?
No.
The officers had probably run her license plate.
But she was walking.
Her vehicle was parked almost half a mile away.
That meant they had identified it earlier.
Followed her from the parking location.
Interesting.
She said:
“How do you know my name?”
Mercer's face tightened.
“Identification check.”
“I didn't give you identification.”
“We have resources.”
“What resource?”
Reed moved in.
“Enough.”
Maya looked toward him.
He pointed toward her bag.
“What's inside?”
“Personal property.”
“Any weapons?”
“No.”
“Anything illegal?”
“No.”
“Then open it.”
Maya stared.
“No.”
Reed laughed.
“No?”
“You don't have consent to search my bag.”
His jaw tightened.
Mercer stepped between them slightly.
Better controlled.
“Ms. Williams, nobody is trying to make this difficult.”
Maya almost laughed.
“Then tell me what call brought you here.”
Mercer ignored the question.
“Where are you coming from?”
“Nearby.”
“Doing what?”
“Walking.”
“Why this street?”
“Because it's a street.”
Reed muttered:
“Here we go.”
Maya heard.
“What does that mean?”
He shook his head.
“People like you know exactly how to turn every conversation into a problem.”
Silence.
Mercer glanced at him.
A warning.
Too late.
Maya said:
“People like me?”
Reed realized.
He looked toward his camera.
Good.
He adjusted.
“People who refuse simple questions.”
Maya nodded slowly.
“That's clearer.”
Mercer stepped closer.
“Ms. Williams, we're trying to investigate a complaint.”
“Dispatch number?”
He stared.
“What?”
“Incident number.”
“You'll get paperwork if necessary.”
“So none yet?”
His jaw tightened.
Maya saw it.
They had no call.
She was almost certain now.
Then Reed pointed toward her blouse.
“What is that?”
Maya looked down.
Small black clip near her collar.
The camera.
There it was.
She had hoped they would not notice until later.
But this might be better.
“Recording device.”
Reed's face changed.
Mercer went still.
“You're recording us?”
“Yes.”
“Turn it off.”
“No.”
Reed stepped closer.
“Turn it off now.”
Maya looked at him.
“I'm standing on a public sidewalk.”
Mercer said:
“Who do you work for?”
Maya smiled faintly.
“That is not relevant to why you stopped me.”
His expression hardened.
“It becomes relevant when you're secretly recording police.”
“Secretly?”
She touched the visible clip.
“You noticed it.”
Reed reached toward it.
Maya stepped back.
His hand stopped.
“Don't touch me.”
Reed pointed.
“That device could contain evidence.”
“Of what crime?”
“We don't know yet.”
Maya almost smiled.
“That is not how evidence works.”
Reed's face reddened.
Mercer raised one hand.
“Ms. Williams, hand me the camera.”
“No.”
“This is your last warning.”
“Warning for what?”
“Interfering with an investigation.”
“How am I interfering?”
“By refusing lawful instructions.”
Maya looked toward Mercer's chest camera.
“Please state the law requiring me to surrender my recording device.”
Mercer stopped.
Reed muttered:
“Enough of this.”
He grabbed her upper arm.
Maya's entire body stiffened.
Not because it hurt badly.
Because a boundary had changed.
She raised both hands immediately.
“I'm not resisting.”
Reed tightened his grip.
“Then stop pulling away.”
“I am not pulling.”
Mercer moved behind her.
His hand landed on her shoulder.
Maya's breathing quickened.
She could feel the weight of both officers.
Two men.
Uniforms.
Weapons.
Radios.
Official cars behind them.
A neighborhood watching from windows.
She had investigated scenes like this for years.
She had listened to clients describe the strange unreality of being surrounded by authority while knowing they had done nothing.
Now she understood something reports never captured.
The physical scale of uncertainty.
How quickly the body decided danger existed even while the mind remained analytical.
Reed said:
“Hands up.”
“They are up.”
“Higher.”
Maya raised them.
Mercer spotted the camera.
“There.”
He reached.
Maya said:
“Do not remove my property.”
He pulled it from her collar anyway.
The clip detached.
Mercer held the tiny camera.
Smiled.
“Got it.”
Maya looked at him.
Reed still held her arm.
Mercer turned the camera over.
Found the memory-card slot.
“Look at this.”
He removed the microSD card.
Held it between two fingers.
Maya's expression changed.
Mercer mistook it for fear.
His smile grew.
“Whatever little case you thought you were building just became evidence.”
Maya looked at him.
Then at the card.
Then toward the patrol cruiser.
Her frightened expression disappeared.
Not because she was not afraid.
Because the moment she had been waiting for had arrived.
She gave Mercer a cold half-smile.
“Perfect.”
His eyebrows lowered.
“What?”
Maya said:
“Because now the two officers I was hired to investigate just seized the recording on camera.”
Silence.
Reed's grip loosened slightly.
Mercer stared.
“What did you say?”
Maya continued:
“And your dispatch logs are about to show there was never a call before you stopped me.”
Reed released her arm completely.
Mercer looked at him.
Then back.
“You're an investigator?”
Maya lowered her hands slowly.
“Licensed.”
“For who?”
“Not your concern.”
Mercer's face reddened.
Reed said:
“She set us up.”
Maya looked at him.
“No.”
“You followed me.”
“You stopped me.”
“You claimed a call.”
“You demanded a search.”
“You grabbed me.”
“You seized my recorder.”
“All I did was walk.”
Mercer held the memory card tighter.
“You were deliberately provoking law enforcement.”
“By asking whether I was free to leave?”
“You came here looking for a confrontation.”
“I came here looking for facts.”
“You provided them.”
The words landed.
Reed looked around.
People were watching now.
A woman stood on a porch across the street holding a phone.
A landscaping crew had stopped work.
Someone inside a parked car appeared to be recording.
Mercer stepped toward Maya.
“Who hired you?”
She did not answer.