Rebecca Shaw.
Ryan looked at the approaching woman, then at Elena.
“What is this?”
Elena said nothing.
Rebecca stopped beside the rear door and looked through the window.
Her eyes went immediately to the handcuffs.
Then she looked at Ryan.
“Officer Mitchell?”
He stepped away from the driver's door.
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Unlock this vehicle.”
Ryan hesitated.
“Ma'am, the subject is being detained pending an investigation.”
Rebecca's expression became cold.
“What investigation?”
Ryan swallowed.
“Suspicious activity. Failure to comply. Possible obstruction.”
Rebecca looked through the window at Elena.
Then she turned back to him.
“Which specific act of obstruction did you observe?”
Ryan opened his mouth.
No answer came.
Rebecca extended her hand.
“Your incident number.”
“I haven't completed the report.”
“Then provide the temporary incident number.”
“I don't have one yet.”
“Your dispatch reference?”
Ryan looked toward his radio.
Rebecca waited.
He finally gave her the reference number.
She wrote it down, then looked at the handcuffs again.
“Officer Mitchell, do you know who this woman is?”
Ryan glanced at Elena.
“She identified herself as Elena Brooks.”
“Did you verify her identity?”
“Yes.”
“Did you verify the purpose of her visit?”
“No.”
“Did you establish grounds for detaining her before applying the handcuffs?”
Ryan's jaw tightened.
“Ma'am, with respect, I was responding to suspicious behavior.”
Rebecca took one step closer.
“What suspicious behavior?”
“She was questioning my instructions.”
Rebecca stared at him.
For several seconds, the only sound was the distant hum of traffic.
Then Rebecca said, “You handcuffed a person because she asked you to explain why she was being stopped?”
Ryan shifted his weight.
“That is not how I would characterize it.”
“Then characterize it accurately.”
He said nothing.
Rebecca opened the rear door.
“Ms. Brooks, are you injured?”
“No.”
“Have you been threatened?”
“Not physically.”
Rebecca's expression sharpened.
“Understood.”
She turned to Ryan.
“Remove the handcuffs.”
He hesitated again.
Rebecca's voice dropped.
“Now.”
Ryan reached for the keys.
His hands were no longer steady.
The cuffs clicked open.
Elena brought her arms forward, rubbed her wrists once, and stepped out of the vehicle.
She straightened the sleeves of her olive-green suit.
Then she picked up her handbag from the hood of the patrol car.
She did not shout at Ryan.
She did not demand an apology.
She simply looked at him.
“Officer Mitchell, I would like your full name, badge number, and the name of the supervisor who assigned you to this parking lot.”
Ryan stared at her.
Rebecca answered for him.
“His name is Lieutenant Harris. I will make sure you receive the assignment record.”
Elena nodded.
“Thank you.”
Rebecca studied her face.
“Are you ready to proceed with the meeting?”
“Yes.”
Elena turned toward the building.
Ryan suddenly spoke behind her.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
He seemed to struggle with the words.
“Who are you?”
This time, Elena turned around completely.
Her expression was not triumphant.
It was serious.
“My name is Elena Brooks,” she said. “I'm the deputy director of the State Office of Public Integrity.”
Ryan stared at her.
Rebecca opened her briefcase and removed a document bearing the state's official seal.
“And as of this morning,” Rebecca added, “she is the lead investigator assigned to examine evidence-handling practices within this department.”
The parking lot seemed to fall silent.
Ryan looked at the document.
Then at Elena.
Then at the handcuffs in his own hand.
His earlier smile was gone.
Elena adjusted the strap of her handbag.
“Now, Officer Mitchell, I have a question for you.”
He said nothing.
“Who instructed you to monitor the east parking lot this morning?”
Ryan's lips parted.
No answer came.
Because suddenly, the question he had refused to answer was the only question that mattered.
And Elena already knew that his name appeared on a document she had not yet shown him.
A document that had been recovered from a missing evidence file.
A document signed two days before the first complaint disappeared.
A document that connected the parking-lot surveillance detail to the investigation she had come to conduct.
Elena looked at Rebecca.
“Let's go inside.”
Rebecca nodded.
As they walked toward the building, Elena heard Ryan's radio crackle behind her.
“Unit Twelve, report your status immediately.”
Ryan did not answer.
He was staring at the building doors.
For the first time that morning, he seemed afraid of what might happen next.
And he had every reason to be.
Because the woman he had handcuffed was not simply an investigator who could file a complaint.
She was the person authorized to examine the records his department had been ordered to preserve.
And one of those records contained a name that nobody in the department wanted her to find.
Phần tiếp theo sẽ nối tiếp từ lúc Elena bước vào trụ sở: cô phát hiện lệnh giám sát bãi đỗ xe có liên quan đến một hồ sơ bằng chứng bị thất lạc, còn viên cảnh sát Mitchell phải lựa chọn giữa việc tiếp tục che giấu mệnh lệnh đã nhận và tiết lộ ai thực sự đứng sau vụ bắt giữ.