He believed she had not noticed.
He stepped back and looked down at her pocket as though something had suddenly caught his attention.
"Hold on."
Emily frowned.
"What?"
Daniel reached toward her back pocket and pulled out the small packet between two fingers.
His expression transformed instantly. The impatience disappeared, replaced by exaggerated surprise.
"Well, look at what we have here."
Emily looked at the packet.
For one brief second, she seemed unable to process what she was seeing. The object had not been there before. She knew that with absolute certainty.
Daniel raised his voice so that the nearest pedestrians could hear him.
"What's this supposed to be?"
Emily looked from the packet to his face.
"I have no idea."
He held it up.
"You're carrying suspected drugs, and you have no idea what they are?"
"That wasn't in my pocket."
Daniel gave a short, humorless laugh.
"Of course it wasn't."
"I'm serious. You just put that there."
His expression hardened.
"Watch your mouth."
Emily stared at him in disbelief.
"You put it in my pocket, and now you're pretending you found it?"
Daniel moved his free hand toward her wrist.
"Turn around. Put your hands behind your back."
"What? No! Why are you arresting me?"
"You're being detained for suspected possession of an illegal substance."
"You planted it!"
Several people nearby began to look in their direction. A man standing outside a coffee shop slowed down, while a woman carrying shopping bags stopped beside a storefront. Neither appeared to understand what had happened, but both had heard Daniel announce the discovery.
That was precisely what he wanted.
He had turned an encounter without a clear legal basis into a public accusation. The packet was now visible, and his uniform gave the scene an appearance of legitimacy.
Emily could feel the situation slipping into the pattern she had been investigating.
A manufactured discovery.
A loud accusation.
An arrest that would later be described as routine.
She had seen the consequences of that pattern in case files and interviews. She had listened to people describe the humiliation of being searched in public, the fear of being taken away from their families, and the helplessness of watching an officer's written account become more important than their own words.
Now she was standing inside that same machinery.
Except this time, she knew exactly what she was looking at.
"I want your supervisor," Emily said.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
"Turn around."
"Let go of me!"
"Stop resisting."
"I'm not resisting! I'm asking why you're arresting me!"
He pulled her hands behind her back and began closing the handcuffs around her wrists.
Emily twisted in surprise, trying to see what he was doing.
"What the hell is wrong with you? I haven't done anything!"
"Keep your hands still."
"You just put something in my pocket! Are you seriously going to arrest me for your own evidence?"
Daniel tightened his grip.
"You're making this worse for yourself."
Emily tried to pull her arm away as he secured the second cuff. Her movements were instinctive, driven by shock and anger rather than an attempt to injure him.
She could have overpowered him at that moment. She knew where his balance was, how his weight shifted when he pulled her backward, and how quickly he would lose control if she used his momentum against him.
But revealing those abilities too early could destroy the larger investigation.
She forced herself to remain within the limits of the role she was playing.
Daniel interpreted her restraint as fear.
He leaned closer to her ear.
"You should have cooperated."
Emily turned her head toward him.
"You should have done your job."
His face tightened with anger.
For the first time, the confident expression he had worn since leaving his cruiser began to crack.
He shoved her toward the black police vehicle.
Emily stumbled one step, caught her balance, and turned back toward him.
"Why are you doing this? What have I done to you?"
Daniel pushed her forward again.
"Stop moving."
"You don't even know me!"
"I know enough."
"No, you don't!"
Her voice carried across the sidewalk. More pedestrians turned to look, and a young man near the coffee shop lifted his phone.
Daniel noticed the movement.
"You. Put that phone away."
The young man hesitated.
"I'm just standing here."
"Then keep standing there and stop interfering with police business."
Emily watched the exchange from the corner of her eye.
The officer was not concerned about whether the arrest was justified. He was concerned about who might be recording it.
That detail mattered.