She had reviewed several cases in which footage from body cameras had been missing, incomplete, or inconsistent with the reports written afterward. Witnesses had described events that were absent from the official records. In one case, a recording had stopped seconds before an officer claimed to discover a packet of narcotics.
Daniel was following the same pattern.
Emily turned back toward him.
"Your body camera is recording this, isn't it?"
He gave her a cold look.
"Everything you say can be used against you."
"Good. Then the recording should show exactly what happened."
For a fraction of a second, his eyes moved toward the camera on his chest.
It was barely noticeable.
But Emily saw it.
Daniel immediately grabbed her upper arm and guided her toward the rear passenger door.
"You're going to explain yourself at the station."
"I've explained myself already. You just don't want to listen."
"Get in the car."
"Call your supervisor first."
He opened the rear door.
"Get in."
Emily stopped beside the vehicle and refused to move for a moment. Her hands remained cuffed behind her back, and the metal pressed uncomfortably against her wrists. She could feel the hard edge of the packet still visible in Daniel's hand.
He had not placed it in an evidence bag.
He had not photographed where it was supposedly discovered.
He had not asked a witness to remain at the scene.
He had not followed the basic procedures that would normally protect the integrity of a criminal investigation.
Instead, he was trying to rush her into the cruiser before anyone could ask too many questions.
"You're making a serious mistake," Emily said.
Daniel leaned toward her.
"People like you always say that."
"People like me?"
He realized he had said too much and stepped back.
"Get inside the vehicle."
Emily looked at him carefully.
There was something more than arrogance behind his behavior. His aggression had the sharpness of someone who had been given an instruction and was afraid of failing to carry it out. Every few seconds, he glanced at his phone or toward the intersection, as though he expected someone to arrive.
This was not an ordinary street stop.
Someone had wanted him to find her.
Someone had wanted her taken away.
And Daniel appeared to believe that the consequences of disobeying that instruction were worse than the consequences of framing an innocent person.
Emily lowered her gaze, allowing her hair to fall forward and partially cover her face.
Daniel mistook the gesture for defeat.
He moved around her and reached for the packet again, holding it close to his body as he prepared to put it away. The action lasted only a moment, but Emily registered it. He was already thinking about how to manage the evidence rather than how to establish the truth.
She took a slow breath.
There would be time to deal with him.
First, she needed to understand who was directing him.
A faint vibration came from the phone in her front pocket. It was a private device used by her team, configured to send a silent alert when an agreed-upon signal was received. Daniel had not noticed it.
Emily could not reach the phone with her hands restrained, and she had no intention of making a sudden movement that might give him an excuse to escalate the situation.
She memorized the time instead.
She memorized the exact position of the cruiser.
She memorized the faces of the people who had witnessed the encounter.
And she memorized Daniel Reed's expression when he realized that the young man outside the coffee shop was still recording.
"Last chance," Emily said quietly. "You can stop this now."
Daniel stared at her.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me."
He laughed, but the sound was forced.
"You think you're in a position to give me advice?"
"No. I think you're in a position to make a choice."
Daniel stepped toward her until he was close enough that she could see a small scar near his right eyebrow.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with."
Emily looked directly into his eyes.
"Neither do you."
The words unsettled him more than an insult would have.
He grabbed her arm and pushed her toward the open rear door.
"Inside. Now."
Emily finally allowed him to guide her forward, but her mind was already working several steps ahead. The encounter had given her more than enough reason to suspect that Daniel was involved in the false arrests. His behavior suggested planning, not improvisation. His decision to plant the packet in such a public place suggested that he expected the accusation itself to protect him.
But there was still a question she could not answer.
Why had he been looking for her?