"Save it for the booking desk," he said.
She nodded once, not in agreement, but because she had finished trying to persuade a man who understood every opportunity to correct himself as another chance to be challenged. Michelle followed them inside, carrying a notebook filled with times and observations. Behind the automatic doors, the station was bright, busy, and unprepared for the consequences of the arrest entering its walls.
The central station was not designed to hold an audience, but Gerald Hawkins acted as though its lobby had been arranged for him. He guided Lydia through the automatic doors and toward booking while announcing his version of the arrest to anyone who looked up. A desk sergeant paused over a stack of reports. Two officers near the copy machine turned away from their conversation. Even the woman waiting at the public counter stopped searching her purse to listen.
"Attempted burglary at the Pemberton estate," Hawkins declared. "Caught her with stolen keys, wouldn't give a straight answer, and tried to make a scene in front of the neighbors."
Lydia turned her head slightly. "The keys were issued to me."
"You see?" Hawkins said to the room. "Still telling stories."
Officer James Rodriguez, who had been preparing paperwork for an unrelated case, looked at Lydia and then at Michelle. He had known Hawkins long enough to recognize the chief's mood. He also knew that a suspect's calmness proved neither innocence nor guilt, which made the chief's certainty seem stranger rather than more impressive.
"Did the property owner report a break-in?" Rodriguez asked.
"A neighbor saw her at the door."
"Did she force entry?"
Hawkins gave him a hard look. "She was caught trying to get inside. That ought to be enough."
Rodriguez said nothing more, but he set down his pen. There was no sensible way to finish paperwork on an event that no one had properly established. Michelle crossed the room toward the booking desk, keeping her expression composed.
"Sergeant Kim," she said, "I need the command verification request logged with the arrest record. It's from the state protective security office."
David Kim looked at his screen. "We've received it. Captain Langley's office is trying to get hold of the chief. What's going on?"
"The detained woman may be a government official. I haven't been able to confirm her role through ordinary local records, but the state has recognized the name and address."
Kim glanced across the room. Lydia was standing with her cuffed hands behind her back while Hawkins spoke loudly about his successful arrest. The sergeant had seen thousands of detainees. He had also seen supervisors turn uncertainty into confidence simply because it was more comfortable to announce a conclusion than to admit one had not been reached.
"I'll preserve the dispatch traffic," Kim said. "You should get the captain now."