"Step out," Mercer repeated.
Simone considered the risk of allowing the roadside argument to grow. She complied with the direction to leave the vehicle, moving deliberately so that nothing about her motions could be mistaken for an attempt to reach for an object. She closed the driver's door, engaged the lock, and stood beside the front fender with her hands visible. As she moved, she marked the positions of both deputies and the direction of traffic. She did not want anyone to claim later that the scene had been more dangerous than it was.
"I'll cooperate with lawful instructions," she said. "But I'm not giving consent to search the SUV."
Mercer walked around the vehicle, inspecting the windows, the tires, and the doors as though clues might be waiting for him in the paint. He paused by the rear liftgate and pulled on the handle. It did not open. He tried again with more force, and the locking mechanism held. Simone listened to the sound and thought about the seals inside, the technicians who had cataloged them, and the hours of work that could be jeopardized by a careless search.
"Unlock it," he said.
"No."
"What are you carrying?"
"Property that I am lawfully transporting."
"That's a broad answer."
"It's an accurate one."
Mercer turned toward Keller with an exaggerated expression of disbelief. "You hear this? She won't tell us what's in the car."
Keller gave an uncertain nod. He knew Talbot had called the sheriff about a dark SUV leaving a storage building, but he did not know what Talbot had seen or whether the driver had any connection to a federal investigation. The longer he stood beside Mercer, the more he understood that the sheriff was improvising. Keller's own involvement in the warehouse transfers gave him every reason to fear what the cargo area might contain. Fear made him hope the sheriff would handle the problem quickly, even while he understood that quick and lawful were not the same thing.
A third county vehicle appeared and pulled onto the shoulder. Deputy Daniel Price emerged, turned on his body camera, and approached with a cautious expression. Dispatch had told him that a driver was refusing to cooperate with an investigation. What he saw was a woman standing still beside a locked SUV and a sheriff demanding that she surrender access to her belongings. Price looked for the obvious indicators of danger and found none.
"What do we have, Sheriff?" he asked.
"Driver won't open the rear of the vehicle. Possible stolen county property."
"What connects this one to the theft?"
Mercer gave him a sharp look. "We're handling it. Stand by."
Price stopped a few paces away. He could feel Keller watching him, and he remembered his earlier conversation with Mercer about the vanished warehouse report. The same uneasiness had returned, sharper now because the sheriff was trying to search a vehicle in front of two deputies and several witnesses. Price had been taught to evaluate the specific facts available, not the seniority of the officer giving the order. He began listening more carefully.