A woman named Darlene Pike arrived just after lunch. She had been a federal investigator before retirement, and Alyssa had called her because she trusted Darlene's judgment more than her ability to sound reassuring. Darlene was sixty-eight, with silver hair cut in a practical bob and a canvas case that looked as if it had spent years being dragged through airports. She inspected the broken window, the gate, and the positions of the existing cameras without offering dramatic theories. Then she asked Nia whether she had eaten.
“Coffee,” Nia answered.
“Coffee isn't lunch.”
“I know.”
“Good. I won't waste time explaining it.”
Darlene brought sandwiches from a corner deli and insisted they eat at the kitchen table before reviewing another document. She was direct in a way that Nia found unexpectedly calming. There was no need to perform confidence for someone who had watched armed men testify calmly about things they had done in panic. Darlene wanted facts, inconsistencies, and a plan for protecting the people involved.
They began with the vehicle outside Nia's home, the dead flowers, the anonymous call, and the disturbed rooms. Darlene examined the existing camera coverage and arranged for supplementary professional security with secure off-site retention. She did not describe the system as invincible. She said it would increase the chance that later incidents produced usable evidence and decrease the chance that one failed recording destroyed the whole account. Nia appreciated the distinction. Overpromising certainty was another way of setting a frightened person up for disappointment.
“You're thinking about one officer,” Darlene told her after looking through the documents. “We need to look at his working environment. Who approves his reports? Who clears complaints? Who benefits when defendants give up?”
“His supervisor, perhaps,” Alyssa said.
“Perhaps. Not a conclusion. A direction.”
Darlene had already obtained public records concerning Halverson's prior assignments. His disciplinary file, to the extent accessible, revealed complaints from motorists who described sudden searches and accusations of noncompliance. Most had been closed as unsubstantiated, often after the department reported that available video was incomplete or inconclusive. Several had passed through the desks of Lieutenant Marcus Walsh and Captain Steven Reeves. Nia noticed that certain phrases repeated across cases with astonishing regularity.
“Subject displayed furtive movements,” she read aloud. “Subject appeared nervous during initial contact.”
She turned a page. The same sentence appeared in a different incident, separated by eight months and six miles. In a third report, the description of a suspect's behavior had been changed only to match the person's clothing.
Darlene set three pages side by side. One might have been a shortcut. Three suggested a habit. A dozen made the habit important enough to investigate.