“About what?”
“Federal attention on local departments rarely stays narrow.”
Marcus’s eyes hardened.
“That sounds less like advice and more like a reason to look closely.”
Hollis’s diplomacy disappeared for half a second.
Then he smiled again.
“Agent Vance, let’s not make tonight bigger than it needs to be.”
Marcus looked toward the SUV.
“It became bigger when your sergeant found an FBI badge and kept searching.”
That ended the conversation.
Hollis returned to the officers.
Then did something Marcus did not expect.
He ordered the SUV impounded.
Marcus immediately objected.
“On what basis?”
“Evidence preservation.”
“It is federal property.”
“And it was involved in a local police stop currently under review.”
“You do not have authority to seize a federal fleet vehicle indefinitely.”
“Then your office can work that out with ours.”
Hollis called for a tow truck.
Marcus watched the strategy forming.
If the scene disappeared into an impound yard before federal personnel documented it, Hollis gained time.
Time to shape reports.
Time to collect equipment.
Time to control records.
Marcus pulled out his phone.
Hollis looked at him.
“Calling someone?”
“Yes.”
“My supervisor.”
The tow truck arrived before Marcus’s office could get a federal evidence team there.
Clothing and loose property were shoved into bags.
Not inventoried properly.
Not photographed individually.
The SUV was loaded onto a flatbed.
As the truck drove away, Marcus heard Hollis tell Mercer quietly:
“From this moment forward, we control what this stop becomes.”
Danner’s body camera was still running.
Marcus reached the FBI field office at 7:43 p.m.
Supervisory Special Agent Elena Brooks took one look at him and closed the file she was reading.
“What happened?”