Marcus leaned back.
“They’re fast.”
Brooks opened another file.
Mercer’s preliminary report.
Marcus read the first page.
The report described him as evasive.
Argumentative.
Interfering.
Attempting to intimidate officers by repeatedly invoking federal authority.
Marcus read one sentence twice.
“I told him it was government property after he tore open a federal folder.”
Brooks nodded.
“They’re creating a justification record after the fact.”
“They made me the aggressor.”
“That is why you say nothing publicly.”
Marcus looked toward her.
“I wasn’t planning a press conference.”
“Good.”
Another message arrived.
Dispatch log.
Brooks opened it.
They read every vehicle notice issued during the relevant time window.
Nothing.
No black SUV.
No matching plate.
No federal fleet description.
The narcotics alert Mercer claimed had triggered the stop involved a blue four-door sedan with a partial plate that did not resemble Marcus’s.
Brooks printed it.
“First contradiction.”
Marcus nodded.
“Probably not the last.”
At 3:08 the next morning, body-camera footage arrived.
Brooks called Marcus back into her office.
He had not really left.
Coffee cups accumulated near the keyboard.
Marcus sat beside her as Danner’s camera recording began.
The footage showed Mercer approaching the SUV.
No visible threat.
Marcus asking why he had been stopped.
Mercer refusing to answer directly.
The handcuffing.
The search.