"We can talk about that later. Privately."
"I don't want to talk privately with you anymore."
A customer near the coffee machine froze with a paper lid halfway to his cup. Shaw looked toward him, then back at Leah, lowering his voice.
"Think carefully about what you're saying. False allegations against police officers can have consequences."
Danielle stepped slightly to one side so she was not between them. "Captain, please refrain from commenting on the consequences of a witness's statement. You're being recorded."
Shaw's eyes moved to Danielle's camera, then to the little black device partly visible beneath the counter. For a fraction of a second, his careful expression broke.
"What's that?" he asked.
Leah swallowed. "A camera."
"Why isn't it listed on your security inventory?"
"Because I bought it myself."
Shaw moved toward the counter. "I'd like to see what it's recorded."
"No," Leah said.
He stopped. The word seemed to surprise him more than anything Danielle had said that morning.
"Leah," Shaw began.
"You don't get to tell me what I saw. You don't get to tell me it didn't happen because there's no report. I watched the trucks. I watched Officer Voss open the cabinet. And I watched you stand beside him."
For a long moment the store was silent except for the refrigeration hum. Then General Thorne came through the doors, followed by a colonel carrying the written inspection authorization and the federal warrant that had been obtained on the evidence already collected. The warrant covered the station's specified dispenser-control records and hardware, subject to its stated limits; it did not make the general the owner of the property or erase everyone else's rights. The independent inspection technician was two minutes behind them.
Thorne surveyed Leah's face and Shaw's posture. "Captain, is there a problem?"
"Your investigator is taking a statement from my witness without coordination."
"Ms. Grant does not belong to your department," Thorne replied. "She's a person. If she chooses to speak, she may."
Danielle offered the paper authorization to Shaw. "We have legal authority to examine pump six and specified records. Your department can observe without interfering. I'd prefer cooperation."
Shaw studied the document. It bore the seal of the federal court and a signed inventory description. He had been counting on a delay. He had counted on uncertainty about jurisdiction, an argument about who controlled the scene, and the difficulty of getting everyone on the same page before some crucial records disappeared. The paper removed much of that uncertainty in one stroke.
"I want our legal department to review this," he said.
"You're welcome to call them," Danielle replied. "We'll proceed within the warrant's scope while you do."
The inspection began at 9:19 a.m. State measurement specialist Aaron Bell photographed the new seal from several angles while an Army fuel-systems examiner recorded serial numbers and cabinet markings. Danielle stood beside them, using gloves and evidence labels only when the technician directed that a component be removed. The technicians compared the panel's current condition with the service contractor's images from the last legitimate maintenance visit. A screw had been replaced, the seal was recent, and a section of wiring did not match the original diagram.