Then Grant had called Hanley. Colin had produced a report containing claims the footage contradicted, Serena had circulated a partial video, and officers had detained the person who had been trying to enter his own driveway. A simple verification would have resolved the supposed mystery of Adrian's identity before the handcuffs were applied. Price had performed that verification, but only after Adrian had already been placed in the patrol car.
The investigators did not rush to confront Colin with the video. They first compared his report with the statements of the other witnesses and checked the electronic record showing when he had prepared it. The creation time placed the report shortly after Grant's call to Hanley, but before any police officer had spoken to Adrian. Several phrases appeared to have come from the account Grant dictated rather than from Colin's own recollection.
On the fourth day, Colin returned for a second interview. He arrived wearing a plain shirt instead of his company jacket, carrying a folder that contained the report, the contract agreement with Grant, and a printout of his correspondence about the incident. He expected to be questioned about procedural details. The investigator assigned to the case placed a tablet between them and asked him to watch one recording before they discussed his written statement again.
The clip began with Adrian approaching the Voss steps. The key fob appeared in Grant's hand, held out once and then offered again. Adrian's own hands remained at his sides, and the audio recorded his refusal to move a vehicle he did not own. The camera also captured Grant stepping forward to deliver the line about one call ending the matter.
When the recording ended, Colin said nothing. He looked toward the blank screen, then toward a wall clock whose second hand moved with almost insulting normality. For four days he had tried to convince himself that the incident could be described in more than one way, that Grant's unease was genuine, and that the report had simply translated a complicated encounter into the language his clients expected. The video left him no useful room in which to maintain those arguments.
"I need to ask you something specific," the investigator said. "Did you see Mr. Mercer take the key fob at any point?"
"No," Colin answered.
"Did you hear him threaten to harm Mr. Voss?"
"No. He said he would report the parking obstruction."
"Then why did your report state that he had grabbed the key and acted aggressively?"
Colin rubbed his hands together and stared at the table. The answer that came to mind was ugly because it was so ordinary. He had been afraid of losing a client, not of an immediate threat or an emergency. He had put a company's revenue ahead of the accuracy of a statement that he knew police officers might use.
"Mr. Voss asked for those terms," Colin said. "He told me what he wanted the report to say. I knew the man hadn't touched the key, and I wrote it anyway."