It wasn't just neighbors. It was people from the surrounding towns who had been harassed by Harlan for years.
Dez watched him go. He felt no joy, only a grim satisfaction.
The threat was neutralized, but the war wasn't over.
He turned to Colonel Vance, who was standing by the door lighting a cigar.
"You think Thorn is going to flip?" Dez asked.
Vance took a long drag. "Thorn is a rat, Dez.
He'll sing like a canary to save his pension. But I have a feeling this goes deeper than just one bad captain."
The interrogation room at the FBI field office was a stark contrast to the dingy Oak Haven precinct. It was soundproof, cold, and smelled of antiseptic.
Harlan sat handcuffed to the table. He had been crying for an hour.
Across from him sat Harrison Lang, Dez's lawyer, present as a formality for the civil suit deposition, and Agent Sterling.
They weren't yelling. They were laying out documents.
"Royce," Agent Sterling said, her tone almost bored. "We have the video of you planting the drugs.
We have the audio of you conspiring with Captain Thorn. That's five to ten years right there.
But here's the thing. We looked at your arrest record."
Sterling slid a stack of papers across the table.
"Over the last three years, you have made 42 arrests for suspicious activity or resisting arrest in the Maple Ridge and Oak Haven Heights neighborhoods. In 30 of those cases, cash or high-value assets were seized, vehicles, jewelry, electronics."
Harlan stayed silent, staring at the table.
"Here's where it gets interesting," Sterling continued. "In 20 of those cases, the assets were processed through civil asset forfeiture and auctioned off.
But the auction records are messy. A Mercedes sold for $500 to a shell company that traces back to Captain Thorn's brother-in-law.
A seized Rolex is missing from the evidence locker."
Sterling leaned forward.
"This wasn't just racism, Royce, though that was the fuel. This was a robbery ring.
You and Thorn were using the badge to shop for high-end goods. You saw Dez Kane's Charger, and you didn't just see a suspect.
You saw a payday. You wanted the car."
Harlan looked up, his face pale.
The twist had been revealed. It wasn't just about power.
It was about greed.
They had targeted Dez not just because he didn't belong, but because they wanted what he had.
"I— I just did what Thorn told me," Harlan whispered. "He said if we found probable cause, we could seize the vehicle pending investigation.
He said he had a buyer for the parts."
"There it is," Harrison Lang said, scribbling on his notepad. "The admission."
Sterling nodded. "You're going to tell us everything, Royce.
Every car, every watch, every person you framed. And if you leave one detail out, I will make sure you serve your time in the general population of a maximum-security facility."
Harlan broke. He started talking.
He named names. He implicated Thorn, two other officers, and even the town's court clerk, who signed off on the expedited forfeiture orders.
Meanwhile, back in Oak Haven, the fallout was nuclear.