"Uncuff them," he ordered.
"No," Maddox said.
The word landed hard. Reeve turned slowly.
"What did you say?"
"We can't. They're suspects. You heard nothing but a voice on a phone. Could have been one of their people. Could be a whole operation."
"I used a number from the directory," Nash replied.
"Then the directory could be wrong."
Even Walsh looked at him in disbelief. The argument was no longer plausible. Maddox was attempting to make any evidence that contradicted him disappear merely by refusing to accept it.
"Rhett," Reeve said, "put your hands where I can see them. You've taken this far enough."
"You think I'm going to lose my career over some traffic stop?"
"That depends on what you do next."
Maddox's gaze moved across the room. Nash had the phone. Mara had folded her arms but stayed between Nyla and the holding corridor. Ellis was watching the chief. Walsh would not meet Maddox's eyes. The group had shifted away from him, not physically at first, but in the smaller movements that tell a person loyalty is ending.
His hand went to the Taser on his belt.
Mara saw it. "Rhett, don't."
He pulled the device free and pointed it toward Dominic.
"Nobody touches the cuffs!" he shouted. "They're my arrests. I made the stop."
Walsh took a step back and reached toward his own weapon before realizing how disastrous that response might be. Reeve raised both hands, palms outward.
"Put it down," the chief said.