“My supervisor.”
“That doesn’t change anything.”
Nicole looked at him.
“It should change one thing.”
“What?”
“You should finally verify who you’re speaking to.”
The building’s security officer arrived.
Mateo Alvarez had worked Saguaro Vista for six years.
He recognized Nicole immediately.
“Agent Foster?”
Hayes turned.
“You know her?”
Mateo looked confused.
“Of course.”
“She lives here?”
“Three years.”
He pointed toward the windshield.
“That’s her resident permit.”
Hayes glanced at the permit.
It had been visible the entire time.
“Could have been transferred.”
Mateo stared at him.
“Transferred?”
“Stolen vehicle, stolen permit.”
Nicole almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because each piece of exculpatory information seemed to generate a new theory instead of ending the encounter.
Mateo removed a tablet from his belt.
“I can show you the resident registry.”
Hayes shook his head.
“I’m handling it.”
“You’re asking whether she lives here.”
“I said I’m handling it.”
Another resident appeared.
Then another.
A man in shorts and sandals approached from the lobby carrying a grocery bag.
He was sixty-seven.
Gray hair.
Deep tan.
He stopped when he saw Hayes beside Nicole’s open door.
“What’s going on?”
Mateo said quietly:
“Officer says Agent Foster doesn’t live here.”
The older man looked at Hayes.
“My name’s Samuel Davis.”
Hayes barely glanced at him.
“Sir, stand back.”
“I spent twenty-eight years with Phoenix Police.”
That got his attention.
Davis continued.
“Captain. Retired.”
Hayes straightened.
Davis pointed at Nicole.
“I’ve known Nicole since she moved in.”
Hayes tried to speak.
Davis cut him off.
“You have identification?”
“She presented something.”
“Did you verify it?”
“No.”
“Then verify it.”
“She could be impersonating—”
“Based on what?”
Hayes stared at him.
Davis waited.
The question sat between them.
Based on what?
Nicole had asked it.
Tessa had asked it.
Now a retired police captain had asked it.
Hayes had no answer that improved with repetition.
His radio crackled.
“Unit 317, supervisor en route. Remain on scene.”
Hayes touched the mic.
“Copy.”
Davis shook his head.
“You should have requested one ten minutes ago.”
Hayes’s face tightened.
“I know how to do my job.”
Davis looked at Nicole’s open car door.
“That’s what worries me.”
Sergeant Maria Santos received the call at 3:41.
A patrol officer had detained an ATF agent at a residential complex.
Credential dispute.
Multiple witnesses.
Federal supervisor contacting command.
Officer involved: Brandon Hayes.
Maria felt a cold pressure in her chest.
She read the computer display twice.
Hayes.