“Open it.”
“No.”
“What’s inside?”
“My property.”
“What property?”
“Property you currently have no authority to inspect.”
Mercer looked at Keller.
“She’s hiding something.”
Simone said:
“That is an interesting conclusion.”
Keller gave her a hard look.
Mercer walked toward the driver side.
“What do you do for work?”
“Why?”
“Answer.”
“No.”
He stared.
Simone could see the frustration spreading across his face.
This was not the frustration of an officer facing an uncooperative motorist.
It was anxiety.
He wanted inside.
Then another patrol vehicle arrived.
Deputy Daniel Price stepped out.
Simone recognized him from the internal report.
That changed the problem again.
Price looked at the scene.
Mercer.
Keller.
Simone standing outside a locked vehicle.
Then he activated his body camera.
Simone heard the small electronic tone.
Good.
Price approached.
“Everything okay?”
Mercer did not turn.
“Vehicle search.”
Price looked at Simone.
“Consent?”
“No.”
Simone answered before Mercer could.
Price’s eyes shifted.
“To be clear, ma’am, you’re refusing consent?”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
Mercer looked at him sharply.
“Daniel.”
Price went silent.
Mercer turned back to Simone.
“Last opportunity.”
“Get a warrant.”
His expression hardened.
“Keller.”
Keller looked toward him.
“Get the entry kit.”
Price stepped forward.
“Sheriff.”
Mercer snapped around.
“What?”
“Maybe we should call this in.”
“It is called in.”
“I mean articulate the basis before forcing entry.”
Mercer stared at him.
“I didn’t ask you.”
Price’s face tightened.
But he did not leave.
Simone watched him.
That mattered too.
Keller retrieved a compact entry tool from his patrol vehicle.
Simone spoke loudly and clearly.
“Sheriff Mercer, I am explicitly refusing consent to search this vehicle.”
Price’s body camera recorded it.
So did Keller’s.
So did Simone’s own system.
Mercer ignored her.
“Keller.”
The deputy hesitated.
For the first time Simone saw fear in his face.
Not moral hesitation.
Recognition.
He did not want the trunk opened in front of Price.
That was when Simone knew the roadside stop had almost certainly collided with the federal investigation.
Mercer’s voice dropped.
“Open it.”
Keller manipulated the lock.
Mercer pulled against the liftgate.
The mechanism gave.
And forty-five minutes of suspicion became certainty.
Now, standing beside the open cargo compartment, Simone pressed the call button.
Marcus Reed and the support team were already moving.