They parted near the entrance as volunteers began folding the chairs. The room emptied slowly, leaving behind a few cups, an abandoned printed handout, and the kind of lingering conversation that happened when neighbors finally felt permitted to disagree aloud.
Outside, evening settled over the parking lot. Simone's SUV stood beneath a tree near the curb. The rear liftgate had long since been repaired, and the evidence transport system had been inspected and returned to service. The original broken latch, released from evidence after the relevant proceedings and documented according to agency rules, had been retained for a training display about roadside encounters and evidence preservation. It was not a trophy. It was a reminder of a decision made before the sheriff knew who he was dealing with.
Price approached as Simone unlocked the driver's door. He wore plain clothes and carried a folder of training notes under one arm.
"Agent Carter, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Were you scared when he opened the trunk?"
Simone paused. She could have answered the way people expected an experienced federal agent to answer, with a story about perfect control. But Price had earned better than a performance.
"I was concerned," she said. "About the evidence. About what he might do when he saw it. About whether anybody would get hurt because he wanted to prove he was in charge."
"You didn't look scared."
"Looking calm and being certain aren't the same thing."
Price looked toward the municipal building. "I thought I was doing enough when I turned on my camera. Then you stood there and made him say what he was doing out loud."
"The camera mattered. Your objection mattered. Your later testimony mattered, too."
"I should have stopped Keller."
"Maybe you could have challenged the order more firmly. That's something to carry into the next decision, not a sentence you have to repeat forever."
He gave a small, tired smile. "My daughter is starting kindergarten next year. I keep wondering what kind of place she's growing up in."
Simone considered the evening lights across the parking lot. "A place where people make mistakes. A place where some people abuse the trust given to them. And a place where other people can choose to make that harder next time."
Price was quiet for a while. Then he asked the question he had been carrying since Alder Street. "You could have stopped him immediately by showing your credentials, couldn't you?"
"I might have changed how he treated me. I couldn't know exactly how he would respond."
"But you waited."
"I was protecting an active investigation, and I wanted a clear record of what he was doing. I had a federal team nearby. I made the decision with that backup in mind. I wouldn't tell an ordinary driver to take the same risk just to teach an officer a lesson."
Price nodded slowly. The answer surprised him. He had imagined the stop as a test the agent deliberately staged, a clever performance designed to expose Mercer's character. Simone was offering a less convenient truth: she had been dealing with an unforeseen act of interference and making careful choices under uncertain conditions. The value of the evidence lay not in a perfect plan but in what Mercer voluntarily did.