Behind the glass, Derek’s jaw tightened.
Chen remained calm.
“Did you report it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because everybody knew.”
The answer landed hard.
Chen asked:
“Who is everybody?”
Nolan listed names.
Two patrol officers.
A sergeant.
Lieutenant Bannon.
Possibly a dispatcher.
Chen wrote.
“What happened after stops?”
“Sometimes nothing.”
“Sometimes search.”
“Sometimes tow.”
“What determined it?”
“I don’t know.”
Nolan rubbed his forehead.
“That’s not true.”
Chen waited.
Nolan continued:
“There were cars Mitchell already knew about.”
“How?”
“He had a separate list.”
“Not department-issued.”
“What kind of list?”
“Photographs.”
“Plate numbers.”
“Notes.”
“On his phone?”
“Printed sheets sometimes.”
“Where from?”
“He said task-force bulletins.”
“Which task force?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever check?”
“No.”
Chen leaned forward.
“Yesterday.”
“What happened before you saw the Lamborghini?”
Nolan closed his eyes.
“Mitchell got a message.”
“Phone?”
“Yes.”
“Personal phone.”
“He looked at it.”
“Then told me to turn around.”
“What did it say?”
“I didn’t see.”
“But he already knew the car?”
“I think so.”
Chen’s pen stopped.
“What makes you think that?”
“He said, ‘There she is.’”
Behind the glass, Derek looked toward another agent.
She.
The car.
Not driver.
Mitchell had been waiting for the Lamborghini.
Nolan continued:
“When we got behind it, he said the plate was flagged.”
“I asked dispatch.”
“No alert.”
“He told me regional system.”
“Then he lit it up.”
Chen asked:
“Why did he smash the window?”
Nolan’s eyes reddened.
“Because Agent Hayes wouldn’t open the door fast enough.”
Derek looked away.
Nolan continued:
“But the door wasn’t locked.”
Chen stopped.
“What?”
“He could’ve opened it.”
“He broke the glass anyway.”
Silence.
Derek remembered.
Mitchell had struck before reaching for the handle.
Violence not necessity.
Performance.
Nolan whispered:
“He likes people to know who controls the stop.”
Derek closed his eyes.
Ava’s question again.
If you were just you.
Chen asked:
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
Nolan looked toward the glass even though he could not see through it.
“I was scared.”
“Of Mitchell?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because officers who challenge him get moved.”
“Bad shifts.”
“Bad evaluations.”
“Training requests disappear.”
“I have student loans.”
“My wife is pregnant.”
“I kept telling myself I could wait until I had more proof.”
Chen said nothing.