“Me.”
“You brought police here.”
“Because you were acting suspiciously.”
“How?”
“You wouldn’t tell me who you were.”
“I told you I was visiting my mother.”
“You wouldn’t show identification.”
“To you.”
“You were near a security door.”
“That my pass should have opened.”
Diane’s jaw tightened.
“You were aggressive.”
Hayes looked at her.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Hayes swallowed.
Then repeated:
“He wasn’t.”
Diane stared.
Hayes continued:
“He was calm the entire time.”
Diane’s face hardened.
“So now you’re protecting him because you know he’s a judge.”
Hayes looked wounded by that.
Marcus saw it.
Before Hayes could answer, Marcus did.
“No.”
Diane turned toward him.
Marcus’s voice remained measured.
“He made a bad decision.”
“That does not mean every thing he says afterward is dishonest.”
Hayes looked toward Marcus.
The unexpected fairness made his expression worse, not better.
Chen pointed toward the surveillance cameras mounted above the garage lanes.
“Those record?”
Lena nodded.
“Yes.”
“Audio?”
“No.”
“Video?”
“Yes.”
“Preserve everything from six this morning forward.”
Diane interrupted.
“You need board authorization.”
Lena stared.
“No.”
“I need a police preservation request.”
Chen said:
“You have one.”
Diane’s mouth closed.
Marcus looked toward the elevator.
He could almost feel his mother’s impatience seventeen floors above.
Then, as if summoned by irritation alone, his phone rang.
MOM.
Marcus stared at the screen.
Torres almost smiled.
“Take it.”
He answered.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m downstairs.”
“It has been forty-six minutes.”
“I know.”
“My soup is probably cold.”
“Probably.”
“Did you get lost?”
“No.”
There was a pause.
His mother knew him too well.
“What happened?”
Marcus looked around the garage.
Federal marshals.
Police.
Property manager.
Diane.
Scattered documents.
“Small parking issue.”
Evelyn Reed became silent.
Then:
“Marcus.”
“Mom.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“No.”
“Is someone else?”
Marcus looked toward Diane.
“Potentially.”
His mother sighed.
“I’m coming downstairs.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Mom.”
“You are forty-six.”
“I stopped taking instructions from you somewhere around thirty-eight.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Please stay upstairs.”
“Bring my soup.”
The call ended.
Torres looked amused.
Marcus pointed at her.
“Not a word.”