Because memory rewrote itself quickly.
Every prosecutor knew that.
Confidence increased while precision degraded.
Sloane refused to become her own unreliable witness.
At 10:04, her personal phone rang.
Her boss.
United States Attorney Raymond Cole.
“Sloane.”
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t the first question.”
“It was going to be.”
He exhaled.
“Are you injured?”
“Bruised.”
“Doctor?”
“Later.”
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Who’s with you?”
“Nobody.”
“I’m sending someone.”
“No.”
“Sloane.”
“No.”
A pause.
“You were arrested.”
“Yes.”
“On your own porch.”
“Yes.”
“You do understand why people are concerned.”
“I understand.”
“Then let someone come over.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Send Maya.”
“Done.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya Brooks arrived twenty minutes later carrying coffee, two breakfast sandwiches, and fury.
Maya was forty-five, five-foot-two, and capable of reducing witnesses twice her size to accidental confessions.
She walked through the door.
Looked at Sloane’s wrist.
Then swore.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Who did that?”
“You know who.”
“I want his pension.”
Sloane took the coffee.
“No.”
“Fine. His house.”
“Maya.”
“Car?”
“Sit.”
Maya sat.
Then immediately stood again.
“I can’t sit.”
Sloane almost smiled.
“Try.”
Maya paced instead.
“I saw the teenager’s video.”
Sloane looked up.
“What?”
“It’s already online.”
“Damn it.”
“Somebody copied it before you talked to him.”
Maya handed over her phone.
The clip lasted forty-seven seconds.
It began after the confrontation was underway.
Harlan knocking Sloane’s phone away.
The watering can kicked.
The shove.
Quinn stepping forward.
Cuffs.
Sloane heard her own voice:
Preserve your body-camera footage.
Then Harlan:
You lawyers on television—
The video ended.
Views climbed while she watched.
Thirty-two thousand.
Refresh.
Thirty-eight thousand.
The caption was worse.
COP ARRESTS BLACK WOMAN AT MILLION-DOLLAR HOME, FINDS OUT SHE’S FEDERAL PROSECUTOR.
Sloane handed the phone back.
“I hate everything about that.”
Maya stared.
“What part?”
“Finds out she’s federal prosecutor.”
“That’s the best part.”