“Do they?”
Morris said:
“I ask questions.”
“Lena.”
“You’re witness.”
Nia leaned back.
“I hate you.”
“Good.”
Did she identify as FBI before Cross saw badge?
“No.”
Why not?
“Because I was off duty, believed local traffic stop should proceed based on law, and initially had no reason to use federal status.”
“Even after shove?”
“I triggered duress.”
“But no badge.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I did not want to create impression I was using employment to avoid traffic enforcement.”
Morris looked over glasses.
“That answer will matter.”
“I know.”
Then:
“When Mercer smashed windshield, why didn’t you display credentials?”
“I told him stop.”
“That was not question.”
Nia looked at wall.
Then answered honestly.
“Because by then I wanted to see how far he would go.”
Morris stopped writing.
That was dangerous.
Nia continued.
“I did not provoke him.”
“I did not invite damage.”
“But once he chose to damage property despite no legal basis, I knew intervention was already en route.”
“I believed continued nonphysical compliance preserved evidence.”
Morris asked:
“Did anger affect decision?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Nia looked.
“Good?”
“Truth.”
“Not perfection.”
The statement ended after three hours.
Before leaving, Morris said:
“Now I can tell you one thing.”
“What?”
“Plate reader.”
Nia waited.
“Cedar has privately operated ALPR feed tied to Danner contract.”
“So?”
“Your plate was searched manually eleven minutes before Mercer initiated stop.”
Nia’s skin went cold.
“By who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Search terminal?”
“Sheriff substation.”
She stood.
“Coincidence?”
Morris raised eyebrow.
“Witness.”
Nia sat back down.
“Right.”
If someone had searched her plate before stop, perhaps Bugatti was targeted.
But why?
Luxury plate visible.
Maybe Mercer saw, ran.
Normal.
Or Danner had scanning network identifying high-value vehicles.
Or someone knew Nia.
The next development answered partially.
Federal preservation request went to Cedar dispatch, sheriff IT, bodycam vendor, tow rotation records, Danner Recovery.
At 3:17 a.m. the day after request, Danner’s office server went offline.
At 3:42, smoke alarm activated.
At 3:55, firefighters arrived.
A back-room computer rack had been sprayed with an industrial solvent and set alight.
Small fire.
Contained.
Danner’s owner claimed electrical accident.
Fire investigator disagreed.
Accelerant.
Now federal obstruction.
Search warrants came quickly.
Danner Recovery’s offices, two storage lots, and owner’s home were searched.
Owner: Carl Danner.
Sheriff Halbrook’s brother-in-law.
Not hidden.
Public knowledge.
Still.
Federal agents found:
auction records,
tow logs,
handwritten ledgers,
cash envelopes,
vehicle parts,
and a laptop that had been partially wiped but recoverable.
The ledger used shorthand.
“B” for bid?