The deputy's face reddened.
"You're not my lawyer."
"No."
She held his gaze.
"But I'd like you to explain your authority before you take my property."
For a moment, he seemed ready to shout.
Instead, he reached toward the woman's hand and tried to snatch her car keys.
She pulled them away.
The deputy grabbed her wrist.
His fingers closed around the stacked silver bracelets.
"Give me the keys."
She remained remarkably calm.
"Release my wrist."
The deputy tightened his grip.
The younger officer took a step forward.
"Sergeantβ"
"Stay where you are!"
The young man stopped.
The older deputy leaned close to the woman.
"Four thousand dollars. Or you're walking home."
She looked toward his hand.
Then slowly lifted her eyes.
"You're holding an unarmed woman on a public highway because she won't give you cash."
He sneered.
"You're learning."
The woman said nothing.
But something changed in her expression.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
A kind of cold certainty.
The deputy finally released her wrist and stepped backward.
Then he gestured toward the rear of the sedan.
"Check the plate again," he ordered the rookie. "I want every reason we can find to impound this thing."
The younger deputy nodded.
He walked toward the back of the car.
The woman watched him.
For the first time since the traffic stop began, she looked almost concerned.
Not about what he might do.
About what he was about to discover.
The rookie rounded the rear bumper.
He crouched to examine the license plate.
Then he noticed something unusual.
The plate frame sat slightly crooked, revealing the edge of a second identifier beneath its dark outer cover. He leaned closer and saw a small state-owned fleet registration marking that didn't match an ordinary civilian vehicle.
His forehead creased.
Then he looked through the sedan's rear window.
On the floor behind the rear passenger seat rested a hard-sided black equipment case.
Its lid was secured.
But a gold state seal was visible beneath the tinted glass.
The words surrounding the seal made the young deputy's stomach tighten.
STATE PUBLIC INTEGRITY TASK FORCE.
He looked back toward the plate.
Then toward the older deputy standing beside the woman.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Finally, he reached for his radio.
"Dispatch, I need an immediate registration verification through the state investigative liaison."