“No.”
“Aren't you curious?”
“Very.”
“Then why?”
“Because if I touch evidence in my own case, I make everybody’s job harder.”
Evan nodded.
“You really are a marshal.”
“Occasionally.”
He smiled.
Then footsteps came from inside.
Lily.
She stood behind the screen door.
“Mr. Holt?”
Evan turned.
“Hi.”
Her face was serious.
“Why did that man have a fake badge?”
I started to intervene.
Evan answered first.
“Because he wanted people to think he had authority he didn't have.”
Lily thought.
“Like pretending?”
“Yes.”
“Did Mrs. Whitcomb know?”
Evan looked at me.
I gave a tiny nod.
“Yes.”
Lily’s mouth tightened.
Then:
“That's stupid.”
Evan almost laughed.
“Yes.”
“It was.”
She looked at me.
“Can I have cereal?”
“Absolutely.”
She disappeared inside.
Evan exhaled.
“I don't know how you do that.”
“What?”
“Kids.”
“Neither do I.”
That was the truth.
The body-camera footage changed everything.
Agent Carver called me three days later.
“You sitting down?”
“No.”
“Sit.”
I sat at the kitchen table.
Rebecca watched from the couch.
“Okay.”
Carver said:
“Mercer recorded seven prior enforcement contacts.”
I closed my eyes.
“How bad?”
“Bad.”
The first involved an elderly Vietnamese couple.
Their grandson translated while Mercer threatened to boot their car unless they paid $900 in fines immediately.
Second involved a Black single mother.
He stood in her doorway wearing the POLICE patch and told her unpaid HOA penalties could become criminal trespass.
False.
Third involved a seventy-two-year-old veteran.
Mercer placed him in handcuffs for seventeen minutes after he refused a tow.
No lawful basis.
Fourth involved a Hispanic landscaping contractor.
Mercer took $600 cash and no receipt.
“Jesus.”
“Keep listening.”
The fifth recording began before Mercer arrived at the resident’s house.
Gloria was inside his SUV.
Her voice clearly audible.
She said:
Don't explain too much. People pay faster when they're scared.
Rebecca sat upright.
I put the call on speaker.
Carver continued.
“There are multiple conversations between them.”
“One discusses percentages.”
“What percentages?”
“Forty percent to Civic Shield.”
“Sixty to HOA?”
“No.”
Pause.
“Sixty to a company called PH Renewal Holdings.”
I had never heard of it.
Rebecca asked:
“What is that?”
Carver said:
“Exactly what we're finding out.”
Then she added:
“Daniel, don't search it.”
I smiled despite everything.
“I wasn't going to.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“Occupational problem.”
“Don't.”
“Understood.”
PH Renewal Holdings became the next door.
Behind it was a hallway nobody expected.