The words were delivered like a joke.
The Black man said nothing.
The chief walked around the chair until he stood directly in front of him.
“You still want to stick with that?”
“Yes.”
The chief’s smile widened.
Behind him, one of the older patrol officers shifted his weight.
The chief glanced over one shoulder.
“See that?”
He looked back at the restrained man.
“No panic.”
“No pleading.”
“You know what that tells me?”
The Black man finally answered.
“That you already decided what you wanted it to tell you.”
The smile vanished.
The chief bent forward.
“You walk into my station with no appointment.”
The Black man held his gaze.
“Yes.”
“You start asking about evidence files.”
“Yes.”
“You refuse to explain who sent you.”
“I explained.”
“You gave me a badge wallet.”
“A federal credential.”
The chief pointed toward the desk.
“That thing could’ve come from the internet.”
“Then open it.”
The chief’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t tell me what to do in my station.”
The Black man looked toward the credential again.
Then back.
“That sentence is going to matter later.”
The younger Black patrol officer near the filing cabinets lowered his eyes.
The police chief heard the warning.
Not fear.
Warning.
That irritated him more.
He reached across the desk, grabbed the black credential wallet with two fingers, and shoved it farther away.
It slid into a stack of folders.
One folder fell to the floor.
Nobody picked it up.
The Black man watched.
The chief said:
“You picked the wrong department to play games.”
The Black man answered quietly:
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“No.”
He leaned back as far as the rope allowed.
“You keep saying it because you need it to be true.”
The chief’s face hardened.
The office became very quiet.
A printer hummed somewhere in the outer bullpen.
Phones rang beyond the closed door.
Someone laughed in the hallway.
Ordinary police-station noise.
Inside the chief’s office, nothing felt ordinary.
The chief stepped closer.
“What’s your name?”
The Black man answered with the same name he had provided at the front desk.