Tonight it was losing ground to fear.
“You broke down my door,” Claire said. “You searched my home without lawful process. Your detective planted narcotics in my purse. Your sergeant used force during transport. You denied counsel. Then you discussed destroying footage in your own station.”
Hale opened his mouth.
She didn’t let him interrupt.
“And now you want the word misunderstanding to do heavy lifting it cannot do.”
He stared at her.
Then tried another angle.
“You’ve been inside departments. You know things get messy. You know good men sometimes make bad calls under pressure.”
Claire leaned back.
“Good men don’t need three lies before midnight.”
He said nothing.
She lowered her voice.
“You know what finally breaks cases like this, Captain? It’s never the big speech. It’s not the grand reveal. It’s the little arrogant mistake. The moment somebody thinks the system belongs to him. That’s when everything starts to crack.”
