Hale cleared his throat.
“Again, Agent Bennett, we regret the inconvenience.”
Claire slipped her phone into her pocket.
“Inconvenience is a parking ticket.”
Nobody in the room moved.
She stepped closer to the counter.
“What happened tonight was a choice.”
Then she turned and walked out.
Outside, the parking lot was washed in the pale gray of approaching dawn.
The kind of hour when the town looked honest because it was too tired to pretend.
Claire got into her car but did not start it right away.
She checked her phone.
Twenty-three missed calls.
Four secure messages.
One new live channel open.
Reyes.
She answered.
“Status.”
“Released,” she said. “They’re trying to look cooperative.”
“Of course they are.”
“Parker came through. You have the footage?”
“We have enough to make them wish we had less.”
Claire looked up at the station.
Lights in nearly every office now.
Shadow shapes moving behind blinds.
