"You don't run this place."
"I never said I did."
"Then stop acting like it."
Danielle leaned forward as far as the cuffs allowed.
"I am telling you that your arrest has no factual foundation."
Mulligan smiled.
"You really committed to this lawyer act."
"Prosecutor."
"Right."
"Commonwealth's Attorney."
"Whatever helps."
A gray-haired officer entered.
Lieutenant Samuel Briggs.
Danielle recognized him.
They had met at a courthouse security meeting two years earlier.
Briggs looked at her.
Stopped.
Looked again.
"Danielle?"
Mulligan frowned.
"You know her?"
Briggs stared at him.
"Why is she cuffed?"
"Attempted vehicle theft."
Briggs's expression changed.
"What vehicle?"
"Black Lexus SUV."
"Whose?"
"That's what we're determining."
Danielle spoke.
"Apparently not very quickly."
Briggs turned toward Mulligan.
"Did you run the plate?"
Mulligan's face tightened.
"Not yet."
Briggs stared at him.
"Why?"
"I had probable cause."
"For what?"
Mulligan became defensive.
"She was inside a vehicle without ID."
"She was retrieving something from it," Danielle said.
Mulligan pointed toward her.
"See? Constant interference."
Briggs ignored him.
He walked to a computer.
Danielle watched him type.
Ten seconds.
Maybe fifteen.
That was all it took.
Briggs stopped.
His shoulders lowered.
Then he turned toward Mulligan.
"Patrick."
"What?"
"The SUV is registered to Danielle Renee Lawson."
Silence.
Evans had entered the room.
He heard it too.
Briggs continued.
"Same home address as the information she gave you."
Mulligan's face changed.
Only slightly.
But Danielle saw it.
Not shame.
Calculation.
He was trying to find a way to make the mistake smaller.