Now she touched the page with one finger.
“Earlier,” she said, “you told us you only knew what we had told you.”
“That’s right.”
“You’re sure?”
“Completely.”
Baez let the answer sit.
“Nothing from anyone else?”
“No.”
“Nothing you saw yourself?”
“No.”
“Nothing you overheard?”
His eyes narrowed.
“How many times do you want me to say it?”
Baez gave a small nod.
“Once is enough.
I just wanted it clear.”
Outside, Danny’s mouth tightened into the beginning of a smile.
He knew that tone.
Baez wasn’t searching anymore.
She was confirming.
The suspect sensed it a second later.
“Clear for what?”
Baez turned the folder around.
Not enough for him to read the pages.
Just enough for him to recognize that several sections were marked and arranged in sequence.
His face changed again.
“You said earlier that Reagan would be here if we had something,” Baez said.
“Maybe that’s another thing you got wrong.”
The door opened.
Danny stepped inside.
The suspect’s eyes snapped toward him with visible relief.
It was almost funny.
After spending the entire interview insulting Baez by comparing her to Danny, he now looked comforted by Danny’s arrival.
Danny pulled out the chair beside Baez and sat down.
He didn’t touch the folder.
He didn’t take over.
He simply looked at the suspect.
“You were doing better before I got here,” Danny said.
The suspect’s relief disappeared.
Baez kept her attention on him.
“You told us you couldn’t know a certain detail unless we told you.
We didn’t.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You reacted to it before it was explained.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe.”
Baez slid one page forward.
“Then we reviewed everything you said before and after that moment.”
Another page.
“Your story changed.”
Another.
“Then it changed again.”
The suspect turned toward Danny.
“You’re really going to sit there and let her do this?”
Danny glanced at Baez, then back at him.
“Let her?”
