Price looked at me.
“His vehicle was reported near the warehouse.”
“My vehicle was in my garage,” I said.
“Your security system says that.”
“It does.”
“Private systems can be altered.”
“My wife was home.”
“Family members can lie.”
“Then subpoena the records.”
Price stepped toward me again. “You think you can lecture me because you have money?”
Lieutenant Hart moved between us.
“Back up.”
Price did not.
“Officer Price,” she said, more firmly this time.
He took one step back.
That was when a second patrol officer approached from the cruiser. She was younger than Price, perhaps thirty, with a rain-darkened braid tucked beneath her cap. She carried a tablet and stopped beside Lieutenant Hart.
“Lieutenant,” she said quietly, “dispatch sent me the incident details.”
Hart looked down at the tablet. “And?”
The officer glanced at Price before answering.
“The Rivergate burglary report does not list Mr. Bell, Bell Meridian, or this vehicle.”
Price’s face went still.
Hart took the tablet from her. “What does it list?”
“Unknown suspect. No vehicle description. The original caller reported a damaged side entrance and missing property files.”
“What time was the call received?”
“Two thirteen this morning.”
Price spoke over her. “The report is incomplete.”
“Then why did you tell me he was connected to it?” Hart asked.
“Because I was given information from the investigation.”
“By whom?”
Price’s eyes moved toward the street.
No one answered for him.
Dana’s voice lowered through my phone. “Marcus, ask whether Officer Price was assigned to Rivergate.”
I watched Price carefully.
“Were you assigned to the Rivergate burglary?”
He said nothing.
Lieutenant Hart’s eyes remained on him. “Answer the question.”
“I assisted with the perimeter.”
“Your name is not on the initial report.”
“I was there before the report was finalized.”
“Then you should have a supplemental entry.”
“I was told to wait.”
“By whom?”
Price’s hand tightened around the radio.
The younger officer looked down at her tablet again. “Lieutenant, there’s another issue.”
Hart turned toward her.
“The system shows Unit Twelve’s cruiser near Rivergate at 12:41 a.m.”
Price’s head lifted.
“That’s not possible,” he said.
The officer continued. “It remained there for thirty-two minutes.”
“I was on another call.”
“The vehicle-location data says otherwise.”
“Those systems lag.”
“Not by thirty-two minutes.”
The sidewalk seemed to shrink around us.
At 12:41, according to the city’s records, Price’s cruiser had been outside the warehouse. The burglary would not be reported until 2:13. That did not prove he had stolen anything. It did not prove he had threatened the tenant whose complaint disappeared.
But it created a fact he could not erase by raising his voice.
Lieutenant Hart looked at me. “Mr. Bell, did you know Officer Price was connected to Rivergate?”
“I knew his name appeared in a complaint from a tenant at one of my buildings. I did not know he had been at the warehouse.”
Price stared at me.
“What complaint?”
“The one that disappeared.”
His face changed.
Not anger this time.