Pierce hung back, his eyes down, something clearly still working behind his face. Doyle moved slow and careful like a man arriving at a job he already suspected was going to end badly. Norah and Vivien stepped out onto the porch together, meeting the group at the top of the same steps where all of this had started. Agent Whitfield, Voss said, addressing Norah with exaggerated formality, extending the folded papers toward her. This is a narrowly written inspection order for the recording equipment located inside your residence related to last night's incident.
Norah walked down three steps to accept it, keeping her movements slow and visible, aware of every camera still mounted along the porch. Eve, she read the document carefully while the officers waited below. It was narrow, at least on paper. It authorized examination of the recording system, footage from the previous 48 hours, only inspection limited strictly to the porch and the immediate entryway. No seizure of equipment, no removal without separate authorization.
This order allows inspection only, Norah said, folding the papers closed. No seizure, no removal, no expansion beyond what's written here. Understood, Voss said smoothly. We simply need to verify what recordings exist. Vivien stepped up beside her sister.
The inspection will happen on the porch and just inside the doorway. Nothing more. That's acceptable, Voss said, nodding like the whole thing was perfectly reasonable. Please bring the recording unit where we can examine it. The sisters exchanged a brief glance.
Voss's cooperation felt wrong in a way that was hard to name. The kind of wrongness that came from a man being agreeable specifically because he already had a plan that didn't require a fight to succeed. One more thing, Lieutenant Norah said, "This order says nothing about who may or may not be present during the inspection. My sister and I will remain in this doorway the entire time. " "Of course, " Voss said.
I'd expect nothing less from federal agents protecting their own home. There was something almost mocking underneath the words delivered so smoothly that a stranger might have missed it entirely. Norah didn't miss it. Neither did Vivien. "Officers remain on the porch, " Norah said.
Lieutenant Voss may step just inside the entrance. "That's all. " Hutchkins stood near the bottom of the steps, arms crossed, watching this entire exchange with a restlessness that seemed to grow with every polite word passed between his lieutenant and the two women he clearly still believed had made a fool of him the night before. His jaw worked slightly, like he was chewing on something he hadn't yet decided whether to say out loud. Vivien moved toward the security cabinet mounted near the living room entrance.
Its black metal housing visible from the doorway, lead indicators blinking steadily along one side. "Here's the primary recorder, " she said. "It holds 48 hours of local footage before automatic deletion. " Voss stepped just inside the doorway, careful to stay within the boundary they'd set, and studied the device from a few feet away, nodding slowly, like a man confirming something he'd already decided to believe. And this contains the recordings from last night, he said.