Marcus slowly turned his head toward him. “My people?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No.” Marcus’s voice was almost soft.
“I don’t.”
Pierce pointed toward a patio chair. “Sit down.”
Marcus sat.
Blake stepped beside his partner and lowered his voice. “Nolan, this is getting stupid.”
“I’m handling it.”
“He gave a name. We can verify the address.”
“He keeps challenging commands.”
“He hasn’t threatened either of us.”
Pierce glanced toward Marcus. “A guy his size can get dangerous fast.”
Marcus heard every word. Pierce realized it immediately.
“You have something to say?” he asked.
“No.”
For some reason, Marcus’s refusal to argue irritated him more. “Why are you so calm?”
Marcus looked toward the security camera beneath the roofline. Then toward another mounted above the pool house.
Then toward Jordan’s phone. Finally back at Pierce.
“Because I don’t need your memory to be the only record of this afternoon.”
Pierce followed his gaze. Only then did he notice the camera above the patio.
A small green indicator light blinked. Another camera covered the side gate.
A third pointed toward the driveway. Marcus’s system recorded audio and stored everything remotely.
Pierce’s expression changed slightly. Not enough.
“Stand up.”
Marcus stood.
“Turn around.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“You’re being detained.”
“For what crime?”
“I’ll explain once you cooperate.”
Marcus almost smiled. “That order is backwards.”
Pierce seized his right wrist.
Naomi cried, “Dad.”
Marcus did not pull away. Pierce moved the second wrist behind him.
Metal cuffs closed.
Nearly forty people watched Marcus stand beside his barbecue smoker with his hands secured behind his back. Red steel left a mark almost immediately because Pierce tightened the cuffs one notch too far.
He leaned closer. “Still calm?”
Marcus’s jaw flexed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because eventually you’re going to need facts.”
The kitchen door opened.
Chief Rebecca Sloan stepped onto the deck carrying a glass of iced tea. She had changed nothing about her casual appearance.
White blouse. Linen pants.
Hair pulled loosely behind her head. No visible badge.
Pierce barely looked at her.
Rebecca stopped. Her eyes moved across the yard.
Food in the grass. Children crowded near the deck.
Naomi crying. Guests holding phones.
Marcus standing with handcuffs behind his back.
Her face changed. “What happened?”