“Yes.”
“Do not edit it.”
“I won’t.”
Walter looked past Nathan toward Renee.
“I didn’t know who she was.”
Nathan followed his gaze.
“That makes your recording more useful, not less.”
Walter frowned.
“Why?”
“Because neither did they.”
Walter understood.
He handed over his contact information.
A federal evidence technician made a protected copy of the recording while Walter watched.
The video captured almost everything.
Renee asking them to run the plate.
Maddox laughing.
Rusk refusing.
The broken panel.
The threat of arrest.
The shattered window.
The registration being ignored.
And one sentence nobody at the scene could later explain away.
Maddox had said it quietly to Bennett just before Rusk arrived.
Walter’s microphone caught every word.
“Women like that don’t own Bentleys.”
By five that afternoon, Renee was back inside federal headquarters.
She had changed coats because small pieces of safety glass were still caught in the sleeve of the camel one.
David Mercer stood inside her office holding a cup of coffee.
Renee looked at him.
He raised one eyebrow.
“I told you fifteen minutes.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then sat down.
David placed the coffee in front of her.
“Your father called.”
“How does my father already know?”
“The internet exists.”
Renee groaned.
“What did he say?”
“That if you are the FBI Director and still cannot keep people from towing your car, he wants his tax money back.”
Renee laughed harder.
For about ten seconds, the entire day disappeared.
Then David’s expression became serious.
“The city chief requested a direct call.”
“No.”
“The mayor?”
“No.”
“Justice?”
“Yes.”
“Press office?”
“Later.”
David nodded.
“Your vehicle?”
“Evidence.”
“Replacement transportation?”
“Government sedan.”
He looked slightly disappointed.
“No Bentley?”
“Not tonight.”
David moved toward the door.
“Renee.”
She looked up.
“You okay?”
For the first time, she did not answer immediately.
“I’m angry.”
“I know.”
“Not because of the car.”
David waited.
Renee looked through the office windows toward Washington.
“I had a code.”
David understood.
“I had Nathan.”
“Yes.”
“I had federal agents seven blocks away.”
“Yes.”
Renee’s jaw tightened.
“What happens to the person who has none of that?”
David said nothing.
There was nothing useful to say.
The official local report arrived the next morning.
Renee read it once.
Then again.
Lieutenant Rusk described her as “agitated.”
She had been calm.
“Uncooperative.”
She repeatedly offered documents.
“Unable to immediately establish ownership.”