" "Britt didn't look closely enough to know the difference. " A pause. "Or he looked and decided it was easier not to. " Kowalski's eyes flicked toward the door Britt had disappeared through. "I flagged it for the desk.
Just routine cross-check. Didn't think anything of it. " He hesitated. "Should I have? " Ava studied him for a long moment.
Young, uncertain, standing at the exact fork every good witness eventually reaches. "That depends on what you do next, " she said. Outside, past the security glass, a white van idled at the curb. Two animal control officers were unloading a transport crate onto a hand truck. The younger one, early 20s, department polo a size too big, glanced down at the intake sheet clipped to the crate, then back at the crate itself, where Bishop sat pressed against the far wall, ears low.
"Is this definitely a bite case? " he asked his partner. "Says here contact only. " "Says what it says on the form, " the older officer answered, not unkindly, already keying the address into the dashboard tablet. "We just move what's on the form.
" The younger one didn't argue. He latched the crate a little more gently than procedure required, and said nothing else the rest of the drive. "Ma'am, " Kowalski said, "they're taking him to the shelter overnight. Standard hold after a bite report. " Ava's composure didn't crack, but something in her stillness sharpened.
"There was no bite. There was contact with a glove. " "I know, but it's what's on the form. " "Then the form is wrong, and someone is about to build an entire night's decisions on top of it. " When Britt returned from his call, he He looked at Ava.
He signed the bottom of the incident report with more force than the pen required. Nervous. Uncooperative. Evasive. He'd used those words before about other people and they'd always been enough.
Through the window, Bishop's crate disappeared into the back of the van. The doors shut with a flat metal sound that seemed to end the conversation before either of them could say anything else. "I hope someone is still recording. " Ava said, mostly to herself. Kowalski's hand drifted toward the small camera clipped to his chest.