I checked my voice mail.

Koby came in and saw it instantly in my face. I don’t know who felt worse.

I checked my watch. It was quarter to ten. I didn’t start work until three. “They want me at the station in an hour … by eleven.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.” I rolled my shoulders. “Last time I spoke to the Loo from our Detectives bureau, he mentioned something about the guy I arrested filing an excessive-force complaint.”

“Shit.” Koby came over to me, took my shoulders, and looked me square in the eye. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, Koby, of course not. I’ll be okay.” A weak smile. “It’s fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“I couldn’t be more positive.”

“Whatever it is, Cynthia, I’m here for you. Call me when it’s over. Focused mind, loose body. Never let them see you sweat.”

Brill closed the door to the interview room. Stone was there, so was the deputy DA—a slight man with an Ivy League haircut and tortoiseshell glasses perched on his nose. He appeared to be around thirty and wore an olive green suit with a yellow shirt and patterned tie, the predominant color in it being red.

This wasn’t good.

I sat down at the table, Detective Brill and Lieutenant Stone on either side of me. The DA had elected to stand. He introduced himself: Geoffrey—with a G—Adamson.

“We’ve got a problem,” the DA began. “It might be hard to prove that the bust wasn’t staged.”

I waited for him to continue.

“Not that I think you staged it.”

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I didn’t speak until I was sure my voice was clear. Then I said, “I never touched that bag. Officer Bader found it on El Paso when he patted him down. If you can get prints off the plastic—”

“All that means, Officer Decker, is that you wore gloves.”

I felt myself go rigid. Loose. I made myself slouch.

“And the fact that you sent your friend away makes it look really bad.”

I was silent.

“Why did you send him away?” Geoffrey with a G persisted.

“At the time, I didn’t think I’d need him to vouch for my honesty.” I made hard eye contact. “I sent him home because he had been working for four days straight and he was falling off his feet.”

Adamson took in my words as if they were profound. He walked as he talked. “So how long between the time you sent him away and the first cruiser arrived?”

“Around thirty seconds. He pulled out of his parking space just as the cruiser came down the street.”

“Not a lot of time, but that doesn’t really help much.”

“So why did you bring it up?” Stone said. “Look, Geoff, you and your people can think what you’d like. I know she didn’t plant the bag. She’s willing to take a lie detector test—”