Walking into the observation wing, flanked by four federal agents wearing dark blue windbreakers labeled **FBI EVIDENCE RECOVERY TEAM**, was Detective Marcus Callahan.
Silas frowned through the glass, his hands sliding slowly out of his overcoat pockets.
“Detective Callahan?” Silas called out, tapping the glass with his knuckles. “What is the meaning of this? My wife’s state transport is on the schedule. The media is waiting outside the perimeter gates.”
Callahan didn’t look at Silas.
He walked directly to the prisoner side of the partition, plugged a digital audio recorder into the central dispatch console, and looked at me through the glass.
“Mrs. Vance,” AUSA Sterling said, her voice echoing through the vaulted concrete room with crystalline, terrifying authority. “At seven-fifteen this morning, your legal counsel, Harrison Hayes, delivered an emergency sworn affidavit to my office containing information regarding the unresolved 2019 disappearance of one Clara Thorne.”