Chapter 34: The Road Around the Lock

The difference between detention and arrest, Mo learned, was that detention came with fewer explanations. "You are not under arrest," Hollis said. Mo lifted his cuffed left wrist. A short chain joined it to a steel ring in the county examination table. "I understand." Hollis glanced at the chain. "Do you?" "I understand the chain. I do not understand the distinction." Across the room, Ruiz failed to hide a smile while checking her body camera. Monday morning had brought them to a secure examination suite beneath the county medical center, where the walls were washable and every cabinet required a key. Su stood beside the closed door, scraping a dried water line from one sleeve with her thumbnail. Nothing in her face admitted how close her mouth had come to his yesterday, or the two words that had stopped it. Mo's memory admitted to all of it. Vega occupied the…