He was not seizing evidence.

He was providing it — carrying a phone into a chain of custody that would soon show, in a federal courtroom, exactly what the Prescott department did with warrants built on lies.

I let him take it.

I even thanked him.

Every move they made, believing they were winning, tightened the net a little further, because they were playing a local game against a federal one, and did not know the rules had changed.

Chapter 12 — You Misunderstood Me