Caleb jerked back, startled. "What?"
"Curfew violation," Rusk snapped. "Interference."
Martha's blood ran cold. They weren't trying to arrest the leader. They were trying to create chaos and leverage.
Take the weakest link, make everyone react, then call the reaction aggression.
Dean saw it instantly. "Caleb, don't move," he ordered, voice hard. "Don't pull."
Caleb froze, breathing fast, eyes wide. Rusk clicked a cuff on one wrist.
Martha stepped forward. "He didn't do anything."
Halverson pointed at her like she was proving his point. "Ma'am, you're escalating."
"I'm defending a kid you're using," Martha shot back.
Rusk grabbed Caleb's other arm and tried to twist it behind his back. Caleb winced, panic flaring.
Dean didn't lunge. He didn't grab Rusk. He simply raised his own voice so every microphone caught it.
"Sheriff, you are arresting a kid to force a reaction."
Halverson's jaw tightened.
Attorney Klein's voice came through the speaker. "Your deputy just seized my client's documents. We have audio. We have video."
Halverson's jaw tightened. "Audio?" he repeated, too sharp.
Martha lifted her phone. "Yes, I recorded you in my basement. You said you'd take me for evaluation so the county could secure my house. You said, 'Get the tote.'"
Rusk's cuffing hand faltered for half a heartbeat. Halverson's eyes snapped to him, furious.
Pell's face flickered, just once, like a man watching a door slam shut on his plans.
Halverson recovered fast. "She's confused," he said, loud again. "Traumatized. She thinks she heard things. This is why we need her evaluated."
Martha's voice cut through, calm now, terrifyingly calm. "Then let the state hear it."
Dean lifted his speakerphone. "Attorney Klein, you still on?"
"I'm here," the lawyer's voice replied.
Dean looked straight at Halverson. "We're calling state police right now, and we're sending the audio file the moment this call ends."
Halverson's eyes went hard. "You don't get to call state resources because you don't like a curfew."
Martha's gaze didn't waver. "This isn't about curfew. This is about you trying to steal my house."
The words hung in the wet air. Cameras held steady. Even the engines seemed quieter, as if the whole yard leaned in to listen.
Halverson made another calculation, then pivoted. "Deputy, bring him," he ordered, nodding at Caleb. "We're leaving. We'll process him and be done with this circus."