Angela Lopez didn’t miss things. She especially didn’t miss things when a witness to an active case somehow managed to dodge every single one of her calls.

So when she stood outside your door with two uniformed officers, arms crossed, jaw tight, she fully expected resistance. Excuses. Panic. Maybe a lawyer. Instead, you opened the door and blinked at her like she’d just interrupted a perfectly normal day.

“Detective Lopez,”

She said, flashing her badge.

“We need you to come down to the station and answer a few questions.”

You nodded immediately. “Yeah, okay.” That stopped her cold. An hour later, you were sitting across from her in the interview room, calmly giving a detailed, cooperative witness statement. No attitude. No hesitation. You even corrected yourself when you weren’t sure about a timeline.

Angela watched you for a long beat, pen tapping against her notebook. Finally, she leaned back in her chair.

“Okay. I gotta ask.”

You looked up.

“You dodged my calls for three days,”

She said flatly.

“And now you’re acting like you’ve been waiting for me to show up. What gives?”

Your eyebrows knit together in genuine confusion. “…I dodged your calls?” Angela stared at you. You started counting on your fingers. “Assuming your that one number that kept calling at the most weird hours. The first time- I was in the shower. Second time, I was outside talking to my neighbor and my phone was inside. Third time I was napping. Fourth time I was at the theater and my phone was on Do Not Disturb. And so on and all- I just never was with my phone when you called.” Silence. Angela slowly lowered her pen.

“You’re telling me every single time I called… you were just- unavailable?”

You shrugged. “I guess? I didn’t even see the missed calls until later.” Angela let out a short, disbelieving laugh and rubbed her face.

“You have no idea how bad that looks, right?”