2 Samuel 14:18
Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak. Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.
David pressed the woman from Tekoa for a direct answer because he suspected Joab had put her up to pleading for Absalom. Joab had engineered this appeal as part of his effort to reconcile Absalom with David after Absalom's exile for murder. That intervention succeeded, and Joab later secured Absalom's full restoration to David's presence a second time. Absalom then betrayed the trust Joab's advocacy had placed in him by using his restored position to steal the kingdom.