“Turn around.”
“I am telling you that you are making a serious mistake.”
Adams took another step.
“Everybody says that.”
Nadia looked toward his body camera.
“Keep recording.”
“Stop telling me how to do my job.”
Nadia said nothing.
The old woman on the porch called out:
“She said she lives there!”
Adams turned sharply.
“Ma’am, stay out of this.”
The woman lifted her phone higher.
“I saw the moving truck yesterday.”
Another voice joined from a different porch.
“So did I.”
Adams’s face reddened.
Nadia looked toward the witnesses.
That should have helped.
Instead, it made his pride more expensive to abandon.
He pointed toward Nadia.
“Last chance.”
“For what?”
“Come to the sidewalk voluntarily.”
“No.”
“Then you're obstructing.”
“Obstructing what investigation?”
He reached for her arm.
Nadia stepped backward.
Not fast.
Not threatening.
One step.
“Do not grab me.”
Adams froze.
The body camera captured it.
Neighbors captured it.
Nadia continued:
“I have not threatened you.”
“I have not attempted to leave.”
“I have told you where my ID is.”
“I have offered property records.”
“And multiple witnesses just told you I moved in yesterday.”
Adams looked around.
The evidence was accumulating against his certainty.
That should have ended the encounter.
Instead, he said:
“You're creating a scene.”
Nadia stared in disbelief.
“You came onto my lawn.”
He stepped toward her again.
She moved back another step.
Her heel touched the green hose.
Adams looked down.
Then at the spigot.
Something strange entered his expression.
An idea.
Nadia saw it but did not understand yet.
He pointed toward the hose.
“Turn the water off.”
“What?”
“The hose.”
“It’s off at the nozzle.”
“Turn it off at the house.”
Nadia stared.
“You won't let me move.”
“Now I’m telling you to move.”
“Toward the house you think I may be burglarizing?”
Adams’s face tightened.
The neighbors murmured.
He realized the contradiction.
Instead of correcting himself, he bent down.
Picked up the nozzle.
Nadia frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Move.”
She stared.
Adams squeezed the trigger.
A hard stream of water shot across the lawn.
It struck the grass beside her feet.
Several people gasped.
Nadia stepped sideways.
“What the hell?”
Adams pointed the nozzle toward her.
“Get off the property.”
Nadia went completely still.
The old woman shouted:
“Officer!”
Adams ignored her.
“This is your last warning.”
Nadia looked at the hose.
Then his face.
Then the body camera.
“Are you seriously threatening to spray me with my own hose because I won't leave my own lawn?”
“Move.”
“No.”
The water hit her.
Full force.