“You know how these places are. People come through the gate, start looking around expensive properties, and hope nobody notices.”
Foster didn't answer.
He'd handled legitimate burglary and trespassing calls.
He understood the need to protect residents.
But he'd also seen complaints where the only suspicious fact was that a person looked unfamiliar to somebody.
The difference mattered.
He glanced toward the notes.
“No report of a crime?”
Cole shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Foster looked toward the address.
Then suggested they approach and verify the situation calmly.
Cole nodded.
But his idea of verification was different.
He had developed a reputation for making quick judgments and demanding immediate compliance.
He believed hesitation meant defiance.
Questions meant disrespect.
And anyone who challenged his explanation was probably trying to hide something.
That approach sometimes produced arrests.
It also produced complaints.
But in his mind, complaints were evidence that he was doing difficult work other officers avoided.
He liked saying that residents wanted safety until somebody actually enforced it.
He seldom considered whether the enforcement was lawful.
When the cruiser reached my street, Cole saw me standing beside the flower beds.
I was alone.
The garden hose lay near my feet.
My handbag hung from my arm.
He looked toward the house.
Then toward the woman standing in front of it.
For several seconds, he seemed to hesitate.
Not because I appeared dangerous.
But because the scene didn't match the kind of offender he expected to find.
I wasn't carrying a package.
I wasn't peering through windows.
I wasn't trying to open a locked door.
I was standing in the sun beside a rosebush.
He could have asked whether I needed assistance.
He could have asked whether I lived there and accepted my offer to show identification.
He could have checked the property information through appropriate channels.
Instead, he walked toward me with his hand resting near his duty belt and began issuing orders.
Within minutes, he had transformed an ordinary inquiry into a public confrontation.
And once he committed to the idea that I was lying, every attempt I made to clarify the situation seemed to make him angrier.