So I stopped.
I looked toward Moreno again.
“I'm going inside to change clothes and document what happened. I'll make myself available for a formal statement when the independent investigators are ready.”
The lieutenant nodded.
“Of course.”
Then he hesitated.
“Chief?”
I turned.
His expression softened.
“I'm sorry this happened.”
For a moment, I couldn't answer.
Then I nodded.
“Thank you.”
I walked toward the front door.
My sandals made wet sounds against the stone.
Behind me, I heard Moreno instruct the officers to preserve their body-camera recordings and avoid discussing their accounts with one another.
Then the door closed.
And I was alone.
For several seconds, I stood in the entryway looking at the water dripping onto my polished floor.
Then I began trembling.
Not dramatically.
Not the way people sometimes shake in movies.
It started in my fingers.
Then my knees.
Then my shoulders.
I set down the handbag.
Walked toward the kitchen.
And leaned both hands against the counter.
For the first time, I allowed myself to acknowledge that I had been frightened.
The officer had a firearm on his duty belt.
He was angry.
He was making unpredictable decisions.
And when he picked up the hose, I didn't know what he might do next.
I had spent years training officers to avoid unnecessary escalation.
Now I'd been standing on the other side of it.
And I understood more deeply than ever why people sometimes struggled to speak clearly, remember every instruction, or remain calm when a police officer began shouting.
I closed my eyes.
Then my phone rang.
MOM.
I stared at the screen.
For a moment, I considered ignoring it.
Then I answered.
“Hi.”
She heard my voice.
“Camille?”
“Hey, Mom.”
A pause.
“What's wrong?”
I swallowed.
“Nothing you need to panic about.”
There was silence.
Then she said something that made me close my eyes.
“Baby, whenever you start a sentence that way, I'm already panicking.”
I tried to smile.
But my throat tightened.
“Something happened with a patrol officer outside the house.”
Her voice changed.
“What kind of something?”
I took a breath.