Kent noticed.
Said nothing.
Good.
Brooke began.
“I came outside.”
“He called to me.”
“He asked what I had been doing inside.”
Then step by step.
The questions.
Distance.
The comment about her dress.
The touch.
She stopped.
Kent waited.
Brooke continued.
“He put his hand here.”
She indicated the side-back area of her hip.
“He didn't brush me accidentally.”
“He left it there long enough that I had to move away.”
“I struck his hand.”
“Open hand?”
“Yes.”
“Any contact anywhere else?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He said I put my hands on an officer.”
“And moved toward me again.”
Kent asked:
“Did you believe you were free to leave?”
Brooke thought.
“At first, yes.”
“Later?”
“No.”
“Did he explicitly detain you?”
“Not before Cole intervened.”
“Why did you believe you weren't free?”
“He kept blocking me.”
“Following when I moved.”
“Then after I hit his hand away, his tone changed.”
Kent nodded.
“Did Mr. Maddox grab Officer Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“Describe it.”
“Grant pushed him.”
“Twice.”
“Cole grabbed the front of his uniform.”
“How long?”
“One second.”
“Maybe two.”
“Any punch?”
“No.”
“Threat of physical harm?”
Brooke hesitated.
“He mentioned three hundred bikers.”
Kent’s eyes sharpened.
“In what wording?”
Brooke thought carefully.
“He asked if Grant believed three hundred of his brothers could be there within an hour.”
“Did you interpret that as a threat?”
“At first?”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he explained they were already scheduled for a charity ride.”
Kent nodded.
Important distinction.
Brooke continued:
“And he told Grant they would be witnesses.”
“Not that they’d hurt him.”
Kent wrote.
Then:
“How did you know Mr. Maddox?”
“I didn’t.”
“You had never met?”
“No.”
Kent looked surprised.
“He intervened for a stranger.”
“Yes.”
Brooke’s voice softened slightly.
“He did.”
After forty-five minutes, the interview ended.
Kent asked:
“Do you want to file a formal misconduct complaint?”
Brooke did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
“Do you want to pursue potential criminal complaint regarding unwanted contact?”
Brooke looked down.
That was harder.
She was not sure whether the conduct met a criminal threshold.
Kent saw the hesitation.
“You don't have to decide this minute.”
Brooke nodded.
“Then not now.”
“Understood.”
Brooke opened the office door.
Cole stood far down the hallway near the restrooms.
Giving space.
He had removed his leather vest.
Charcoal T-shirt underneath.
Tattooed arms.
Still enormous.
He looked toward her.
No rush.
No assumption.
Brooke walked over.
“How’d it go?”
“Fine.”