The city moved around them.
Pedestrians stopped.
Phones appeared.
A patrol vehicle waited near the curb.
Another officer stood beside it.
Officer Nathan Briggs.
Vanessa knew the name from staffing records.
Briggs looked at Colton.
Then Vanessa.
“What happened?”
Colton answered:
“Shoplifting.”
Vanessa said at the same time:
“No theft occurred.”
Briggs looked between them.
Colton opened the rear door.
“She resisted.”
Vanessa turned.
“No.”
Briggs looked at her wrists.
“How?”
Colton said:
“She pulled away during detention.”
Vanessa looked directly at Briggs.
“Ask the store employee.”
Briggs hesitated.
This moment interested her.
One officer's bad decision could be individual.
The response of the second officer revealed culture.
Briggs looked toward the store.
Leah had followed them outside.
She called:
“She didn't steal anything!”
Briggs heard.
Vanessa saw him hear.
He looked toward Colton.
“Did you recover property?”
Colton's face tightened.
“We haven't searched her yet.”
Briggs frowned.
Vanessa waited.
For one second, it looked as though Briggs might stop the process.
Then Colton said:
“She was casing the display.”
Briggs looked uncomfortable.
But he opened the rear vehicle door.
Vanessa's disappointment was almost greater than her anger at Colton.
Not because Briggs had accused her.
Because doubt had appeared and he chose convenience instead.
Vanessa leaned toward the vehicle.
Colton placed one hand on the top of her shoulder.
“Watch your head.”
The politeness after everything else was almost absurd.
Vanessa sat.
The door closed.
Rain dotted the glass.
Colton entered the front passenger seat.
Briggs drove.
Vanessa sat in silence.
Colton looked back.
“What happened to the tough talk?”
“Recording.”
He laughed.
“What?”
Vanessa looked toward the small in-car camera.
“You're recording.”
Colton's smile faded slightly.
Then returned.
“Good.”
“I hope they show this to everybody.”
“So do I.”
Briggs glanced in the mirror.
The vehicle entered traffic.
Colton keyed his radio.
“Unit 314 transporting one female shoplifting suspect from Bellamy & Rowe.”
Vanessa listened.
“Subject became aggressive during investigative detention and resisted handcuffing.”
Vanessa said:
“False.”
Colton looked back.
“Quiet.”
“Time is 11:51.”
Briggs glanced in the mirror again.
Colton frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Creating a contemporaneous record.”
Colton laughed.
“You watch too much television.”
Vanessa looked out the window.
“No.”
“I read reports.”
Something in the way she said it made Briggs look again.
Colton did not notice.
He continued talking.
“You think expensive clothes impress people?”
Vanessa remained quiet.
“You walked into that store thinking nobody could question you.”
Nothing.
“Then you threaten careers.”
Nothing.