The Master Chief looked toward the table.
“He labeled the conclusion before checking.”
The civil-rights officer wrote something.
The Navy Captain asked:
“Who generated the suspicious-person report?”
The investigator hesitated.
“No external report.”
Silence.
The Captain frowned.
“What?”
“The officer initiated contact on his own.”
The Master Chief had suspected.
Still, hearing it mattered.
The airport operations director said:
“He told him terminal staff reported.”
“Yes.”
The investigator nodded.
“That appears false.”
The police chief rubbed one hand across his forehead.
The Command Master Chief asked:
“Has he done that before?”
The room changed.
That was the question.
Internal affairs had already searched.
The investigator pulled up a spreadsheet.
“Thirty-one suspicious-person contacts initiated by this officer in the last eighteen months.”
The police chief looked surprised.
“That many?”
“Yes.”
“How does that compare?”
“Unit median is eight.”
The Master Chief said nothing.
The investigator continued.
“Of his thirty-one, twenty-six involve identity or credential concerns.”
“How many resulted in confirmed fraudulent documents?”
“One.”
“Twenty-five legitimate?”
“Yes.”
The Navy Captain looked toward the Command Master Chief.
He stayed still.
The civil-rights officer asked:
“Demographics?”
Counsel shifted in his chair.
“Careful.”
The civil-rights officer replied:
“We’re conducting authorized pattern review.”
The investigator answered.
“Twenty-one of the twenty-six subjects were nonwhite.”
The room became very quiet.
The police chief looked as though someone had placed a weight on his shoulders.
The Command Master Chief asked:
“What percentage of airport travelers are nonwhite?”
“Roughly forty-seven percent depending quarter.”
“And this officer?”
“Eighty-one percent of credential contacts.”
The counsel said:
“Sample size is small.”
The Master Chief looked at him.
“Yes.”
The attorney seemed surprised.
The sailor continued.
“Which is why we don’t conclude motive from one number.”
“We look deeper.”
He did not want revenge.
Revenge was easy.
Evidence was harder.
The internal-affairs investigator opened another folder.
“Five formal complaints.”
The police chief looked up sharply.
“I knew about two.”
“There are five.”
“Where were the others?”
“Closed at sergeant level.”
“Without IA referral?”
“Yes.”
The police chief’s face hardened.
“By whom?”
The investigator looked toward him.
“The same sergeant in four cases.”
Now the pattern widened.
The Command Master Chief asked:
“Is that sergeant working today?”