Then they asked why he had said:

"You know exactly what I mean."

Sullivan said he had been frustrated.

The explanation didn't resolve the question.

Chief Hayes ordered a review of previous complaints.

That was when the investigation became larger.

There were seven.

Three had been dismissed.

Two had been resolved informally.

Two remained in internal records without definitive findings.

Elijah learned about the number from his attorney.

He didn't celebrate.

He felt tired.

Because suddenly his experience no longer looked like an isolated bad afternoon.

It looked like a question the department should have asked much earlier.

CHAPTER 8 — OFFICER GRANT SPEAKS

Melissa Grant hadn't slept properly since the traffic stop.

Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered one moment.

Not the credential.

Not Sullivan's face.

Her own hesitation.

She had known the stop was going wrong.

She had seen no reason to search the car.

She had heard Sullivan becoming increasingly aggressive.

And yet she had waited.

During her second interview with investigators, she finally said it aloud.

"I should have intervened sooner."

The investigator looked at her.

"Why didn't you?"

Grant stared at the table.

"He outranked me."

"Was that the only reason?"

"No."

"What else?"

She hesitated.

"Sullivan had a reputation."

"What kind?"

"If you challenged him, he remembered."

The investigator wrote something.

"Did you believe Justice Carter posed a threat?"

"No."

"Did you believe he was attempting to flee?"

"No."

"Was he verbally aggressive?"

"No."

"Did he refuse to identify himself?"

"No."

"Did you observe him commit an offense?"

Grant paused.

"No."

The investigator leaned back.

"Then what did you believe was happening?"

Grant looked toward the recording device.

"I thought Officer Sullivan had decided what kind of person Justice Carter was before he knew anything about him."

It was the first time she had said it plainly.

"And what did you do?"

"Not enough."

That answer eventually became one of the most important parts of the review.

The department's problem wasn't simply whether one officer had behaved improperly.

It was whether the people around him felt able—and obligated—to intervene when authority was being misused.

Grant could not change what happened.

But she could tell the truth about it.