"Maybe we should check the cameras first."
Miller turned sharply.
"Stay out of it."
Then he faced Denise again.
"Last chance."
Denise stood straight.
"You don't have probable cause to search my personal property, and I am not consenting."
Linda's face reddened.
"Then we'll call the police."
Denise almost smiled.
"Please do."
She expected a phone call.
Instead, Miller grabbed her wrist.
Hard.
Denise instinctively shifted her weight.
Twenty years of defensive training told her exactly how to break his grip.
She didn't.
"Take your hand off me."
"You're interfering with mall security."
"I'm standing still."
Davis reached for her other arm.
"Ma'am, please don't make this worse."
Denise looked directly into his eyes.
"I'm not the person making it worse."
A crowd was forming.
Phones appeared.
A teenage girl near the entrance held hers unusually steady.
She was recording.
Denise noticed her.
She would remember that face.
Officer Reigns
The police arrived within minutes.
Officer James Reigns stepped through the crowd as if he were entering a stage.
Denise knew the name.
She had read his personnel file.
Excessive-force complaints.
Aggressive traffic stops.
Questionable arrests.
Reports that always sounded perfect.
Complaints that somehow never went anywhere.
Reigns walked toward Linda.
"What do we have?"
"She stole jewelry," Linda said, "and refuses to let us search her purse."
Denise interrupted.
"No jewelry has been reported missing, and the cameras haven't been reviewed."
Reigns looked at her.
Then slowly looked her up and down.
"Another one causing trouble."
Several phones immediately rose higher.
Denise's voice became colder.
"Officer, identify the probable cause you have before touching me."
Reigns smiled.
"You don't tell me how to do my job."