“I know.”
“I promise.”
“You don’t have to promise me.”
“I did.”
“I believe you.”
The words made Nia cry harder.
Evelyn stroked her braids.
Then she looked at Dana.
“Badge number.”
Dana blinked.
“What?”
“Your badge number.”
“It’s visible.”
“I asked you to state it.”
The crowd had grown.
Phones appeared everywhere now.
Dana became aware of them.
“Ma’am, I’m not going to conduct an interrogation on the sidewalk.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
“Neither am I. I asked for your badge number.”
Dana pointed toward Nia.
“We received a shoplifting complaint.”
“From Harbor Creamery?”
“I can’t discuss the complainant.”
“You confronted a child holding two ice creams directly outside the shop that sold them.”
“She didn’t have a receipt.”
Evelyn stared.
“Did you ask the store whether she paid?”
“I was in the process of investigating.”
“No. You were in the process of taking the product away before verifying whether a crime occurred.”
Dana’s face tightened.
“You need to stop interfering.”
Evelyn looked at the hand still hovering near Nia.
“Do not touch her again.”
“Ma’am.”
“Badge number.”
Dana exhaled through her nose.
“4187.”
“Name?”
“You can read it.”
“State it.”
“Officer Dana Whitmore.”
“Department?”
“Brookhaven Police.”
“Body camera active?”
That question changed Dana’s expression.
Only slightly.
Evelyn saw it.
“So it isn’t.”
Dana looked down instinctively.
The body camera on her chest showed no visible indicator from Evelyn’s angle.
Dana touched it.
“I’m recording.”
“Since when?”
“I’m not discussing department procedures with you.”
“Since before or after you grabbed my granddaughter?”
Dana’s eyes narrowed.
“Who are you?”
“Her grandmother.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“It is the only thing that matters right now.”
Nia held tightly to Evelyn’s side.
The crowd murmured.
Then Rosa Martinez pushed through from the creamery.
“What happened?”
Nia looked toward her.
“Miss Rosa!”
Rosa saw the ice cream on the sidewalk.
Then the girl’s tears.
Then Dana.
“Oh no.”
Evelyn turned.
“Did she pay?”
Rosa looked confused.
“Of course.”
Dana’s head snapped toward her.
“You sold those to her?”
“Yes.”
“Both?”
“Yes.”
“Did you issue a receipt?”
Rosa stared.
“She paid cash. She didn’t ask for one.”