Nia shook her head.
“I don’t want one.”
No one spoke after that.
At home, Danielle helped Nia change out of the pink dress.
There was vanilla on the hem.
Nia asked her to throw it away.
Danielle did not.
She washed it.
Folded it.
Placed it in the back of the closet.
Maybe Nia would want it later.
Maybe not.
That evening, the first video appeared online.
The man who had recorded the earliest part uploaded ninety-eight seconds.
By dinner, it had been shared thousands of times.
The clip began after Dana had already confronted Nia.
The girl could be seen holding two cones.
Dana asked for them.
Nia backed away.
Dana grabbed her wrist.
Both cones fell.
Then Nia cried for her grandmother.
Evelyn arrived.
The video cut before Dana fell.
A second clip captured that.
A third showed the entire confrontation from the side.
By midnight, television stations were calling.
Danielle turned off her phone.
Evelyn did not.
She answered only one person.
Lieutenant Samuel Price.
“Judge Carter.”
“Evelyn.”
“Evelyn. I wanted to let you know Officer Whitmore has been placed on administrative leave pending review.”
“Okay.”
“We have multiple videos.”
“I assumed.”
“And the creamery footage.”
“Does it show the initial contact?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn waited.
Price sounded exhausted.
“There are issues.”
“That phrase has kept lawyers employed for centuries.”
He almost laughed.
Then stopped.
“I want to be careful.”
“Good.”
“Dispatch received a theft call twelve minutes before Officer Whitmore contacted Nia.”
“From Harbor Creamery?”
“No.”
Evelyn sat upright.
“From where?”
“A clothing store half a block away.”
“Description?”
Price hesitated.
“Female. Pink top. Approximately twenty to thirty.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Nia is nine.”
“I know.”
“Black?”
“Dispatch caller described the suspect as white.”
Silence.
Evelyn opened her eyes.
“Then why did Dana connect that report to Nia?”
“We’re trying to establish that.”
“And Harbor Creamery?”
“There was no theft complaint from the creamery.”
Evelyn’s voice went flat.
“She invented that?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You said no one reported a theft.”
“She may have believed another call involved the creamery.”
“Then your communication logs will show it.”
“Yes.”
“Do they?”
Price did not answer.
Evelyn knew.
“No.”
“No.”
She looked toward the hallway.
Nia’s bedroom door was closed.