Kevin typed the name. Nothing appeared.
He looked toward Grady. “No Bellhaven employee return.”
Grady smiled immediately. “There.”
Adrian asked, “What system did you search?”
Kevin looked uncomfortable. “Local quick personnel.”
“Check state POST.”
Grady snapped, “He doesn’t direct you.”
Adrian continued looking at Kevin. “Or city executive appointment records.”
Kevin’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. Grady stepped beside him.
“I said enough.”
Nicole Reyes spoke from behind them. “Sergeant, why not just check?”
Grady looked at her. “Because I’ve got it handled.”
She stared at Adrian’s open chief badge. “I’m not sure you do.”
The room became still again.
Grady pointed at Nicole. “Do you want to challenge your supervisor in front of a detainee?”
Adrian said, “She is asking for verification.”
Grady spun toward him. “I didn’t ask you.”
“You keep calling this verification.”
Adrian raised his cuffed wrists slightly behind him. “It is not.”
Grady grabbed his upper arm. “Face forward.”
Adrian did. He knew something about men like Grady from two decades of investigations, command reviews, and labor hearings.
They often did the greatest damage after the first mistake. The beginning could still be explained by uncertainty.
The second and third choices revealed whether uncertainty was truly the problem.
At 8:55, Police Commissioner Samuel Vaughn’s black sedan entered the headquarters lot. Vaughn was sixty-one, white, silver-haired, and built more like a retired accountant than the former prosecutor and city administrator he actually was. He carried a blue portfolio containing one remaining mayoral signature needed for the chief’s installation.
Vaughn entered the station at 8:57. He immediately noticed the crowd.
Three officers standing too still. Two civilians watching.
Grady leaning over someone in cuffs at the service counter.
Then he recognized Adrian.
Vaughn stopped walking.
Nicole Reyes saw him first. “Commissioner.”
Everyone turned. Grady straightened.
“Sir.”
Vaughn did not answer the greeting. He looked at Adrian, then at the cuffs, then at the chief badge lying open on the counter.
“What happened?”
Grady stood slightly taller. “We detained a possible police impersonator.”
Vaughn looked at him. “A police impersonator.”
“Yes, sir.”
“He entered wearing unauthorized command uniform, claimed he worked here, and refused identification.”
Vaughn looked at the black leather folder. Then he looked at Adrian.
Adrian gave one small nod. Not a plea.
Recognition.
Vaughn stepped toward the counter. “Did you open his folder?”
“He refused to let me.”
“Did he tell you what was inside?”
“Claims it’s credentials.”
Vaughn closed his eyes briefly. Then he opened his own blue portfolio.
The first page displayed the city seal. Beneath it were the words:
CITY OF BELLHAVEN