" "I'm conducting a field inquiry. I received a report of suspicious activity. " "What suspicious activity? Two individuals surveilling the courthouse. Darius closed his notebook slowly.
He placed the pen, a black ballpoint identical to the one Malcolm carried into his shirt pocket. He looked at Ror with an expression that was almost polite. Almost surveilling, Darius said. We're sitting on a bench reading a newspaper and drinking gas station coffee. That's what you'd call surveilling.
Ror didn't answer. Instead, he keyed his radio. Dispatch 4471. I'm 106 at the courthouse, South Plaza. Two male subjects, black, mid-30s to mid-40s, requesting backup for a field interview.
Subjects are being uncooperative. Uncooperative. Malcolm heard the word and felt something cold settle in his chest. Not fear. He had been past fear for a long time.
It was recognition. He had read that word in 17 incident reports over the past 11 weeks. 17 reports filed by deputies in this department in situations that began with a stop and ended with force. And in every single one, the word appeared in the same place early before anything had actually happened. Planted like a seed so that whatever came next could be described as a response.
Uncooperative. He had been sitting on a bench reading a newspaper and now he was uncooperative. Darius shifted slightly on the bench, not standing, just adjusting his posture, feet flat on the ground, hands visible on his knees, open, non-threatening. The exact posture they had been trained to maintain in a deescalation scenario, except they were the subjects, not the officers, and this was not a training exercise. 90 seconds later, a second patrol car pulled into the lot.
Deputy Travis Nolan, badge 5523, four years on the force, stepped out and walked briskly to Ror's position. He was younger than Ror, lighter build, with a nervous energy that showed in the way his fingers tapped the top of his radio mic as he approached. Nolan's body cam was also recording, green light steady. These two have been sitting out here almost an hour, Ror told him. Clerk inside says they've been watching the building.
Won't produce ID. They say what they're doing? Nolan asked. Say they're sitting on a bench. Nolan looked at the two men.
Then at the bench, then at the post of public access sign 12 ft away. He read it. Malcolm watched his eyes track the text and said nothing about it. Instead, he turned back to Ror. You want to run their descriptions?