He simply filed the questions away.
OFFICER COLE:
"You know what your problem is?"
Walter waited.
OFFICER COLE:
"You think being polite means you get to tell me how to do my job."
WALTER:
"I haven't told you how to do your job. I've asked you to return something you took from me."
Cole gave a short laugh.
OFFICER COLE:
"Listen to yourself. You make it sound like I robbed you."
Walter looked at the cash in the officer's hand.
WALTER:
"You took three thousand dollars from my wallet. What else would you call it?"
The second officer turned his head toward them.
For a moment, Walter thought the man might finally step forward. Instead, he looked toward the road and shifted his attention to a passing vehicle.
Cole noticed the movement too.
His eyes flicked toward his colleague, then returned to Walter.
OFFICER COLE:
"You're getting carried away."
WALTER:
"No. I'm telling you what happened."
The officer shook his head, almost theatrically, as though Walter's words had confirmed some private judgment about older people who refused to accept instructions.
OFFICER COLE:
"Maybe you should think carefully before you say anything else."
Walter felt the temptation to respond sharply. He could think of several answers, each more direct than the last. But none would put the money back into his wallet, and none would make Cole more willing to explain himself.
He chose silence.
Cole appeared to take that silence as a victory.
He glanced at the money once more, straightened the bundle, and slid it into a pocket of his uniform.
Walter watched the cash disappear.
The movement was small, but it changed the situation in a way that could no longer be ignored. Until that moment, Cole had been holding the money openly, as though he wanted Walter to see how little he cared about the driver's objections.
Now the bills were concealed.
The officer's hands were empty.
The wallet remained in Walter's lap.
WALTER:
"You're putting my money in your pocket?"
Cole looked at him with exaggerated patience.
OFFICER COLE:
"I'm telling you to stop arguing."
WALTER:
"That doesn't answer my question."
OFFICER COLE:
"You're free to have whatever opinion you want."
Walter looked directly at him.
WALTER:
"And you're free to explain why my money is in your pocket."
For a moment, Cole said nothing.
His expression hardened, and the easy smile vanished. He leaned down toward the open window again, bringing his face closer to Walter's.
OFFICER COLE:
"You want to make this difficult? I can make it difficult."
Walter did not move toward him.
WALTER:
"I want you to do what you're supposed to do."
OFFICER COLE:
"Then stop telling me what to do."
The exchange had become circular. Every question returned to the same point, and every attempt to establish a simple fact was treated as an act of defiance.
Walter understood that continuing to argue would not help him.
He also understood that he could not allow the officer's confidence to persuade him that the incident was somehow his own fault.
He had been driving along a public road.
He had stopped when the patrol car activated its lights.
He had provided his driver's license.
He had answered the officer's questions.
Then Cole had reached into the open window and taken his cash.
Nothing about Walter's behavior changed those facts.
He rested the closed wallet on his thigh and looked at Cole without speaking.
The officer seemed dissatisfied by the absence of another argument. He shifted his weight and glanced toward the patrol vehicle.
OFFICER COLE:
"Do you have anything else in that car I need to know about?"
WALTER:
"There's nothing unusual in my car."
OFFICER COLE:
"That's not what I asked."
WALTER:
"Then ask me a specific question."
Cole's jaw tightened.
For several seconds, the two men looked at each other through the open window. The officer appeared to be searching for a way to regain control of a conversation that was no longer producing the reaction he wanted.
Walter was not shouting.
He was not threatening the officer.
He was not reaching for the money.
He was simply refusing to pretend that the situation made sense.
Cole finally stepped back.
OFFICER COLE:
"Stay right there."
WALTER:
"I'm sitting in my car."
OFFICER COLE:
"You know what I mean."
The officer turned and walked toward the patrol vehicle.
Walter watched him go.