He looked at the old photograph.
OFFICER COLE:
"Who's that?"
WALTER:
"Someone important to me."
OFFICER COLE:
"That's not an answer."
WALTER:
"It's the answer you're getting."
Cole looked up sharply.
For the first time, Walter's voice had carried a trace of personal feeling that had nothing to do with the money. He had no desire to discuss his family, his memories, or the private details of his life with a man who had already shown such little respect for his boundaries.
The officer stared at him.
Then he reached toward the wallet.
Walter instinctively drew it closer.
Cole stopped.
The pause lasted only a second, but both men noticed it.
OFFICER COLE:
"Don't make any sudden movements."
WALTER:
"I'm holding my own wallet."
OFFICER COLE:
"Then keep it where I can see it."
Walter complied, holding the wallet in his open hand.
He had no wish to turn the situation into a physical confrontation. He also had no reason to allow the officer to take anything else without understanding what was happening.
Cole looked toward the patrol car once more.
His colleague had moved closer, though he still remained several feet away.
SECOND OFFICER:
"Everything all right?"
The question was directed at Cole, not Walter.
OFFICER COLE:
"Everything's fine."
The second officer nodded.
Walter watched the brief exchange.
The words were ordinary, almost meaningless, yet they revealed something about the relationship between the two men. Cole did not appear worried that his colleague had witnessed the taking of the money. He answered casually, and the other officer accepted the answer without asking for an explanation.
Walter felt a new question forming in his mind.
Had the second officer simply failed to understand what he had seen?
Or had he understood perfectly well and decided that silence was easier?
Walter could not know.
He would not accuse the man of something he could not establish. But he could remember the way the officer had looked away when the cash was taken, and he could remember how quickly he had accepted Cole's claim that everything was fine.
Those details mattered.
Cole returned his attention to Walter.
OFFICER COLE:
"Put the wallet away."
Walter closed it.
OFFICER COLE:
"Now listen carefully. You're going to wait here until I tell you otherwise."
WALTER:
"Am I being detained for something?"
Cole's expression turned impatient.
OFFICER COLE:
"You're being told to wait."
WALTER:
"That still doesn't explain why."
OFFICER COLE:
"Do you have a problem following instructions?"
Walter took a slow breath.
He could feel the conversation approaching the same dead end again. Cole was not answering questions. He was replacing them with commands and treating any request for clarification as an offense.
Walter decided to stop asking the same questions.
Instead, he concentrated on remembering the details that could later help establish what had happened.
The officer's name was Cole.
His badge was visible on the front of his uniform.
The patrol vehicle was parked directly behind the silver sedan.
The second officer had been present.
The cash had been taken from Walter's wallet and placed in Cole's pocket.
The encounter had taken place on a public road in daylight, with passing traffic and an unobstructed view of the open driver's window.
Walter mentally reviewed each detail, repeating them in order so that he would not confuse the sequence later.
He had spent enough time dealing with complicated paperwork to understand the value of a clear record. Memories could become muddled under stress, and people often remembered the emotional force of an event more vividly than the exact words that had been spoken.
He would need both.
He wanted to remember how the money had been taken.
He also wanted to remember what Cole had said afterward.
WALTER:
"I'd like my driver's license returned."
Cole glanced at him.
OFFICER COLE:
"You'll get it when I'm finished."
WALTER:
"All right."
The answer seemed to surprise the officer.
Cole had apparently expected another argument, but Walter did not continue. He sat quietly, looking ahead through the windshield.
For a few seconds, the only sounds were the idling engine and the distant movement of traffic.
Cole shifted his stance.
OFFICER COLE:
"You're awfully quiet now."
Walter kept his gaze on the road.
WALTER:
"You told me to stop arguing."
OFFICER COLE:
"Don't get smart with me."
WALTER:
"I'm answering your question."
Cole gave a short, irritated exhale.
He stepped away from the window, then returned almost immediately, as if he had changed his mind about what he intended to do next.