He began to consider a different approach.
Perhaps he could describe the incident as a misunderstanding. Perhaps he could say that he had mistaken an ordinary object for contraband and acted too quickly. Perhaps he could claim that the physical confrontation had caused confusion.
The possibilities were limited, but Miller had spent years learning how to make questionable conduct sound reasonable.
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "Look, things happened quickly. You were moving around, and I was trying to secure the scene."
MARCUS VANCE: "You deliberately put that bag in my pocket."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "You can't prove what I intended."
MARCUS VANCE: "You just admitted that the situation became confusing. A moment ago, you claimed you had discovered evidence. Which account are you going to use?"
Miller stopped speaking.
Marcus did not smile or celebrate the contradiction. He simply waited, allowing the officer to hear the weakness in his own explanation.
The delivery driver shifted his position near the storefront.
He had been watching the exchange for several minutes, and the tension was making him increasingly uncomfortable. He did not know either man personally, but he had heard enough to understand that the officer's account was changing whenever Marcus challenged it.
The driver looked down at his phone.
He had begun recording part of the confrontation after leaving the convenience store. The video did not show everything that had happened, and it did not establish the entire sequence of events. However, it captured the officer holding up the bag, the two men arguing beside the car, and several statements that had been made after the struggle began.
The driver had not decided what he would do with the recording.
He only knew that he wanted an accurate record of what he had witnessed.
Marcus noticed the phone in the man's hand.
MARCUS VANCE: "Sir, did you see what happened before the physical confrontation?"
The driver looked up.
DELIVERY DRIVER: "I saw part of it."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "You don't need to get involved."
DELIVERY DRIVER: "You asked me to stay."
Miller stared at him.
The driver's answer was simple, but it removed one more opportunity for the officer to control the conversation.
MARCUS VANCE: "I'm not asking you to take sides. Just tell the truth about what you saw."
The driver nodded cautiously.
DELIVERY DRIVER: "I saw the officer standing very close to you. Then I saw the two of you start fighting. I didn't see everything before that."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "Exactly. You didn't see everything."
DELIVERY DRIVER: "No, I didn't."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "So you can't say what happened."
DELIVERY DRIVER: "I can say what I saw."
Miller's expression hardened.
The driver looked at Marcus, then back at the officer.
DELIVERY DRIVER: "And I recorded some of it."
For the first time since the investigator revealed his identity, Miller appeared unable to hide his reaction.
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "You recorded me?"
DELIVERY DRIVER: "I recorded what was happening."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "Turn that off."
DELIVERY DRIVER: "It's already stopped."
Miller took a step toward him.
Marcus immediately shifted his attention to the officer.
MARCUS VANCE: "Don't."
Miller stopped.
The investigator's voice had not become louder, but the warning was unmistakable.
MARCUS VANCE: "You have already escalated this encounter enough. Do not involve another person because you dislike what he witnessed."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "He's interfering with an investigation."
MARCUS VANCE: "Then follow the appropriate procedure. You don't get to intimidate him into changing his account."
Miller looked from Marcus to the driver.
The situation was slipping away from him one piece at a time.
He had thought the absence of a crowd would protect him. Instead, a single witness had appeared with a recording that might contradict his report. Marcus had identified himself as an Internal Affairs investigator, and the officer's own statements had revealed how quickly he had moved from a routine question to a fabricated accusation.
Miller felt anger rising inside him.
He wanted to blame Marcus for the confrontation, the driver for recording it, and the department for placing him under scrutiny.
Anything was preferable to admitting that his own decisions had created the problem.
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "This is ridiculous. You people act like officers aren't allowed to make mistakes."
MARCUS VANCE: "Officers can make mistakes. They can also correct them."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "And what if I made a mistake?"
MARCUS VANCE: "Then you should tell the truth about it."
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "You expect me to admit that I was wrong in the middle of the street?"
MARCUS VANCE: "I expect you to stop making the situation worse."
Miller gave a bitter laugh.
OFFICER BRAD MILLER: "You have no idea what this job is like."
MARCUS VANCE: "You don't know what it's like to be falsely accused by someone who expects the entire system to believe him."
For a moment, Miller looked directly at Marcus.