The facts had to be established.
The witnesses had to be heard.
The footage had to be preserved.
And the woman who had been struck had to be treated with the same seriousness as anyone else who reported misconduct.
Bradley adjusted his belt and looked toward the main entrance.
He appeared to be calculating his next move.
Then he spoke again, this time in a lower voice.
BRADLEY: "I want to make something clear. I did not randomly attack her. There was a reason I became concerned."
THOMAS: "Then state the reason."
BRADLEY: "I believed she might be connected to a case being handled today."
JOSEPHINE: "Which case?"
Bradley hesitated.
BRADLEY: "A matter involving a woman who was supposed to appear before the court."
JOSEPHINE: "What was her name?"
BRADLEY: "Maya Reynolds."
The name caused the clerk to look up.
She seemed to recognize it, although she did not immediately say anything.
Josephine's expression remained controlled.
JOSEPHINE: "And what made you believe I was Maya Reynolds?"
BRADLEY: "You were in the corridor, carrying documents, and you refused to answer my questions."
JOSEPHINE: "Those circumstances do not establish that I am another person."
BRADLEY: "I said I believed you might be her."
JOSEPHINE: "Did you verify that belief before grabbing me?"
Bradley did not answer.
JOSEPHINE: "Did you compare my appearance with any description in the case file?"
He looked away.
JOSEPHINE: "Did you ask a clerk to confirm the identity of the person you were looking for?"
BRADLEY: "I was trying to establish what was going on."
JOSEPHINE: "By striking someone whose identity you had not established?"
The question hung in the air.
Thomas watched Bradley carefully.
The officer had finally provided a possible explanation for why he had approached Josephine in the first place, but that explanation created new questions rather than resolving the incident.
If he had genuinely believed she was another person, why had he not verified the information?
If he had been concerned about a pending court appearance, why had he not contacted the relevant clerk?
And if he believed she was connected to a criminal matter, what evidence supported that belief?
The questions were becoming increasingly specific.
Bradley seemed to realize that his explanation would need to withstand more than a few seconds of questioning.
BRADLEY: "I recognized someone who looked similar to the person I was looking for."
JOSEPHINE: "Then you should have said that."
BRADLEY: "I didn't have time to explain every detail."
JOSEPHINE: "You had time to argue with me. You had time to grab me. You had time to strike me. Yet you apparently had no time to ask a straightforward question."
Bradley stared at her.
He had no immediate response.
The clerk quietly wrote down the name Maya Reynolds and the explanation the officer had just provided.
Thomas noticed.
THOMAS: "Please include that in the preliminary notes. We will need to establish whether the identification procedure was followed."
CLERK: "I will."
Bradley suddenly seemed eager to regain control of the conversation.
BRADLEY: "I want to speak to my supervisor before any more of this gets written down."
THOMAS: "You will have the opportunity to speak with your supervisor."
BRADLEY: "Privately."
THOMAS: "That can be arranged through the appropriate procedure. It does not change the need to preserve the existing evidence."
The officer pressed his lips together.
Josephine looked toward the courtroom doors again.
She had originally come to the courthouse to carry out her responsibilities. Now she was standing in a corridor, surrounded by witnesses, while an officer attempted to justify an incident that should never have occurred.
Even so, she refused to allow the situation to become a spectacle.
JOSEPHINE: "I do not want this corridor turned into an argument between officials. The witnesses should be allowed to provide their statements, and the appropriate people should review the evidence."
THOMAS: "Agreed."
JOSEPHINE: "No one should be pressured, and no one should be encouraged to change what they saw."
THOMAS: "I'll make that clear."
Bradley looked at the two of them.
Their exchange had become increasingly formal, and he was beginning to sense that the woman he had treated as an ordinary suspect was not someone who could be intimidated into abandoning the matter.
He still did not understand why Thomas was showing her such respect.
He had not heard anyone call her by a professional title.
No one had introduced her as a judge.
No one had explained why she was carrying legal documents.
But the bailiff's demeanor was unmistakable.
Thomas was not merely being polite to an upset visitor.