Held it in both hands.
“I should have stopped it.”
Wesley remembered the phone.
“You gave me my phone.”
Jerome’s eyes filled.
“That was not enough.”
“No.”
Jerome swallowed.
“No, it wasn't.”
He looked toward Lawrence.
Then Wesley.
“I was afraid of losing my job.”
Wesley frowned slightly.
Jerome continued:
“That explains why I stayed quiet.”
“It does not make it right.”
Wesley looked at him.
Adults rarely spoke like that.
Most adults explained themselves until the explanation sounded like innocence.
Jerome was not doing that.
Wesley asked:
“Would you do it again?”
Jerome shook his head.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
Jerome looked toward the office Bradley disappeared into.
“Because today I saw what my silence looked like from the other side.”
Wesley did not fully understand.
He would later.
Diane approached next.
She had been crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Wesley looked toward her.
She clutched her purse.
“I watched.”
“I left.”
“Then I came back.”
“But I still didn't stop him.”
Wesley remembered seeing her.
“Why did you come back?”
“Because I couldn't drive away.”
He considered that.
Diane wiped her eyes.
“I’m filing a statement.”
“Everything I heard.”
“Everything I saw.”
Wesley nodded.
“Okay.”
She looked surprised.
“That's all?”
“What else?”
Diane almost laughed through tears.
“I don't know.”
Wesley thought.
Then:
“Thank you for coming back.”
Diane cried harder.
Inside Bradley’s office, Patricia Edwards sat behind his desk.
That choice was deliberate.
Bradley sat in the visitor chair.
The cheap one.
He had selected it years earlier because customers rarely stayed long if they were uncomfortable.
Now he understood the chair differently.
Patricia placed a laptop on the desk.
Lawrence stood near the window.
He had asked Wesley whether he wanted to attend.
Wesley said no.
Lawrence respected it.
Patricia opened the incident record.
“Did you write this?”
Bradley looked.
“Yes.”
“Read it.”
He hesitated.
“Read it.”
Bradley began.
“Juvenile male entered branch displaying suspicious banking materials.”
Patricia waited.
Bradley continued.
“Individual became agitated when asked to provide identification.”
Lawrence’s expression hardened.
Bradley’s voice weakened.
“Individual refused lawful instruction and became verbally confrontational, requiring security intervention.”
Patricia rotated the laptop.
Security video played.
Wesley entering.
Polite.
Nervous.
Hands visible.
Bradley laughing.
Card thrown.
Boy waiting.
Bradley escalating.
Wesley never threatening.
Never shouting.
Never refusing.
Patricia stopped the video.
“Your report is false.”
Bradley stared.
“I wrote it quickly.”