Grant’s gaze dropped again.
“Yeah. We noticed.”
Elena’s face turned cold.
“Don’t.”
Grant raised his eyebrows.
“Don’t what?”
“You know exactly what.”
Cole stepped forward.
“All right. Enough.”
His hand closed around Elena’s wrist.
Hard.
She looked down at it.
Then at him.
“Take your hand off me.”
Cole tightened his grip.
“What are you gonna do?”
Elena did not yank her arm away.
She knew better.
Instead she spoke carefully.
“I am not resisting you.”
“You better not.”
“I am asking why you’re holding me.”
“Because I told you to stay put.”
“I was standing still.”
Grant circled around Elena’s side.
“Maybe she needs checking.”
Elena turned her head.
“What does that mean?”
Grant raised both hands slightly.
“Standard officer safety.”
“I have no pockets.”
He moved behind her.
Elena felt her pulse increase.
“Do not touch me.”
Grant laughed.
“Relax.”
Then one of the officers—Reeves—stepped in close, reached down, and placed his hand firmly on Elena’s buttocks.
“I think you’re hiding drugs in here,” he said.
Elena’s voice rose sharply.
“Don’t touch me!”
She knocked his hand away with a sharp, deliberate motion.
Not a punch.
Not an attack.
Just a clear removal of his hand from her body.
Reeves’s face changed.
Cole yanked Elena’s arm.
“Hey!”
She stumbled half a step.
His grip tightened.
“You want to go to jail?”
Elena looked directly into his eyes.
“He put his hand on my body.”
Reeves said quickly, “I was checking for contraband.”
“No.”
“You don’t decide that.”
Elena turned toward him.
“You put your hand on me after I told you not to.”
Grant smirked.
“Maybe don’t dress like you’re trying to get attention.”
Silence.
Even Cole glanced at him for half a second.
Elena stared at the three of them.
Something inside her settled.
Not calmed.
Settled.
Every loose piece of the encounter suddenly locked into place.
She stopped explaining.
Stopped trying to convince them to behave professionally.
Stopped believing any of the three men was interested in understanding what had happened.
Cole noticed the change.
“What?”
Elena looked at his nameplate.
Then Grant’s.
Then Reeves’s.
Then the numbers on their badges.
She memorized all three.
Cole saw her eyes moving.
“You taking inventory?”
“Yes.”
Grant laughed.
“For what?”
Elena ignored him.
She looked at Cole.
“Run the name Elena Brooks.”
Cole stared at her.
“Why?”
“You wanted to know who I am.”
He smiled.
“I already know enough.”
“Run it.”
Grant folded his arms.
“Oh, this should be good.”
Elena held Cole’s gaze.
“Run the name.”
Cole’s pride did exactly what Elena expected.
He raised the radio.
“Dispatch, Unit Thirty-Two.”
“Thirty-Two, go ahead.”
“Run an Elena Brooks. Female. White. Approximately thirty.”
Elena nearly corrected him.
Didn’t.