Damon leaned back.
"I'm just asking you to let the recording speak for itself."
Ryan's radio crackled.
"Unit Twelve, status?"
Ryan reached for it.
"Unit Twelve. Investigating two individuals at Riverside Park."
A pause.
"Any assistance required?"
Ryan looked at Damon and Kelvin.
"No."
Then he looked again at the black duffel bag.
He didn't know it yet, but that bag would become the center of an investigation far larger than anything he had imagined.
And the camera on his chest would eventually become the most important witness in the entire case.
Ryan had two choices.
He could leave.
Or he could continue.
His training told him that suspicion alone wasn't enough to justify everything an officer might want to do.
But another voice inside him whispered that something was wrong.
That voice had been getting louder during his first year on patrol.
His supervisor had once described it as initiative.
"Trust your instincts, Caldwell," Sergeant Mason had told him.
Ryan remembered those words now.
He looked at the duffel.
"Open it."
Damon shook his head.
"Officer, I don't consent to a search."
Kelvin added, "We'll cooperate with lawful instructions."
Ryan stared at them.
"You two always talk like lawyers?"
Damon smiled.
"Only when we're nervous."
Ryan didn't find that funny.
He stepped closer.
"Do you have anything illegal in that bag?"
"No."
"Any weapons?"
"No."
"Then why not open it?"
"Because having nothing illegal doesn't automatically mean we surrender our property."
Ryan paused.
He knew the statement was correct.
He also knew he was becoming frustrated.
His body camera continued recording.
A second patrol vehicle turned into the park.
Officer Elena Brooks stepped out.
She was older than Ryan by several years and had worked patrol long enough to recognize when an encounter was becoming unnecessarily complicated.
"What've you got?" she asked quietly.
Ryan explained.
Brooks listened.
Then she looked at Damon.
"Sir, are you willing to identify yourself?"
"Already did."
Brooks checked the IDs.
She then looked at Kelvin.
"You as well?"
"Yes."
She returned the identification.
"All right."
Ryan frowned.
"That's it?"
Brooks looked at him.
"What do you want it to be?"
Ryan didn't answer.
Brooks turned to Damon.
"Are you free to leave?"
Damon looked at Ryan.
Then at Brooks.
"Are we?"
Brooks nodded.
"As far as I can tell, yes."
Ryan's face hardened.
"Wait."
Brooks looked at him.
"Why?"
"I haven't finished."
"You haven't established a reason to detain them."
Ryan's face flushed.
Damon remained silent.
Kelvin quietly picked up the duffel.
Ryan watched.
"Hold on."
Kelvin stopped.
Ryan pointed.
"What's actually in the bag?"
Damon answered.
"Two cameras, batteries, water-testing equipment, notebooks, and a laptop."
Brooks looked at Ryan.
"Does that sound criminal to you?"
Ryan didn't respond.
Damon opened the bag.
He removed a professional camera.
Then another.
A laptop.
Several plastic sample containers.
A measuring device.
A stack of printed photographs.
And a folder.
Ryan looked at the photographs.
"What are those?"
"Pictures of the river."
"Why?"
Damon handed one over.
It showed a section of the riverbank where dark water had collected around a storm drain.
Another photograph showed dead vegetation.
Another showed a broken concrete barrier.
Ryan looked at Kelvin.
"You're investigating pollution?"
"We're documenting possible contamination."
"Possible?"
"We're not scientists. That's why we're collecting evidence for people who are."
Ryan looked at Brooks.
She was reading the folder.
Inside were dates, locations, photographs, measurements, and notes.
"This is organized," she said.
Damon nodded.
"We've been working on it for three weeks."
Ryan suddenly felt uncomfortable.
Not because they had done anything wrong.
Because he realized he had arrived with an assumption.
Before he could say anything, a loud metallic crash came from the far side of the park.
Everyone turned.
A maintenance vehicle had struck a metal barrier.
The driver jumped out.
Brooks immediately moved toward the sound.
Ryan followed.
Damon and Kelvin stayed behind.
Within seconds, the park's peaceful atmosphere disappeared.
A worker was shouting.
Someone pointed toward the river.
Another person yelled that a pipe had burst.
Ryan ran toward the commotion.
Then he saw something that made his stomach drop.
A dark stream of liquid was flowing from behind the maintenance building toward the drainage channel.