Ava looked at him, her dark eyes flashing with a quiet, righteous anger. “Why?”
“Because this changes things,” Mercer pleaded, desperate for her to understand his warped logic.
“No.” Ava took the badge wallet and placed it carefully back inside her handbag, zipping it shut. She looked at him with absolute pity and contempt. “It changes things for you.”
Mercer opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He had nothing.
Ava continued, her voice echoing the harsh reality of the law. “The search either had a legal basis when you initiated it, or it did not. Who I am has absolutely no bearing on whether your actions were constitutional.”
Officer Reed looked away, staring down at his boots. He knew she was right. He had known it from the moment Mercer demanded to see the bag.
Mercer, feeling cornered, became instinctively defensive. “I was investigating.”
“Then explain the investigation,” Ava challenged him, transforming the parking lot into a courtroom.
“We had a report.”
“What report?”
“Possible theft.”
“From whom?” Ava pressed, relentlessly dismantling his excuse.
Mercer hesitated, looking back toward the store. “Store employees.”
“Did they identify me?”
“No.”
“Did they describe me?”
“No.”
“Did they say I had stolen anything? Did they see me take a specific item?”
“No.”
Ava nodded slowly, letting his admissions hang in the air for everyone to hear. “Then why did you choose me?”
Nobody answered. The shoppers who had gathered around were completely silent. The only sound was the distant hum of traffic on the nearby highway. Because everyone in that crowd, regardless of their background, understood the heavy implication of the question.
Reed looked toward Mercer, pleading with him silently to stop making it worse. “Daniel.”
The older officer looked irritated, his face red with embarrassment and anger. “Don’t.”
“No,” Reed said, finally finding a shred of his own voice. He shook his head. “You need to answer her.”
Mercer looked away, unable to meet his partner's eyes, unable to meet Ava's eyes, and unable to look at the crowd.
Ava picked up her bag by the straps, slinging it over her shoulder. “I already know the answer.”
Mercer’s head snapped back toward her. “What?”
“You saw a situation, you looked at me, and you decided the story before finding any facts,” Ava said, her voice ringing with the clarity of truth.
The officer frowned, an ugly, defensive scowl. “That’s not true.”
“Then prove it,” Ava countered simply.
Mercer had no response. He stood there, exposed and defeated by his own actions.
Just then, the automatic doors of the supermarket slid open, and the store manager hurried out. She was a middle-aged woman named Karen Mitchell, looking flustered and anxious. She was the one who had made the initial call to the police after a young cashier reported a vague, unsubstantiated concern about a customer in the fitting rooms. She rushed over to the scene, her eyes darting between the officers, the crowd, and Ava.
“What happened?” Karen asked breathlessly.
Officer Reed, wanting to establish the facts clearly, answered before Mercer could spin a lie. “Officer Mercer conducted a search of this woman's belongings.”
Karen looked surprised, her eyes widening. “Was there theft confirmed?”
“No,” Reed said flatly.