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Racist Woman Calls Cops on Man Reading in Park — Then the Officers Suddenly Stiffened

Chapter 2

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Elijah explained the morning in precise terms.“I arrived at 8:05. I sat here and read. At approximately 8:47, this woman approached me and asked whether I lived nearby. I told her I don’t give my address to strangers. She asked why I was hanging around. I said I was reading. She walked away and called you.”Hill turned to the woman. “Is that accurate?”“She’s leaving things out.”“What?”“He was rude.”Elijah raised an eyebrow. “I declined to give you my address.”“You had an attitude.”Hill asked whether Elijah had threatened her.“No.”Blocked her path?“No.”Touched her?“No.”Followed her?“No.”Photographed anyone?“I don’t know.”“Did you see him do it?”“No.”Hill nodded. “Then we don’t have a crime.”The woman stared at Brooks. “You told me you’d make him identify himself.”Brooks’ jaw tightened.Elijah turned toward him. “Did you?”Brooks hesitated. “I told her we would investigate.”“You said you’d handle it,” the woman insisted.Brooks looked at her. “Ma’am, please let me speak.”Her mouth fell open.Elijah picked up his bookmark. “Am I being detained?”“No,” Brooks answered.“Am I free to stay here?”“Yes.”“Then I’d like my bench back.”The woman stared. “That’s it?”Hill told her they still needed to speak with her about the complaint.Elijah sat again.Brooks remained beside the bench.After several seconds, he said quietly, “Judge Holloway, I owe you an apology.”Elijah opened his book. “Why?”“For taking the complaint at face value.”“That’s not quite what happened.”Brooks frowned.“You arrived and saw a man sitting with a book. You saw no disturbance. You asked for my name anyway because it was easier to pressure the person on the bench than challenge the person making the accusation.”Brooks looked down.“You’re right.”“Are you saying that because you mean it, or because you know what commission I chair?”Brooks took longer to answer.“Both, probably.”That surprised Elijah.Brooks continued. “When Hill said your name, I replayed the last five minutes in my head. I didn’t like what I heard.”“That’s at least honest.”The woman was several yards away now, speaking rapidly to Hill.Brooks glanced toward her. “Dispatch told us there was a suspicious man watching families.”“And when you arrived?”“I should have established the facts before asking for identification.”“Yes.”Brooks nodded.Elijah ran his thumb along the edge of the book.“My wife used to sit on this bench.”Brooks glanced at him.“She died last year.”“I’m sorry.”“Every Saturday she walked this loop. I hated walking, so I’d sit here and read until she came back.”Elijah smiled faintly.“She said I looked like I was waiting to interview dead presidents.”Brooks almost laughed.“Today would have been our thirty-second anniversary.”Anger flashed across Brooks’ face as he looked toward the woman.Elijah saw it immediately.“Don’t do that.”“Do what?”“Turn her into a villain because my story makes you sympathetic to me now. Deal with what she did, not what you imagine about her.”Brooks slowly nodded.The lesson, Elijah thought, worked in both directions.
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Racist Woman Calls Cops on Man Reading in Park — Then the Officers Suddenly Stiffened

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