Maya read it a second time, aware that Pike was watching for an outburst. "Sergeant, you have written that I came down the steps and moved toward you," she said. "Are you saying that is your accurate recollection?" Pike answered without hesitation that she had advanced in a hostile manner and used force against him. She asked whether he had reviewed any body-camera footage before signing the report. He told her that the footage was incomplete and that his own observation was more reliable than a camera angle.
"You are certain I came toward you?" Maya asked again. "You are certain you did not come up those stairs and seize my wrist first?"
"That's exactly what I am saying," Pike replied. Shaw nodded, though his eyes flicked toward Mercer before he answered. Cole stared at the report with a look Maya recognized from interviews in which a witness had been asked to endorse a statement he knew was inaccurate. The young officer's mouth moved as if he were silently reading the words back to himself. She did not rush him.
"Naomi," Maya said, "would you show the sergeant the relevant footage?"
Naomi brought out a tablet and opened the recording from the porch camera. The image showed Maya standing at the top step with her hands visible, while Pike approached from below and reached across the narrow gap. Maya withdrew her arm, and the sergeant lost his balance against the railing without being struck or pushed. The camera's wide angle also captured the paint cans, the open door, and the other officers positioned across the lawn. Naomi replayed it once in silence.
"That is not what your report says," Cole said quietly.
Pike turned to him so sharply that the young officer stepped back. "I didn't ask for your opinion." Cole held his ground, though his face was pale.
"It's not an opinion, Sergeant. She didn't come down the steps. You went up." Mercer moved closer to the tablet and watched the clip again, his expression growing more troubled each time the sergeant's hand entered the frame.
"The footage is clear," Mercer said. "Whatever happened, she wasn't the one moving toward you."
Pike's jaw tightened until the muscles stood out beneath his ears. "You are looking at edited video," he said. "Anybody can cut something together to make themselves look innocent." Naomi showed the longer recording, including the minutes before and after the physical contact, and offered the original upload logs to an independent forensic examiner. She did not claim the device was impossible to tamper with; she explained that integrity checks and records of storage would allow qualified people to test for alteration. That distinction seemed to anger Pike more than a boast of perfect technology would have.
"Give me the tablet," he demanded. "It's evidence in an active investigation."
"You may seek lawful access through the proper process," Maya answered. "We are not handing over our private device simply because your own report is contradicted by what it shows." Pike looked toward Mercer. "Take it." Mercer did not move. After a pause, he said, "I would want a warrant or a clear legal basis before seizing someone's property, Sergeant."
Shaw rubbed a thumb along his duty belt and looked away. He had been standing beside Pike throughout the first confrontation and knew the report did not match what he saw, yet he had still agreed to support it. His loyalty had always been easy when the people affected could do little more than complain. It was harder now that the evidence existed outside the precinct's control and two of his colleagues were refusing to stay quiet.
"Sergeant, I can't sign this statement," Cole said, holding up his unsigned copy. "I was on the path. I saw you reach for her. We can describe what happened accurately without accusing her of something she didn't do." Pike advanced across the grass and demanded to know whether the young officer intended to sabotage his own department. Cole answered that an accurate report was not sabotage, and the reply made Shaw stare at him as if he had broken an unspoken rule.