Jordan looked at her. "What stories?"
Evelyn took a breath. "There's a woman named Tasha Green. She owns the hair salon near the grocery store. She complained last year that an officer kept questioning her when she closed up after dark. She said the same officer followed her twice and stopped her near the shopping center. Then there was Luis Moreno, who was told to move his landscaping truck from a street where every other contractor parked."
"Were those complaints filed?"
"Tasha tried. She was told there was no point unless she had proof. Luis didn't complain. He thought making trouble would cost him customers."
Nia set down her tea. "Why didn't we hear any of this before we moved?"
"Because people don't usually warn newcomers that something is wrong with the place they live," Evelyn said. "Especially when they're afraid the warning will sound like an accusation against the whole town."
Jordan asked her to write down the names and any details she knew, but not to investigate anyone herself. Evelyn nodded and opened the small notebook she had brought in her purse. She had already written the names on the first page, in neat handwriting that reminded Jordan of teachers he had known as a child. Underneath the names she had written one sentence: I should have asked sooner.
After she left, Nia covered the dish and put it in the refrigerator. Jordan stood beside the kitchen counter, looking at the names Evelyn had given him. He had accepted the chief's job believing that Fairhaven needed better procedures, stronger supervision, and more honest communication. Now he was beginning to suspect that the problem lay deeper than a few missing policies.
At nine fifteen, his phone rang. The screen displayed the name Thomas Rucker, the outgoing chief whose chair Jordan was supposed to occupy on Monday. Jordan answered and listened as Rucker offered a careful apology that sounded less rehearsed than the council messages but no less worried.
"I spoke to Voss," Rucker said. "He says the situation got away from him. He says he believed you were resisting a lawful order."
"What was the lawful order?"
A pause. "That's part of what we need to establish."
"Then establish it. Don't let anybody decide what happened from a phone call. Preserve the recordings, the radio traffic, the original complaint, and every report. And Chief, this can't be reviewed by the officers who will answer to me in forty-eight hours."
"I know. The city manager has authorized me to request an outside investigator."
"Good."
Rucker hesitated. "Jordan, I need to ask you something. Are you still planning to take the oath Monday morning?"
Jordan looked through the kitchen window toward the driveway. The soap had dried into white marks across the black hood. "Yes," he said. "Because if I don't, the only thing this town learns from today is that a bad officer can scare away the person they hired to change things."