The professional standards officer was a woman named Lieutenant Grace Holloway. She had been assigned to review retaliation concerns and told Caleb he had done the right thing by bringing the issue forward. She also told him that truthfulness would not erase the fact that he had hesitated before intervening. His performance would be evaluated under the same standards as any other officer, and he might be required to complete additional training. Caleb said he understood. It was the first conversation since the incident in which he felt he was being treated as a professional rather than a symbol.
Derek, now on administrative leave, spent those weeks moving between anger and dread. He retained Nolan Graves to represent him in employment proceedings and another attorney, Julian Price, for potential criminal matters. Graves explained that the union could require the department to follow its contract and allow a fair hearing, but could not prevent an independent investigation or excuse illegal force. Derek heard only the limitation. He accused the union of abandoning him when it mattered.
"I'm not abandoning you," Graves said. "I'm telling you what the evidence shows. Your defense cannot be that you didn't know the man was retired FBI. It makes the situation worse."
"So what am I paying dues for?"
"To make sure the rules apply to you as they apply to everyone," Graves replied. "Not to make the rules disappear."
Michelle had begun sleeping in the guest room. The children asked why strangers were sending messages to their phones, and she could not invent an answer that made the footage disappear. She told them their father was accused of serious misconduct, that the investigation had to proceed, and that they were not responsible for his actions. Her older daughter wanted to know whether Derek had treated other people the same way. Michelle said she was afraid he had, then cried in private because she wished she had pressed harder when the earlier complaints were dismissed.
Derek wanted her to defend him publicly. He asked her to post photographs of the family with a statement about the sacrifices police officers made. She refused.
A happy photograph could not answer a video of him grabbing someone. When he accused her of being disloyal, she told him loyalty did not require turning away from what she had witnessed. He went to the garage and slammed the door. Their marriage had contained arguments before, but now Michelle was asking whether she had known the man she lived with.
Outside the family, the town divided itself into predictable camps at first. Some residents insisted Derek had been protecting public safety. Others called for his immediate imprisonment before charges were filed. Harlan disliked both forms of certainty, even when one was accompanied by sympathy for him. He asked people who contacted him not to threaten Derek's family or publish private addresses. He believed officers should be held accountable through evidence and lawful proceedings, and he did not want strangers claiming to act for him while behaving like bullies themselves.