Derek did.
Graves placed the tablet on the table.
“You do not speak to internal affairs.”
“Fine.”
“You do not speak to federal agents.”
“Fine.”
“You do not contact witnesses.”
“I know.”
“You do not contact Voss.”
Derek’s eyes flashed.
“That little bastard—”
Graves slammed his hand on the table.
“Stop.”
Derek stared.
Graves lowered his voice.
“You are on video.”
“I know.”
“No.”
“I don’t think you do.”
He turned the tablet.
Played Lila’s recording.
Derek watched himself.
The shouting sounded worse than he remembered.
The wheelchair movement looked violent.
Harlan’s body slammed sideways.
The crowd reacted.
Then came Derek’s accusation of assault.
His demand for identification.
His face when the credential opened.
The pleading.
Graves paused.
Derek looked away.
“It’s out of context.”
“Then give me context.”
“He wouldn’t move.”
“That does not authorize you to tip a wheelchair.”
“I wasn’t trying to tip it.”
“You grabbed it and pulled.”
“I was moving him out of traffic.”
Graves stared.
“Do not ever say that under oath unless you enjoy perjury investigations.”
Derek’s mouth tightened.
“What am I looking at?”
“Administrative termination?”
“Possible state assault charge?”
“Federal review.”
Derek laughed nervously.
“Federal?”
“He used to run FBI task forces.”
“That shouldn’t matter.”
Graves gave him a long look.
“You’re right.”
Derek seemed relieved.
Graves continued.
“The video matters.”
The relief disappeared.
“And the camera?”
Derek looked down.
“What camera?”
“Your body camera.”
“Battery.”
“They pulled the device log.”
Derek stopped breathing for a moment.
Graves saw.
“That bad?”
“It glitched.”
“Derek.”
“It glitched.”
Graves leaned back.
“If I discover you manually disabled that camera before a use-of-force incident, I become much less useful to you.”
Derek stared at the table.
Outside, the investigation had already begun expanding.
Not publicly.
Not yet.
Federal agents requested preservation orders.
Thorpe suspended Derek with pay as required during the initial investigation.
That fact angered people when news eventually broke.
Harlan defended it.
“Administrative pay is not acquittal,” he told a reporter weeks later. “Due process that protects people we dislike is still due process.”
What mattered was the evidence.
And evidence accumulated.
Caleb gave a formal recorded statement that night.
He described Derek’s comments before the incident.
The “element.”
The people who “didn’t belong.”
The instruction to “watch and learn.”
Caleb cried once during the interview.
Not dramatically.
He became angry with himself and wiped his face.
Agent Brooks asked:
“Why didn’t you intervene sooner?”
Caleb stared at his hands.
“I was afraid.”
“Of Mr. Whitaker?”
“No.”
“Of Officer Langford?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He controlled my training reports.”
“He told me nobody trusts rookies who don’t back their partners.”