He showed her a folder containing the plea paperwork, employment records, and letters his mother had written while he was incarcerated. Some were addressed to the prosecutor, others to the state oversight agency, and several had been returned without meaningful response. Autumn photographed the documents with Jerome's permission and promised to confirm each point independently. Before she left, she asked whether he would be willing to speak with an attorney if the new investigation created a path to review his case.
Jerome looked at the ground. "I'd speak to somebody who actually listened," he said. "I just don't want to be the town's cautionary tale again." Autumn understood. She thanked him, shut off her recorder, and sat with him a few minutes longer without taking notes. That was the first time Jerome looked fully at her rather than at the street.
While Autumn conducted her interviews, Colonel Greer met privately with Nathaniel and Simone in Ruthie's kitchen. The military legal team had secured verified service records and prepared a factual summary for civilian counsel. Federal investigators had begun interviewing witnesses about the arrest, and Simone had retained a Georgia civil-rights attorney to handle the possible civil action. Greer made it clear that she intended to provide appropriate institutional support while leaving law enforcement and prosecution decisions to the FBI and the Justice Department.
"I'm glad we're making that distinction," Nathaniel said. "I don't want a parade of uniforms making this about whose authority is bigger." Greer nodded. "The issue is what happened on the road, not whether a major general should have been treated with extra courtesy." Simone looked at both of them. "And the issue may be what happened on that road a dozen times before him," she added.
Nathaniel asked Greer whether a case could be built from the older complaints. She explained that investigators would need to obtain original records, interview witnesses independently, and evaluate each accusation separately. A pattern might help reveal motive or institutional knowledge, but it would not replace proof in any individual case. Nathaniel was relieved to hear the emphasis on process, because he had seen what happened when the desire for a certain result overtook the obligation to establish the truth.
They discussed the church camera next. The building was not a military facility, and its recordings belonged to the congregation. Reverend Isaac Roer, who had served Grace Fellowship for nearly thirty years, had already contacted the local legal team to say that the security system contained footage of the stop. The reverend wanted the recordings preserved by competent investigators and was willing to provide them through a documented voluntary transfer.
Nathaniel went to the church with Simone and the attorney two days later. Reverend Roer greeted them beneath the shade of a magnolia tree, his white beard moving slightly as he smiled. He was seventy, with tired knees and the patient manner of a man who had listened to people tell the same kinds of painful stories for decades. He invited them into his small office, where photographs of baptisms and church suppers lined the walls.