The attorney nodded.
"That can be arranged."
Arthur stood.
"Not because I need special treatment."
He looked through the window.
"Because this incident will become a test of whether accountability means anything when nobody involved is supposed to be above the law."
Outside the conference room, Rollins sat alone.
He had lost his confidence.
The swagger was gone.
Miller sat nearby.
"You okay?"
Rollins laughed bitterly.
"No."
Miller didn't answer.
Rollins rubbed his face.
"I thought he was trespassing."
"You thought."
"I thought."
"You never checked."
Rollins stared at the floor.
"I can't undo it."
"No."
"What happens now?"
Miller looked toward the conference room.
"Now you tell the truth."
Rollins looked at him.
"That's it?"
"That's the only thing you can still control."
Inside the conference room, Arthur asked for a complete timeline.
Every radio transmission.
Every database search.
Every dispatch entry.
Every camera angle.
Every statement.
Nothing was to be altered.
Nothing was to be hidden.
The federal team would not simply investigate Rollins.
They would investigate the entire chain of events.
That distinction mattered.
Arthur knew that one officer's mistake could become a department's culture if supervisors protected it.
He also knew that a single bad incident could be unfairly used to condemn every officer who had done the job correctly.
So he insisted on precision.
Facts first.
Opinions later.
That evening, the chief arrived.
He entered the room visibly uncomfortable.
"Director Pendleton."
Arthur stood.
"Chief."
"I want to apologize."
Arthur shook his head.
"An apology is appropriate. But it isn't sufficient."
The chief nodded.
"I understand."
"Then help establish what happened."
"We will."
Arthur looked at him.
"Not what you wish had happened."
The chief paused.
"What actually happened."
The chief nodded.
"Yes."
For the first time that day, Arthur smiled faintly.
"Then we have somewhere to begin."
The investigation lasted through the night.
The more investigators examined the evidence, the clearer the sequence became.
Arthur had not entered another person's property.
He had not attempted to conceal his identity.
He had not attacked anyone.
He had not resisted arrest.
The original assumptions had simply been wrong.
But the investigators also discovered something else.
There had been a series of complaints in Elmwood Estates involving package thefts.
Rollins had been frustrated because none had resulted in an arrest.
His supervisors had encouraged officers to remain alert.
The problem was that "remain alert" had gradually become, in Rollins's behavior, "treat anything unusual as suspicious."
That distinction was critical.
Miller testified that he had questioned the arrest almost immediately.
Omali acknowledged that Rollins had exaggerated the circumstances during booking.
The dashcam footage contradicted several details in the initial report.
By morning, the case was no longer simply about one mistaken arrest.
It had become an examination of police procedure.
Arthur listened to every finding.
At one point, Hayes asked him:
"Do you want Rollins suspended?"
Arthur looked at him.
"That's not my decision."
"Then what do you want?"
"Due process."
Hayes nodded.
Arthur continued.
"And training."
"For the department?"
"For everyone."
Arthur walked toward the window.
"People think reform means punishing someone after something goes wrong."
He turned.
"Sometimes it means preventing the next mistake before it happens."
The attorney placed a document on the table.
"There is another issue."
Arthur looked down.
"What's that?"
"The arrest report."
Arthur read it.
Several allegations had been added after the initial detention.
Arthur looked up.
"Who authorized this?"
"That's still being investigated."
Arthur handed the document back.
"This is why documentation matters."
He paused.
"A bad decision can become a much worse decision when someone tries to justify it afterward."