The Woman Alone
The first thing Officer Daniel Crowley noticed was that the woman was alone.
That mattered to him.
It was just after noon on a bright Saturday in Daytona Beach, Florida. The shoreline was crowded with families, tourists, umbrellas, coolers, folding chairs, and children racing toward the waves. Music drifted from a nearby hotel patio, and gulls circled above the water.
But one woman sat quietly on a striped towel about thirty yards from the shoreline.
Her name was Naomi Bennett.
At thirty-four, Naomi had a calmness that made strangers underestimate her. She had deep-brown skin, intelligent dark eyes, thick black curls gathered into a loose high bun, and an expression that rarely revealed what she was thinking.
She wore an elegant white one-piece swimsuit beneath a sheer white cover-up. White sandals rested beside a woven tan bag. Her sunglasses lay next to her phone.
She looked like every other person who had come to the beach that afternoon.
Except Naomi wasn't there to swim.
She was there to observe.
For fourteen months, she had been investigating complaints against the Daytona Beach Police Department for the city's independent accountability office.
And Daniel Crowley was the officer at the center of her investigation.
Crowley was forty-three, broad-shouldered, with short dark hair, black sunglasses, and a reputation for knowing exactly how far he could push a person before the encounter became a formal complaint.
He had noticed Naomi twenty minutes earlier.
She had noticed him too.
Crowley walked toward her.
He stopped beside her towel.
"Hey."
Naomi looked up.
Crowley pointed toward the boardwalk.
"Pack your stuff and move."
Naomi blinked once.
"Excuse me?"
"I've had enough complaints about people like you hanging around where they don't belong."
Naomi glanced around.
The beach was public.
There were hundreds of people around her.
"Then tell me exactly what law I broke by sitting on a public beach."
Crowley's jaw tightened.
"Don't make this difficult."
"I'm asking a simple question."
He stepped closer.
"Keep running your mouth and I'll drag you off this sand in cuffs."
Several beachgoers turned.
Naomi slowly stood.
She brushed sand from her cover-up.
Then she looked directly into his sunglasses.
"Touch me," she said quietly, "and this whole beach watches you lose your badge before your hand leaves my arm."
Crowley laughed.
"You threatening me?"
"No."
Naomi reached toward her woven bag.
Crowley's hand immediately moved toward his duty belt.
"Keep your hands where I can see them."
Naomi stopped.
"What exactly do you think I'm reaching for?"
"I don't know."
"You watched me put a folder in this bag five minutes ago."
Crowley hesitated.
Naomi had noticed him watching.
"Take it out slowly."
She reached into the bag and removed a white leather folder.