Naomi answered immediately.
“Nothing that looks like revenge.”
“And legally?”
“Preserve evidence. Request the records. Let the investigation run.”
“That's it?”
“For now.”
That afternoon, Ethan Cole asked to speak with Naomi.
He arrived without his uniform.
He stood at the gate.
Naomi invited him inside.
Cole looked exhausted.
“I should have stopped him sooner.”
Naomi said nothing.
“I knew he was wrong.”
“Then why didn't you stop him?”
Cole looked down.
“Because he was my senior officer.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He took a breath.
“It's an excuse.”
Naomi appreciated the distinction.
Cole continued.
“I thought staying quiet would keep things calm.”
Naomi looked at him.
“Did it?”
“No.”
“What did it protect?”
Cole didn't answer.
Finally he said:
“Me.”
Naomi nodded.
“That is the truth.”
Cole looked embarrassed.
“But I'm willing to tell investigators everything.”
Naomi stood.
“Then tell them.”
He looked surprised.
“That's all?”
“No. That's the beginning.”
The investigation expanded.
Internal Affairs requested personnel files.
Complaint histories.
Body-camera records.
Training evaluations.
Supervisor notes.
Dispatch logs.
Within two weeks, a pattern appeared.
Officer Mason Holloway had repeatedly been described as confrontational.
One supervisor had written:
“Needs improvement in de-escalation.”
Another had written:
“Demonstrates excessive confidence during citizen disputes.”
A third had recommended additional training.
But nothing serious happened.
He remained on patrol.
The complaints continued.
Naomi was not surprised.
What surprised her was the number of people who had tried to report similar experiences.
One was a retired teacher named Harold Greene.
Another was a small business owner named Sofia Martinez.
A third was a young father named Darius King.
They had never met Naomi.
But when they heard about the garden incident, they came forward.
Sofia told investigators that Holloway had once asked her if she was “sure” she owned her own store.
Harold remembered being stopped while unlocking his front door.
Darius described being questioned for twenty minutes outside his apartment.
Different people.
Different places.
Similar experience.
Captain Mitchell eventually called Naomi.
“We have a problem.”
Naomi answered carefully.
“What kind?”
“The complaints were real.”
“I assumed they were.”
“No. I mean we found evidence that some were poorly documented.”
Naomi was silent.
Mitchell continued.
“Several complaints were categorized as minor.”
“And now?”
“Now we're reviewing them again.”
Naomi leaned back.
“Captain, I want you to understand something.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“This isn't just about Holloway.”
“I agree.”
“Then don't make him the entire explanation.”
Mitchell sighed.
“I don't intend to.”
The investigation continued.
Then something unexpected happened.
A former dispatcher contacted Internal Affairs.
She said Holloway had occasionally asked for addresses that were not connected to active calls.
The dispatcher had always assumed he had another reason.
But she remembered Naomi's address.
She checked the old system.
There was no emergency call.
No complaint.
No dispatch request.
Nothing.
The question became unavoidable.
Why had Holloway gone there?
The answer would come from his own records.
Investigators discovered that Holloway had received an anonymous neighborhood complaint several days before the incident.
It described “suspicious activity” around Naomi's house.
But the complaint contained no details.
No description.
No suspect.
No vehicle.
Nothing.
More importantly, the report had never been officially entered.
It existed only in a handwritten note found in Holloway's locker.
Investigators questioned him.
“Where did this come from?”
“I don't remember.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did you go to the address?”
“I believed there might be a burglary.”
“Why wasn't the call in dispatch?”
Holloway remained silent.
The investigators pressed.
Finally, he admitted that a neighborhood resident had spoken to him informally.
Who?
A man named Gregory Lane.
Lane lived two streets away.
He had complained several times about people he believed “didn't fit the neighborhood.”
Naomi didn't know him.
But other residents did.
He had opposed several housing developments.
He had repeatedly complained about renters.
And he had once attended a neighborhood meeting where Naomi had been introduced as the newest homeowner.
That detail mattered.
Investigators found a message from Lane to Holloway.
It contained Naomi's address.
It said:
“Someone unusual is staying there again. You should check.”