Stopped walking home from a convenience store.

Harlan claimed they matched the description of robbery suspects.

Neither did.

Complaint closed.

The third involved a twenty-one-year-old Black nursing student named DeAndre Moss.

According to Moss, Harlan stopped him while jogging near Jefferson Park.

Marcus read that sentence twice.

Jogging.

Jefferson Park.

Harlan claimed Moss appeared to be fleeing from an area where someone had reported suspicious activity.

Moss said Harlan forced him against the hood of the cruiser and searched him.

Nothing was found.

Moss complained.

No body-camera footage existed because Harlan reported a technical malfunction.

Complaint closed.

Marcus looked up.

“Why is Major Crimes involved?”

Lena opened the final report.

“Because of this.”

A man named Terrence Blake had been arrested after Harlan claimed he found an illegal handgun beneath the driver’s seat during a traffic stop.

Blake insisted the weapon was not his.

Normally, Marcus would not have cared about a routine gun possession case.

Except the weapon’s serial number connected it to a homicide Marcus was investigating.

The gun had disappeared from an evidence room eight months earlier.

That changed everything.

Internal Affairs had quietly begun reviewing officers with access to the evidence system.

Harlan was not initially on the list.

Then Lena noticed his name.

His complaint history.

His stops.

The missing body-camera footage.

And his strange ability to turn vague descriptions into aggressive searches.

Marcus and Lena had spent three weeks examining the pattern.

Nothing yet proved Harlan stole the gun.

Nothing proved he planted it.

But the investigation was moving closer.

That Sunday morning, Marcus had left home frustrated because they still lacked the thing every good investigation eventually required.

Something undeniable.

Something nobody could explain away.

Then Daniel Harlan stopped him in Jefferson Park.

By lunchtime, Marcus had the woman’s video saved in three separate locations.

And by Monday morning, Internal Affairs wanted to talk.

Captain Evelyn Shaw ran Professional Standards like a courtroom.

Her office contained almost nothing personal.

No family photographs.

No awards.

No decorations.

Just two chairs, a desk and shelves of case binders.

Marcus sat across from her at 7:30 Monday morning.

Lena sat beside him.

Captain Shaw watched the park video twice.

Then she removed her glasses.

“He didn’t recognize you?”

“No.”

“Never met you?”

“Apparently not.”

Lena smiled.

“Major Crimes should work on its visibility.”

Shaw ignored her.

“Marcus, I need you to understand something. You’re a complainant now.”

“I understand.”

“You cannot participate directly in the administrative investigation of yesterday’s incident.”

“I know.”

“But the gun investigation is separate.”

“Correct.”

Shaw looked toward Lena.

“Detective Brooks takes lead.”

Marcus nodded.

Shaw folded her hands.

“Officer Harlan says you were evasive.”

“I asked why I was being detained.”

“He says you failed to immediately obey commands.”