“It’s not that simple, Cindy. I get why Patrice wants to keep things friendly, and I have enough going on here. I shouldn’t be getting distracted with a love life that’s going nowhere and focus on my damn job,” I said, feeling guilty that my need to talk about Patrice detracted me from the conversation about the stops. I stood up from my desk and was about to suggest we go out for coffee so I could clear my head a bit when Ron walked into the office looking pissed.

Before he even opened his mouth, my heart sank.

“It happened again. This time it was two kids driving home after a late shift at the French bistro in town.” He shook his head and started tapping something on his phone and then handed it to me to look at. The headline said it all.

Sheriff’s Department’s Racially Biased Traffic Stops: New Ithaca Trend?

“I knew it. I fucking knew this would happen,” I said through gritted teeth. Cindy looked at the phone and sighed.

Ron gave her a hard look and took his phone back. “We need to do something. Day clearly has not dealt with this at all if it happened again in less than two weeks.”

I ran my hands over my head, intensely aware that Cindy had so far not said a word.

“Cin, go to the gym. I’ll deal with this.” My tone was sharp, but I was starting to run out of patience at how nonchalant she was being. Were we supposed to just let this escalate and do nothing?

“Do not do anything impulsive, Easton.”

That one hurt, because even if in my personal life I was a bit reactive, I never ever did anything that could hurt my work. But again, she was the boss, not me. “I will be cautious of how I approach this, but I need to sit down with Day.” By this point I was mostly talking to Ron. “I’m still convinced there is a way to address this without blowing everything up.”

She looked from me to Ron, who seemed like he was actively trying not to punch a wall. “Fine. I need to get out of there before I break all the promises I made to Lorainne about taking it easy. Please do not make any statements on behalf of this office until we’ve spoken with Day. Again, these are routine traffic stops.”

Ron scoffed at that, earning an unfriendly look from Cindy. “You’re entitled to your opinion, Ron, but while you are speaking for this office you will refrain from making statements about the sheriff’s department actions.” I squeezed the back of my neck hard, hoping this didn’t turn into a shouting match, but after a moment Ron nodded.

“Yes ma’am, but it’s not my imagination that this sudden hike in stops of black and brown kids is a very concerning trend.”