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A FEMALE OFFICER CONFRONTED HER PARTNER AT MIDNIGHT—THEN HIS TERRIFYING SECRET EMERGED

Chapter 5

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"Did you delete the footage?""Yes.""Why?""Because Daniel told me to.""Did you know what was on it?""I knew it showed him meeting Marcus. I didn't know why he wanted it gone."Paul lowered his head."I have regretted it every day since."Elena asked whether he knew about the storage drive.Paul nodded."Marcus told me it contained records that could prove the financial fraud. He said he had made several copies.""Where are they?""I don't know.""Did Daniel get the original?""Maybe.""Did Marcus survive the night?"Paul looked at her for a long time."I think so.""Why?""Because the next morning, Daniel came back to the warehouse. He was alone. He asked whether anyone had seen Marcus leave."Elena frowned."Why would he ask that if he already knew where Marcus was?"Paul swallowed."Because he was looking for something. He said Marcus had taken the wrong drive."Elena sat back.The wrong drive.The phrase explained why Daniel had continued searching.Perhaps Marcus had given him a decoy.Perhaps the real evidence was still hidden somewhere."Did Daniel ever find it?" she asked.Paul shook his head."Not that I know."Elena stood."Mr. Mercer, I need you to give a formal statement."Paul looked frightened."Will I be protected?""I will make sure your concerns are documented. I can't promise an outcome before the investigators review your information, but I won't ask you to hide what happened."Paul stared at the glass in his hand.Then he nodded."All right."As Elena walked back to her car, her phone vibrated.A message appeared from an unknown number.STOP LOOKING FOR MARCUS. YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.Elena looked around the street.The road was empty.But she suddenly felt as though someone was watching her from the darkness.CHAPTER 7: THE WARNINGElena reported the threatening message immediately.Her supervisor arranged for the department's digital forensics team to examine the number. The message appeared to have been routed through a service that concealed the sender's identity.The investigators could not establish who had sent it.But the timing was suspicious.Someone knew she had spoken to Paul Mercer.Someone knew she was getting closer to the truth.The following morning, Elena received another message.This one contained a photograph of her apartment building.The image had been taken from across the street.She did not panic.Instead, she contacted her supervisor, documented the threat, and temporarily moved into a secure location.Then she returned to the case.She had learned that fear could make people abandon a difficult question before they found its answer.She refused to let that happen.The department assigned a second investigator, Detective Samuel Price, to review the financial evidence.Sam was methodical and cautious. He had spent most of his career investigating fraud and organized crime.When Elena explained the connection between Marcus, Victor Hale, and Daniel, Sam did not immediately accept her theory."You're asking me to believe that a police officer helped conceal evidence in a financial crime, arranged for surveillance footage to be deleted, and possibly helped a missing man disappear," he said."I'm asking you to examine the evidence.""Do you have proof Daniel committed a crime?""I have footage showing he met Marcus. I have a witness who says Daniel ordered the footage deleted. I have inconsistencies in his reports."Sam nodded."That's enough to investigate. It isn't enough to conclude what happened.""I agree.""Good. Then we keep the investigation separate from our personal feelings."Elena looked at him."That's what I'm trying to do."Sam studied her for a moment."You and Brooks are close.""We were.""That can make this harder.""It already has."Sam opened a folder."Then let's focus on what we can establish."Together, they traced payments from Victor Hale's companies to a consulting firm registered under the name Northbridge Solutions.The firm had no visible office, no public employees, and no legitimate business activity.Its accounts had received more than two million dollars over eighteen months.Several payments had been authorized using credentials belonging to Marcus's former employer.Other transactions appeared to have been approved by a city official who denied ever seeing the invoices.The money had then been distributed across multiple accounts.One account belonged to a company associated with Paul Mercer.Another had paid for a vehicle registered under a false identity.And a third had transferred money to an account connected to a property outside Bellwood.Elena and Sam obtained the appropriate authorization to examine the records.The property belonged to a company called Reedfield Holdings.The name caught Elena's attention.Reedfield.Marcus Reed.She searched the company registry.The business had been established two years before Marcus disappeared. Its listed owner was an attorney who had died three years earlier.The registration documents appeared legitimate at first glance.But the signature on one page had been copied from an unrelated legal filing.Sam leaned over her shoulder."Someone created this company to hold something.""Or hide something," Elena replied.They examined the property address.
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A FEMALE OFFICER CONFRONTED HER PARTNER AT MIDNIGHT—THEN HIS TERRIFYING SECRET EMERGED

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