She pulled the first printed report closer and examined the fields.
There were several entries she did not recognize.
One column was labeled TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION.
Another contained an abbreviated code.
A third listed a date that appeared to precede the official seizure date.
Rebecca checked the document again.
REBECCA: "Sheriff, why does this report show the property being transferred before the seizure was entered into the system?"
Kavalik moved toward her.
KAVALIK: "Because the system sometimes updates out of order."
REBECCA: "I've never seen it do that."
KAVALIK: "Then you haven't been here long enough."
REBECCA: "I've worked this desk for six years."
Kavalik stopped.
The statement had been simple.
But it had removed one of his easiest excuses.
Rebecca had worked with the booking system long enough to know what ordinary administrative errors looked like.
This did not look ordinary.
She opened another record.
The same transfer code appeared again.
And again.
REBECCA: "These entries are connected."
KAREN: "Can you identify the account responsible for the transfers?"
Rebecca moved her mouse across the screen.
Kavalik stepped closer.
KAVALIK: "Don't open that."
Rebecca froze.
KAREN: "Why not?"
KAVALIK: "Because this is an internal system."
KAREN: "You have said that several times. It doesn't explain why an employee cannot review an entry in the system she is responsible for maintaining."
Kavalik looked toward Halverson.
KAVALIK: "Get her away from the computer."
Halverson hesitated.
DEPUTY HALVERSON: "Sheriff, she's just reviewing the record."
KAVALIK: "I gave you an order."
Halverson looked at Rebecca.
Then at Karen.
He did not move.
It was the first time he had openly refused to carry out one of Kavalik's instructions.
The sheriff's face hardened.
KAVALIK: "You want to make this a problem for yourself too?"
Halverson lowered his voice.
DEPUTY HALVERSON: "I want to make sure we're doing this correctly."
Karen noticed the difference.
The younger deputy was still afraid, but his fear was beginning to compete with something else.
Perhaps it was shame.
Perhaps it was the realization that he had participated in an arrest without asking the most basic questions.
Karen turned back toward Rebecca.
KAREN: "Don't alter anything. If the system permits a read-only review, document what you see. Do not edit or delete any records."
Rebecca nodded.
REBECCA: "Understood."
She clicked on the transfer history.
A new screen appeared.
The first record showed a date from three years earlier.
The second was from the following month.
The third was from a different county vehicle seizure.
Rebecca scrolled slowly.
There were dozens of entries.
Some listed motorcycles.
Others listed pickup trucks, luxury cars, and commercial vehicles.
Several entries involved cash.
One included jewelry.
Another described electronic equipment recovered during a search.
The pattern was difficult to ignore.
Karen leaned slightly toward the monitor.
KAREN: "How many records are there?"
REBECCA: "This is only one category."
KAREN: "How far back does it go?"
REBECCA: "The system shows at least three years in this view."
Osei shook his head.
OSEI: "It goes further back than that."
Kavalik turned toward him.
KAVALIK: "You have no idea what you're talking about."
OSEI: "I was assigned to property transport when I first joined."
KAREN: "What did you see?"
Osei hesitated.
His eyes moved to the entrance.
The station suddenly felt much smaller.
OSEI: "There were vehicles that never appeared in the normal evidence inventory. They were moved to private storage. Sometimes the owners came back asking where their property was."
KAREN: "And what were they told?"
OSEI: "That the property was still being processed."
KAREN: "Was it?"
Osei did not answer.
He did not need to.
Rebecca opened another record.
The screen displayed a transfer authorization with a name at the bottom.
She read it twice.
REBECCA: "This signature..."
Kavalik moved immediately.
KAVALIK: "Close it."
REBECCA: "I recognize this name."
KAREN: "Whose name is it?"
Rebecca looked toward the sheriff.
REBECCA: "It's one of the supervisors who approves property transfers."
KAREN: "Does the record show that person authorized this particular transfer?"
REBECCA: "Yes."
Kavalik reached across the desk and pushed the monitor slightly away from her.
KAVALIK: "That's enough. Everyone needs to stop touching this system."
Rebecca pulled her chair back.
She looked frightened now.
But she also looked confused.
REBECCA: "Sheriff, if these records are legitimate, why are you trying to stop us from reviewing them?"
Kavalik's voice dropped.
KAVALIK: "Because you don't understand what you're looking at."
KAREN: "Then explain it."
KAVALIK: "You are a visitor in this building."
KAREN: "I was brought here under arrest."
KAVALIK: "An arrest that has already been corrected."
KAREN: "The handcuffs were removed. That doesn't erase what happened."
Kavalik looked at the small mark around her wrist.
Then his gaze moved briefly toward her face.
The blood from the slap had dried near the corner of her lip.
Karen saw him notice it.
He looked away.
For the first time, the physical violence inside the station seemed to have become a problem he could no longer pretend had not occurred.
KAREN: "You also struck me."
Rebecca's head turned sharply.
REBECCA: "He did what?"
Karen did not look away from Kavalik.
KAREN: "After I was brought here, he slapped me in front of Deputy Halverson."
Rebecca stared at the sheriff.
REBECCA: "Sheriff?"
KAVALIK: "She was being disruptive."