A medical professional had examined her cheek. The injury was minor, but the incident itself was not.
Ethan looked uncomfortable.
"Your Honor, I should have stepped in sooner."
Victoria studied the young guard.
"Tell me what you saw."
"I saw Officer Harlan grab your bag. Then he pushed you. Then he slapped you."
"Did I threaten him?"
"No, ma'am."
"Did I strike him?"
"No."
"Did you hear me refuse a lawful order?"
Ethan hesitated.
"I heard you ask why you were being detained."
Victoria nodded.
"Then tell the investigators exactly that. Don't change your account to protect me, and don't change it to protect him."
Ethan looked surprised.
"Even if it causes problems for the department?"
"Especially then."
Samuel placed a tablet on the table.
"The security footage is preserved. We have four camera angles, and the audio from the entrance microphone is clear."
"Good," Victoria replied. "Who has access to the recording system?"
"The security director, two technical administrators, and the courthouse operations manager."
"Who was on duty last night?"
Samuel opened a document.
"According to the access log, a technical administrator named Raymond Pike entered the security office at 11:42 p.m. He accessed the entrance camera archive and left at 12:06 a.m."
"Was that scheduled maintenance?"
"No."
"Was it authorized?"
Samuel hesitated.
"Not according to the maintenance calendar."
Victoria leaned back.
"Then the independent investigators should examine the access logs, backup copies, and audit records. We should not assume the recording was altered, but we should not ignore an unexplained access either."
Samuel nodded slowly.
He had spent decades around courtrooms, and he understood the importance of careful language.
Victoria was not interested in rumors.
She wanted evidence.
And evidence, she believed, was the only thing that could distinguish justice from revenge.
At 10:15 a.m., the county's independent investigator arrived.
Her name was Miriam Foster, a former federal inspector known for her meticulous work on public corruption cases.
She reviewed the entrance footage without interruption.
Then she watched it again.
And again.
When the recording ended, she turned to Samuel.
"Was Officer Harlan aware that Judge Brooks was scheduled to hear the Bellamy case this morning?"
"We don't know," Samuel replied.
Miriam looked at Victoria.
"Your Honor, I need to ask you something directly. Did you have any prior interaction with Officer Harlan?"
"None that I recall."
"Did he know your identity before you entered the building?"
"I have no reason to believe he did."
Miriam nodded.
"Then we will investigate the incident on its own evidence. Separately, we will examine whether anything connects it to the Bellamy proceedings."
Victoria agreed.
She understood that the two matters might be unrelated.
But she also knew that a fair investigation required every relevant possibility to be examined without prematurely deciding the answer.
At noon, Miriam returned with an unexpected discovery.
The courthouse security logs showed that someone had attempted to access the entrance camera archive shortly after the slap.
The attempt had failed.
The account belonged to Raymond Pike.
When investigators interviewed Pike, he initially claimed he had been checking a routine system notification.
But the access logs showed that he had searched for the exact time of Victoria's arrival.
Then investigators discovered something more troubling.
Three days earlier, Pike had received a payment from a private consulting company whose principal client was a law firm representing one of the defendants in the Bellamy corruption case.
The payment was not proof of wrongdoing.
Pike claimed it was compensation for unrelated technical work.
But he could not immediately provide a contract or invoice.
Miriam ordered a broader review.
By late afternoon, investigators had obtained additional security records showing that Pike had accessed other recordings connected to the corruption investigation.
Several of those recordings had been cited in police reports.
One contained footage from a holding corridor where a suspect claimed he had been threatened into signing a statement.
Another showed a detective entering an evidence storage room outside his scheduled hours.
A third appeared to contradict the official timeline of an arrest.
Suddenly, the slap at the courthouse entrance was no longer the only matter requiring scrutiny.
Investigators still had no proof that Harlan's behavior was connected to the alleged evidence tampering.
But they had enough reason to ask questions.
And those questions led them back to Marcus Bellamy.
At 4:30 p.m., Miriam returned to Victoria's chambers.
"Your Honor, we found a connection worth investigating."
Victoria closed the book she had been reading.
"Tell me."
"Officer Harlan was interviewed during the Bellamy investigation six months ago. His statement was marked as a supplemental witness interview, but the final report does not include the complete transcript."
"Why?"
"We don't know. The investigator who conducted the interview has since resigned."
"And the missing transcript?"
"According to the records system, it was uploaded, then removed from the active case file. A backup exists, but access to it requires forensic recovery."
Victoria remained silent for a moment.
"Does the transcript concern the evidence storage room?"
Miriam nodded.
"It appears to."
"Then preserve it and refer the matter to the independent prosecutor. I will not direct the investigation, and I will not make findings about Officer Harlan based on an incomplete record."
Miriam gathered her papers.
"Understood."
Before leaving, she turned back.
"Your Honor, one more thing. Officer Harlan has asked to speak with you."
Victoria shook her head.
"Not privately. If he has information relevant to an investigation, he can provide it through the proper legal process, with counsel if he wishes."
Miriam nodded.
"That was my recommendation as well."
After she left, Victoria walked to the window.
The city of Ashford was turning gold beneath the late afternoon sun. Cars moved through the streets. People left their offices, collected their children, and returned to ordinary lives.