“I see you've brought a team.”
“We need to preserve the relevant records in a controlled manner.”
“Of course.”
Mercer led them toward the evidence unit.
Cole was standing near the operations desk.
When he saw Claire, his expression changed.
“Back again?”
Claire did not stop walking.
“Good morning, Officer Cole.”
He looked at the two specialists.
“What is all this?”
“An evidence-preservation team.”
Cole laughed.
“Over paperwork?”
Olivia Grant stopped beside him.
“Officer, please direct any questions about the preservation process to Chief Mercer.”
Cole looked at her.
“And you are?”
“Special Agent Olivia Grant.”
He glanced at Claire.
“Another federal agent?”
“Yes,” Claire said.
Cole shook his head.
“You people are making this place look like a crime scene.”
Claire continued toward the evidence room.
The team began documenting the room's condition, identifying storage locations, and recording the relevant access controls.
Patricia Sloan was present.
She appeared relieved to see the additional personnel.
The specialists began by securing a copy of the current ledger and the available historical versions.
They then created forensic copies of the relevant digital records.
Every action was documented.
No original record was removed without a corresponding receipt.
No physical package was opened.
No evidence was weighed or handled beyond what was necessary to identify and preserve its location.
Claire watched the process carefully.
She knew that a flawed preservation procedure could create problems later.
The investigation needed to be as precise as the allegations were serious.
19. The First Independent Confirmation
At 12:40 p.m., one of the evidence specialists approached Claire.
“Agent Bennett, we found something.”
She stepped away from the table.
“What is it?”
The specialist showed her a digital access report.
The system contained an archived version of case NR-23904.
The original weight had been recorded as 1.6 kilograms.
The amendment reducing it to 1.1 kilograms had been entered from a workstation inside the evidence unit.
The device identifier matched the computer assigned to the evidence supervisor's desk.
Claire looked at the timestamp.
9:06 a.m.
The same time as the amendment identified the previous afternoon.
“Can we identify the user session?”
“Not yet. The login credentials were shared by several authorized staff members.”
“Can we identify who was physically in the room?”
“We'll need to compare the access report with surveillance footage.”
Claire nodded.
“Preserve both.”
The specialist continued.
“There is another issue. The archived version contains a second field that is no longer visible in the current record.”
“What field?”
“Temporary storage location.”
Claire looked at the screen.
The original record listed a storage code.
The current record did not.
“Can you identify the location?”
“It's an internal code. We need the old storage index.”
Claire wrote it down.
“Please obtain the index.”
The specialist returned to the workstation.
Claire stared at the screen.
The amendment had not merely changed the weight.
It had also removed a reference to where the evidence had been stored.
That did not establish why the change was made.
But it made the need for further investigation unmistakable.
20. The Officer Who Would Not Cooperate
At 1:15 p.m., Cole approached the evidence room.
He was visibly angry.
“Who authorized you to lock this system?”
Claire turned toward him.
“The chief received the preservation instruction.”
“I need access to the ledger.”
“Please speak with Chief Mercer.”
“I'm assigned to narcotics investigations. I need those records.”
Olivia Grant stepped forward.
“The records are being preserved. If you require access for an operational purpose, submit the request through your supervisor.”
Cole looked at her.
“You can't just shut down a police department because you don't like an officer.”
Grant remained calm.
“We are not shutting down the department. We are preserving records under an authorized review.”
Cole turned back to Claire.
“You know what this looks like?”
Claire waited.
“It looks like you came in here looking for a reason to make an example out of me.”
“Officer Cole, this process is not about your personal feelings.”
“You've been asking about my name since yesterday.”
“Your name appears on records under review.”
“Because I do my job.”
“Then the records should support that.”
Cole stepped closer.
Grant moved slightly between them.
“Officer, step back.”
Cole looked at her.
For a moment, he seemed ready to argue.
Then he looked toward the hallway and noticed Mercer watching.
He turned and walked away.
Claire returned to the preservation team.
She did not follow him.
The inspection was no longer about proving that Cole had behaved improperly.
It was about establishing what happened to the evidence.
21. The Box in the Lower Cabinet
The preservation team returned to the lower archive cabinet.
The box Patricia had found the previous day was still there.
The specialists photographed its location and recorded the condition of the contents.
They created an inventory of every document.
The six-package list was confirmed.
Four packages had corresponding entries in the official ledger.
Two did not.
One of the missing entries was associated with NR-24187.
The other was associated with NR-23904.
Claire asked the team to compare the inventory against the federal database.
The results were troubling.
The federal database showed that one package had been received by a regional storage facility.
The second had no confirmed receipt.
A note in the local file suggested that the package had been retained temporarily at North River.
But no final transfer record existed.
Claire looked at the inventory sheet.
The handwritten note was dated eight months earlier.
The signature at the bottom belonged to Cole.
She asked the specialist to photograph the signature at high resolution.
Then she asked whether the original document had been altered.