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.
“It's difficult to tell from this copy,” the specialist said. “We would need the original paper document and a proper examination.”
“Preserve it.”
The specialist nodded.
Claire turned toward Olivia.
“We need the access history for this cabinet.”
Grant agreed.
“And we need to know whether the temporary storage location still exists.”
Claire looked toward Patricia.
“Can you identify the storage code?”
Patricia studied the old index.
She found the reference.
“Basement storage room B-4.”
“Is that room still in use?”
Patricia shook her head.
“Not officially.”
“What does that mean?”
“It was supposed to be cleared when the new evidence room opened.”
“When was that?”
“About a year ago.”
Claire looked at Olivia.
The room had supposedly been cleared.
Yet a box of unindexed narcotics records had been found in an archive cabinet.
And the records referred to packages that could not be accounted for.
Claire wrote down the storage location.
“Let's inspect B-4.”
22. The Locked Basement
The entrance to basement storage room B-4 was behind a maintenance corridor.
A metal door stood at the end of the hallway.
The lock was old, and the label above it had faded.
A small sign read:
TEMPORARY STORAGE — AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Mercer arrived with a key ring.
“This room hasn't been used in months,” he said.
“Who has access?” Claire asked.
“Evidence supervisors, facilities personnel, and certain command staff.”
“Is there an access log?”
“There should be.”
“Please locate it.”
Mercer unlocked the door.
The room smelled of dust, cardboard, and cleaning chemicals.
Several empty shelves stood against the walls. A broken filing cabinet occupied one corner. A stack of old plastic evidence containers sat beneath a table.
The room appeared mostly unused.
Claire entered with the preservation team.
They photographed the doorway, shelves, containers, and storage cabinets.
One specialist noticed a small electronic lockbox attached to the wall.
“Chief, what is this?”
Mercer looked at it.
“I don't know.”
“Does it belong to the evidence unit?”
“I've never seen it.”
Claire examined the lockbox without touching it.
There was a narrow label beneath the keypad.
NR-NARCOTICS TEMPORARY HOLD
She looked at Mercer.
“Do you know what that means?”
Mercer shook his head.
The specialist recorded the label.
“Is there a key?”
Mercer checked his ring.
“No.”
“Who installed it?”
“I'll have to ask facilities.”
Claire looked around the room again.
The lockbox had been installed more recently than the shelves. Its surface was cleaner, and the screws showed little corrosion.
It did not appear to have been there for years.
She asked the team to preserve the area and document the lockbox.
No one attempted to open it.
The proper authority and procedure would have to be established first.
As they left the room, Claire noticed a small mark on the floor near the wall.
It looked like the outline of a rectangular container that had been moved recently.
She pointed it out to the specialist.
He photographed it.
Mercer stared at the mark.
“I thought this room was empty.”
Claire looked at him.
“So did the records.”
23. The Chief's Breaking Point
At 3:30 p.m., Mercer asked Claire to meet him in his office.
This time, he did not offer coffee.
He closed the door and stood behind his desk.
“I need to know what you're finding.”
Claire placed her notebook on the table.
“We have identified several records that do not reconcile with the federal database. We have also located an unindexed archive box and a storage room containing an unexplained lockbox.”
Mercer looked stunned.
“An evidence lockbox?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn't I told about it?”
“That is one of the questions we are trying to answer.”
Mercer sat down.
“Pike says the old storage room was cleared.”