Priya Shah spent the next morning reconstructing the history of the exported file.
The department's systems did not record every physical action performed at a workstation, but they preserved enough information to establish a sequence. At 8:43 p.m. on Tuesday, an employee account had exported a document containing the original evidence chronology. The export had been directed to removable storage.
The department's inventory showed that one encrypted storage device had been assigned to the records unit several months earlier. It was supposed to remain in a locked cabinet whenever it was not being used for an approved transfer.
The cabinet log, however, contained a gap.
The device had been checked out on Tuesday afternoon. No return had been recorded.
Priya brought the discrepancy to Captain Foster.
“Could the device have been misplaced?” Foster asked.
“Yes. Or someone may have forgotten to complete the return entry. We need to determine who signed it out and whether the device was used again.”
“Can we identify the person who checked it out?”
“The handwritten signature is incomplete. It resembles the initials of a records technician, but I can't confidently identify the writer.”
Foster studied the image.
“Then we ask the technician. We don't assume.”
The technician, a quiet employee named Peter Lawson, arrived for an interview that afternoon. He had worked in records for eleven years and had never previously been disciplined for mishandling evidence.
When Foster showed him the cabinet log, Peter looked genuinely confused.
“I don't remember taking a device that day.”
“Your initials appear beside the checkout entry.”
“They might be mine, but I can't be certain. We sometimes prepare devices for scheduled transfers. I may have signed it out and left it with a supervisor.”
“Which supervisor?”
Peter considered the question.
“I don't know. I would have to check my calendar and the transfer schedule.”
Foster allowed him time to review the records. She did not accuse him of dishonesty or tell him what other witnesses had said.
An hour later, Peter returned with a printed schedule. It showed that he had prepared a storage device for a routine system backup on Tuesday afternoon. The backup had been canceled, but the paperwork did not clearly establish whether the device had been returned to the cabinet.
A second document showed that Victor Sloane had requested access to a shared workstation that evening. The request referred to a security configuration review, not a criminal case.
“Did you personally hand him a device?” Foster asked.
Peter shook his head.
“I don't remember doing that.”
“Did you see him in the records room?”
“I saw him in the corridor, but I can't say whether I saw him carrying anything.”
The interview produced no definitive answer.
Foster asked Priya to examine the backup system for any copy of the exported file. By late afternoon, the specialist had found a partial record indicating that the file had been accessed again two days later from a workstation outside the records room.
The access came from an administrative office assigned to a senior operations manager.
That discovery changed the investigation.
The operations manager, Harold Bennett, was not related to Deputy Chief Marissa Bennett, despite sharing the surname. He had supervised several internal technology projects and had occasionally approved temporary access for outside consultants.
When Foster contacted him, Harold confirmed that Sloane had visited his office the previous week.
“He said he needed to compare a security log with a backup record,” Harold explained. “I allowed him to use the workstation for a short period.”
“Did you know he was accessing the narcotics case file?”
“No.”
“Did you observe what he opened?”
“Not closely. I was reviewing a staffing schedule.”
“Did he use removable storage?”
Harold frowned.
“I remember him connecting a small device, but I assumed it was part of the security audit.”
Foster recorded the statement.
The evidence now suggested that the exported file might have been moved from the records room to another workstation. But the chain remained incomplete. The device had not been recovered, and no witness could say with certainty who possessed it after Tuesday night.
At 6:15 p.m., Deputy Chief Bennett convened another meeting.
“We have a possible unauthorized export, a missing storage device, and evidence that the file may have been accessed outside the records room,” she said. “We need to determine whether this was a technical oversight, a violation of department policy, or an attempt to conceal or manipulate evidence.”
Lieutenant Price asked, “Should we interview Mercer again?”
“Not until professional standards determines which questions can be asked without compromising the existing interviews. His attorney should receive the appropriate notice.”
Captain Foster agreed.
Meanwhile, Daniel sat in his apartment, staring at the administrative-leave notice on his coffee table. His attorney had advised him not to contact colleagues about the case. Daniel had followed that instruction for nearly a full day, but the uncertainty had become unbearable.
He opened his phone and scrolled through old messages until he found Sloane's number.
He began typing.
Do you still have the copy?
He stared at the words.
Then he deleted them.
His attorney had been explicit: any communication that could be interpreted as an attempt to influence a witness or coordinate accounts could create a separate problem.
Daniel put the phone down.
For years, he had believed that every problem had a manageable solution. A difficult conversation could be redirected. A complaint could be answered. An error could be corrected. A supervisor could be persuaded to see the broader picture.
This situation resisted all those familiar methods.
The file had been exported. A device was missing. The records were being examined by people who had no reason to protect his reputation.
And Andre Mitchell, the man Daniel had attacked because he refused to ignore a discrepancy, had become the least important source of information in the growing investigation.
The records would either support Daniel's explanation or undermine it.
For the first time, he had to wait for an answer he could not control.