As he passed Emily, he glanced briefly at her badge.
Lieutenant Collins: "Welcome to Westbridge, Agent Carter."
Emily did not respond.
Collins left the room.
Mitchell watched him disappear down the corridor.
Then he turned toward Emily.
Captain Mitchell: "That conversation did not make me feel any better."
Emily closed her folder.
Emily Carter: "It wasn't supposed to make us feel better. It was supposed to establish his response."
Mitchell nodded.
They continued toward the evidence unit.
At the entrance, two employees were standing beside the security terminal.
The evidence room supervisor approached them.
Supervisor: "Captain, the archive is secure. Nobody has entered since the preservation notice."
Captain Mitchell: "Who requested access?"
Supervisor: "A staff member from Lieutenant Collins' office. They said they needed to retrieve an original receipt."
Emily looked at the supervisor.
Emily Carter: "Did they provide written authorization?"
Supervisor: "No. I told them I needed approval from the commander."
Emily Carter: "Did they leave anything behind?"
The supervisor pointed toward a desk.
A printed request form was lying beside the terminal.
Emily picked it up carefully.
The request was dated the previous afternoon.
It asked for the removal of the September transfer receipt and a related case summary.
At the bottom was a handwritten authorization.
Richard Collins.
Emily studied the signature.
It appeared similar to the one on the earlier transfer document.
She placed the form in a transparent evidence sleeve provided by the supervisor.
Emily Carter: "Please preserve the original request and the terminal access history. Do not make additional copies until the technical team has documented the system."
The supervisor nodded.
Captain Mitchell looked at the form.
Captain Mitchell: "This is now a formal matter."
Emily Carter: "Yes. And we need to make sure that every step from this point forward is recorded."
She looked toward the locked archive door.
Behind it were the original documents that might finally explain what had happened to the missing evidence.
But before they could enter, the supervisor received another notification.
He looked at the screen, then at Mitchell.
Supervisor: "Captain, there is something else."
Captain Mitchell: "What?"
Supervisor: "Someone attempted to access the evidence database remotely about five minutes ago."
Emily's attention sharpened.
Emily Carter: "Was the attempt successful?"
Supervisor: "The system blocked it, but the account used was an authorized senior-level account."
Mitchell looked at the screen.
Captain Mitchell: "Whose account?"
The supervisor hesitated.
Then he turned the monitor toward them.
The account name appeared clearly.
RICHARD COLLINS.
Emily stared at the screen.
The attempted access had occurred after Collins left the conference room.
And the target was the exact evidence file they had just been discussing.
She looked at Captain Mitchell.
Emily Carter: "We need to preserve that access attempt immediately."
Mitchell nodded.
But Emily knew that the most important question had not yet been answered.
Why had Collins been so determined to obtain the original transfer receipt?
And what exactly was he afraid they would discover if they found it?
The answer was waiting somewhere inside the records system.
And as the department's investigation moved forward, the people who had spent months keeping the truth hidden were beginning to realize that their control over the evidence might finally be slipping away.
The evidence room became unusually quiet after the remote access attempt was discovered.
Captain Mitchell stood beside the security terminal, staring at the account information displayed on the screen. The name Richard Collins remained visible, along with the exact time the system had blocked the attempted access.
Emily Carter knew that this was a critical moment.
Until now, the investigation had relied on documents, witness accounts, and inconsistencies that could potentially be explained away as administrative mistakes. But the latest access record showed that someone had attempted to reach a protected file after the department had issued an explicit preservation instruction.
It was no longer simply a question of missing paperwork.
Someone was trying to access evidence that they had been specifically instructed not to touch.
Emily Carter: "Captain, I need the system administrator to preserve this access record immediately. We must retain the original log, including the account information, time stamp, source terminal, and the reason the request was blocked."
Captain Mitchell: "I'll contact the independent security manager."
Emily Carter: "Please also make sure that the account is temporarily restricted. We cannot allow further access while the records are being secured."
Captain Mitchell: "Understood."
The evidence room supervisor looked nervous.
Supervisor: "Captain, should we disable the entire senior management access group?"
Mitchell considered the question.
Captain Mitchell: "No. We should not disrupt the entire department. Restrict the specific account and any related access permissions that the security team identifies as necessary."
Emily nodded.
She wanted to avoid making a decision that could later be challenged as excessive. Every action needed to be justified, documented, and carried out through the proper authority.
Within minutes, the independent IT security manager arrived.
Her name was Laura Bennett.
She had worked with the city's information security department for almost fifteen years and had been brought into the police department whenever sensitive digital records required an independent review.