Marcus stopped outside and called Daniel.
"Have you located Iris?"
Daniel answered.
"Not yet, sir."
"Check the old municipal records archive near the railway station. She may be using a storage unit in that area."
"Understood. I'll send a team."
"Use the external investigators. I don't want anyone from Voss's immediate chain of command involved."
"Yes, Commander."
Marcus ended the call.
He looked through the windshield.
At the far end of the parking area, a woman in a faded green coat was standing beside a metal storage door.
She was holding the brown envelope.
Marcus stepped out of the vehicle.
"Iris Whitcomb?"
The woman turned quickly.
Her face tightened.
She looked at him for several seconds before moving toward the storage door.
"Stay where you are."
Marcus stopped.
"My name is Marcus Reed."
"I know who you are."
"Then you know why I'm here."
Iris looked toward the street.
"Did Voss send you?"
"No."
"How can I believe that?"
Marcus reached slowly into his jacket and removed his identification case.
He held it up without moving closer.
"I'm the commander who arrived at headquarters this morning."
Iris looked at the identification.
Then she studied his face.
"You were the man Briggs attacked."
"Yes."
She lowered the envelope slightly.
"Did he know who you were?"
"Apparently someone had given him my photograph before I arrived."
Iris closed her eyes for a moment.
"Then it's worse than I thought."
Marcus looked at the envelope.
"Is that what you have been trying to submit?"
Iris nodded.
"These are copies. The originals are somewhere else."
"What do they contain?"
"Names. Case numbers. Evidence transfer records. Internal messages. Everything I could recover before they removed my access."
Marcus remained still.
"How many cases?"
"Forty-nine."
"Why forty-nine?"
Iris looked at him.
"Because there were fifty original files. One was removed before the others were altered."
Marcus felt his attention sharpen.
"Mine."
Iris nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Marcus took a breath.
"What was in my file?"
Iris looked around again.
"Not here."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know who is watching."
Marcus glanced toward the street.
A dark vehicle had just turned into the parking area.
It moved slowly past the storage units.
Iris immediately became tense.
"That's them."
Marcus looked toward the vehicle.
"Do you recognize it?"
"I've seen it outside my apartment."
The vehicle continued moving.
Its windows were dark.
Marcus stepped slightly between Iris and the street.
"Do you have a safe place to go?"
Iris shook her head.
"Not anymore."
"Then we need to arrange protection."
She looked at him with suspicion.
"Through your department?"
"Through an independent investigative team. I won't send you to an office controlled by Voss."
Iris remained silent.
Marcus continued.
"You've spent months trying to get someone to listen. I'm listening now. But I need you to trust the process enough to preserve the evidence."
Iris looked down at the envelope.
"People have already died because of these records."
Marcus's expression changed.
"What do you mean?"
She opened the envelope slightly and removed a photograph.
It showed a young man standing beside a woman outside a small house.
The photograph was old and slightly faded.
"His name was Daniel Mercer," Iris said. "He was arrested five years ago for a robbery he didn't commit."
Marcus studied the photograph.
"What happened to him?"
"He was convicted. He served three years in prison. When he was released, he couldn't find work. His family lost their home, and his younger brother stopped attending school."
Iris paused.
"He died last year."
Marcus looked at her.
"How?"
"An overdose. He had been struggling for a long time."
She looked away.
"The police report said he had a history of substance abuse. It didn't mention that he had spent years trying to prove he was innocent."
Marcus returned his attention to the photograph.
"Was there evidence that his case had been mishandled?"
"Yes. A witness originally identified someone else. That statement disappeared from the final file. The officer who collected it later said he had never received it."
"Who was the officer?"
Iris hesitated.
"Officer Michael Turner."
Marcus remembered the surveillance footage.
Turner had been the officer who photographed Iris near the entrance.
"Was Turner involved in other cases?"
"Several."
Iris opened the envelope further.
"That is only one example. There are forty-eight others."
Marcus looked at the documents.
"Why didn't you report this to an external authority?"
"I tried. Twice."
"What happened?"
"The first time, the report was sent back to the department for review. The second time, the person handling the complaint told me there was insufficient evidence."
Marcus's expression hardened.
"Who handled it?"
Iris shook her head.
"I don't remember the name. But I remember the office."
She handed him a photocopy.
Marcus looked at the header.
It belonged to the internal affairs division.
The document contained a short summary stating that the allegations had been examined and no further action was required.
The signature at the bottom belonged to Graham Voss.
Marcus stared at it.
"He signed this himself?"
Iris nodded.
"He signed several."
Marcus turned another page.
There were additional documents.
A transfer log.
A witness statement.
A photograph of an evidence locker.