"Exactly," I said, folding my arms inside my heavy coat. "And whoever is pulling his strings miscalculated. They thought an intimidation tactic would make me back off the supply chain audits. They didn't think I'd be standing here waiting for you."
Lena carefully lifted the packet with tweezers, dropping it into a clear evidence seal. "The audit reports from the South District warehouse are missing three shipments of seized narcotics from last month. Word is, the signature authorizing the transfer matches Captain Vance's office."
My jaw tightened. Vance. The same captain who had tried to block my internal review board three weeks ago, claiming we lacked jurisdiction over municipal patrol assignments.
"Get the station logs for Vance's shift yesterday," I instructed quietly, my eyes narrowing as the afternoon wind swept across the grass. "And pull the toll records for Briggs's personal cell phone. Let's see who called him twenty minutes before he decided to cross my path."
Lena secured the evidence bag in her metal briefcase, stood up, and looked me dead in the eye. "You know what happens the moment we pull Vance's logs, Marcus. This isn't just a local precinct corruption case anymore. We're kicking a hornet's nest that leads straight to city hall."
"Let them buzz," I said, turning my gaze back toward the open gates of the park where the city traffic hummed relentlessly in the distance. "I've spent thirty-one years keeping this badge clean. I'm not about to let a couple of amateurs in uniform dirty it now."