The manager typed several details into his computer.
A moment later, he frowned.
MANAGER: "That's strange."
EVELYN CARTER: "What is?"
MANAGER: "The unit was accessed yesterday."
Harris looked at Evelyn.
HARRIS: "By whom?"
The manager checked the record again.
MANAGER: "The account lists an authorized visitor named Richard Lawson."
The name seemed to hang in the air.
Evelyn exchanged a glance with Harris.
EVELYN CARTER: "Can you open the unit?"
MANAGER: "I'll need to verify your authorization."
She presented the necessary documents.
After reviewing them, the manager took a set of keys and led them through the facility.
They stopped in front of a gray metal door.
The number on the door matched the address in Samuel Porter's notebook.
The manager unlocked it.
Inside was a small storage space containing several cardboard boxes, an old desk, a metal cabinet, and a large filing case.
There was no furniture apart from those items.
Everything appeared to have been arranged carefully.
Evelyn put on her gloves.
Harris opened the first box.
It contained photographs.
Dozens of them.
Some showed police officers entering the station.
Others showed people meeting in restaurants, parking lots, and office buildings.
There were photographs of David Mitchell.
There were photographs of Richard Lawson.
And there were photographs of several officers who had been connected to the Bell investigation.
Harris picked up one photograph.
HARRIS: "I know this man."
EVELYN CARTER: "Who is he?"
HARRIS: "Detective Samuel Porter."
Evelyn looked at the image.
It showed Porter standing outside a small restaurant with David Mitchell.
The date printed on the back was eighteen months old.
HARRIS: "I thought Porter had left the department before this photograph was taken."
EVELYN CARTER: "Apparently, he was still meeting people."
She examined another photograph.
This one showed Mitchell handing a thick envelope to an unidentified individual.
The location was the same parking area where the original Bell arrest had taken place.
EVELYN CARTER: "This is important."
HARRIS: "There's more."
He had found a folder containing copies of police reports.
Some were marked with handwritten notes.
Others had been stamped with dates that did not match the original records.
Evelyn opened the first report.
It concerned an arrest that had taken place two years earlier.
The suspect had been accused of possessing stolen property.
The original evidence inventory listed three items.
The revised version listed only two.
A handwritten note explained the change.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED BY R.L.
Evelyn examined the next document.
The same initials appeared.
And the next.
And the next.
HARRIS: "R.L."
EVELYN CARTER: "Richard Lawson."
HARRIS: "It looks like he was involved in all of them."
EVELYN CARTER: "Or someone wanted us to believe he was."
Harris looked confused.
HARRIS: "Why would someone use his initials?"
EVELYN CARTER: "Because a name can be used as a shield. If every suspicious transaction appears to lead to one person who is no longer available to answer questions, the real person responsible can remain hidden."
Harris looked at the photographs again.
HARRIS: "Then who was actually controlling this?"
Evelyn did not answer.
She had found something else.
At the bottom of the filing cabinet was a small digital storage device.
It was attached to a piece of paper containing a handwritten instruction.
FOR THE PERSON WHO FINALLY ASKS THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.
Evelyn carefully placed the device inside an evidence container.
EVELYN CARTER: "This may be what Porter wanted someone to find."
HARRIS: "Can we examine it?"
EVELYN CARTER: "Not here. It needs to be processed properly."
She looked around the storage unit.
There was one final box in the corner.
Unlike the others, it was locked.
The manager helped them locate the key in a small envelope taped beneath the desk.
When Evelyn opened the box, she found several personal letters.
They were addressed to different people.
One was addressed to Lieutenant Harris.
Another was addressed to David Mitchell.
The final envelope contained her own name.
EVELYN CARTER.
She stared at it.
The handwriting was unmistakably the same as the note on the photograph.
She opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
The first line read:
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEN THE PERSON I FEARED HAS FINALLY LOST CONTROL OF THE STORY.
Evelyn began reading.
"Agent Carter,
My name is Samuel Porter.
I know that you may have heard that I resigned from the department. That is not true.
I also know that you may have heard that I was involved in the disappearance of evidence. That is not true either.
I discovered a system in which certain officers were being used to alter records, transfer evidence, and create false documentation. At first, I believed these were isolated incidents.
Then I discovered that the same administrative approvals appeared in multiple investigations.
I reported what I found to someone I trusted.
That was my mistake.
The person I trusted informed the people responsible.
After that, my access was removed, my reports disappeared, and I was warned that my family would be harmed if I continued investigating.
I left because I believed it was the only way to preserve the evidence.
The person controlling the operation is not Richard Lawson.
Lawson was involved, but he was not the person making the final decisions.
The person you need to investigate is the individual who had the authority to approve every transfer, every personnel change, and every internal review.