DANIEL REED: "Are you saying someone was pretending to be him?"
EVELYN CARTER: "I'm saying someone may have been using his identity to communicate with people inside this department."
Miller shook his head.
MILLER: "That's impossible. Lawson's signature was verified before he left."
EVELYN CARTER: "A signature can be copied. An electronic authorization can be misused. A person's identity can continue appearing in records long after they stop performing the job."
Harris sat down.
HARRIS: "Then Lawson may never have left the operation."
EVELYN CARTER: "That's one possibility."
The room became silent.
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
DANIEL REED: "Agent Carter, can I ask you something?"
EVELYN CARTER: "Go ahead."
DANIEL REED: "Why was that photograph sent to Lieutenant Harris?"
Evelyn looked at him.
EVELYN CARTER: "That's what I'm trying to find out."
DANIEL REED: "Could it have been a warning?"
EVELYN CARTER: "Possibly."
DANIEL REED: "Or could someone have been trying to make him afraid?"
Harris looked at Daniel.
For the first time, he seemed to consider the young officer's observations seriously.
HARRIS: "That's exactly what happened."
Evelyn turned toward him.
HARRIS: "After I received that envelope, someone called me. They told me that if I continued asking questions about the Bell case, my family would become part of the investigation."
Daniel's face tightened.
DANIEL REED: "They threatened your family?"
HARRIS: "They didn't say it directly. They were careful with their words."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did you record the call?"
HARRIS: "No."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did you recognize the voice?"
Harris hesitated.
HARRIS: "Yes."
EVELYN CARTER: "Whose voice was it?"
Harris looked toward the closed office door.
HARRIS: "David Mitchell."
Evelyn did not immediately react.
She simply wrote the name in her notebook.
Then she asked another question.
EVELYN CARTER: "Did you tell anyone?"
HARRIS: "No."
EVELYN CARTER: "Not even Miller?"
HARRIS: "No."
Miller looked disappointed.
MILLER: "Michael, we've worked together for twenty-eight years. You should have told me."
HARRIS: "I couldn't risk it."
MILLER: "You trusted me for twenty-eight years."
HARRIS: "And I didn't want you to become another target."
Miller looked away.
Evelyn closed her notebook.
EVELYN CARTER: "I need everyone in this room to understand something. From this moment forward, no one should discuss the investigation with anyone who has not been formally authorized to receive that information."
DANIEL REED: "Understood."
MILLER: "Agreed."
HARRIS: "What happens next?"
EVELYN CARTER: "We verify the delivery records, secure the original visitor logs, and identify the person who collected that envelope."
HARRIS: "And Mitchell?"
EVELYN CARTER: "We don't confront him again until we have established the full chain of evidence."
Daniel suddenly remembered something.
DANIEL REED: "Agent Carter?"
EVELYN CARTER: "Yes?"
DANIEL REED: "There might be something else."
Evelyn turned toward him.
DANIEL REED: "I don't know if it's connected, but about a month after that envelope arrived, someone asked me to print a visitor report."
EVELYN CARTER: "Who?"
DANIEL REED: "David Mitchell."
EVELYN CARTER: "What did he ask you to print?"
DANIEL REED: "The visitor records for a particular Friday."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did he explain why?"
DANIEL REED: "He said he needed to check whether an external contractor had signed in."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did you print the report?"
DANIEL REED: "Yes."
EVELYN CARTER: "Do you remember the date?"
Daniel thought carefully.
DANIEL REED: "I believe it was September seventeenth."
Evelyn immediately opened her folder.
She searched through several pages.
Then she stopped.
The date was familiar.
It was the same date on which the first missing evidence transfer had been recorded.
EVELYN CARTER: "Are you certain?"
DANIEL REED: "Almost certain."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did Mitchell take the report?"
DANIEL REED: "Yes."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did he return it?"
Daniel shook his head.
DANIEL REED: "No. But I printed another copy the following morning because I thought the original had been misplaced."
EVELYN CARTER: "What happened to the second copy?"
DANIEL REED: "I placed it in the daily administration folder."
Harris looked at Miller.
HARRIS: "That folder is still archived."
Miller nodded.
MILLER: "I believe so."
Evelyn stood up.
EVELYN CARTER: "Then we may finally have something useful."
She gathered her documents.
But before she could leave the room, Daniel spoke again.
DANIEL REED: "Agent Carter, there's something I haven't told you."
Evelyn stopped.
EVELYN CARTER: "What is it?"
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
DANIEL REED: "The day after I printed that visitor report, someone came to my desk and asked whether I had kept a copy."
EVELYN CARTER: "Who?"
DANIEL REED: "I didn't recognize him."
EVELYN CARTER: "Describe him."
DANIEL REED: "He was around forty-five, maybe fifty. Dark hair. Tall. He wore a black jacket and carried a small folder."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did he identify himself?"
DANIEL REED: "He said he was working with the administrative department."
EVELYN CARTER: "And what did you tell him?"
DANIEL REED: "I told him the original report was no longer at my desk."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did he believe you?"
DANIEL REED: "I don't know. He just smiled and said that was probably for the best."
Evelyn stared at him.
DANIEL REED: "Then he asked me whether I lived alone."
Harris stood up immediately.
HARRIS: "What?"
DANIEL REED: "I thought he was making conversation."
EVELYN CARTER: "What exactly did he say?"
DANIEL REED: "He asked whether I lived alone. I told him I lived with my mother. Then he said it must be difficult working long hours when someone at home depends on you."