Walter looked toward the nurse.
"I had an incident at the station."
"What kind of incident?"
"A police officer took my pension envelope and pushed me down."
Rebecca's voice immediately changed.
"WHAT?"
"Don't worry. I'm being examined."
"Dad, I'm coming right now."
"Rebecca, wait—"
"I'M ALREADY GETTING MY KEYS."
Walter sighed.
"All right."
The call ended.
He looked down at his hands.
They were beginning to shake again.
The nurse noticed.
"Are you feeling anxious?"
Walter nodded.
"I don't understand why someone would do that."
Patricia pulled a chair closer.
"You're safe here, Mr. Harrison."
Walter looked at her.
"I worked for the city for thirty-two years. I spent nights fixing the equipment that kept that station running."
He paused.
"I never thought I'd be treated like a criminal there."
Patricia did not know what to say.
She simply placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
Back at the transit station, the investigation was becoming more complicated.
The security manager had retrieved the initial footage.
It showed Vance approaching Walter.
It showed the officer demanding the envelope.
It showed Walter refusing to hand it over immediately.
It showed Vance grabbing his wrist.
And it showed the moment the officer pushed him backward.
The entire sequence was visible.
There was no interruption.
No missing section.
No evidence of an assault by Walter.
Reynolds watched the footage twice.
Then he turned toward Reeves.
"That confirms the witness accounts."
Reeves nodded.
"It does."
The security manager opened another camera recording.
This one showed the station entrance from a wider angle.
It captured Vance approaching Walter several minutes before the confrontation.
The recording also showed that Walter had been standing near the ticket machine for almost ten minutes.
He had not approached anyone.
He had not argued with passengers.
He had not behaved aggressively.
He had simply been waiting for his train.
Reynolds leaned closer.
"Go back."
The manager rewound the footage.
"What are you looking for?"
"Look at the officer's behavior before he approaches the man."
They watched again.
Vance appeared to notice the brown envelope while walking across the station.
He slowed down.
He looked toward Walter.
Then he changed direction and approached him.
Reeves pointed at the screen.
"That's important."
Reynolds nodded.
"It establishes that the interaction began because of the envelope."
The security manager opened another camera feed.
This one covered the staircase.
It showed the entire area surrounding the incident.
Reynolds requested that all footage be copied and preserved.
Then Reeves received a telephone call.
He listened for several seconds.
His expression changed.
"Understood. Send me the reference."
He ended the call.
Reynolds looked at him.
"What happened?"
Reeves turned his laptop around.
"The pension authority has confirmed the payment history."
"And?"
"There is an additional record associated with Row 94."
Reynolds frowned.
"What kind of record?"
Reeves opened the document.
The screen displayed a series of transactions connected to the original pension investigation.
Walter's name appeared several times.
So did several other beneficiaries.
Reeves studied the list.
"Captain, this is bigger than the incident at the station."
Reynolds looked at him.
"Explain."
"Mr. Harrison was not simply a beneficiary in the original investigation. He was one of the people who helped identify the payment discrepancies."
Reynolds nodded.
"We already knew that."
"There's more. The financial investigation uncovered several suspicious withdrawals involving accounts associated with retired transportation employees."
"Where?"
"Multiple distribution locations."
Reynolds leaned forward.
"Are you suggesting someone has been targeting pension recipients?"
"I'm not making that conclusion yet. But the pattern deserves attention."
He scrolled through the records.
Several payments had been flagged for irregularities.
Some beneficiaries had reported that their envelopes were missing.
Others had claimed that they had received less money than the amount approved.
One report described a retired maintenance worker who had been stopped by an unidentified individual near a transit station.
Another involved an elderly woman who said someone had demanded to inspect her pension documents.
The reports had not initially appeared connected.
But now the investigators were examining them together.
Reynolds looked at the list.
"How many cases?"
"At least six with similar circumstances."
"Six?"
"Six confirmed reports requiring additional review. There may be more."
Reynolds slowly leaned back.
The confrontation involving Walter might not have been an isolated incident.
It might be connected to a larger pattern involving people who collected pension payments in cash.
He turned toward Reeves.
"Contact the pension authority. I want to know whether Officer Vance's name appears anywhere in the previous reports."
Reeves nodded.