ELENA MARSHALL: I'm investigating missing evidence.
MARCUS HALE: You don't even know what happened.
ELENA MARSHALL: That's why I'm here.
MARCUS HALE: Maybe the evidence was transferred for legitimate reasons.
ELENA MARSHALL: Then the records should demonstrate that.
MARCUS HALE: Maybe the system made an error.
ELENA MARSHALL: Three separate transfers, forty-seven files, and multiple unauthorized access attempts?
Marcus said nothing.
Elena stepped closer.
ELENA MARSHALL: Officer Hale, I have one question for you.
MARCUS HALE: What?
ELENA MARSHALL: Why are you so interested in preventing me from examining these records?
MARCUS HALE: I'm protecting the department.
ELENA MARSHALL: From what?
MARCUS HALE: From people who come in here and start making accusations without understanding how things work.
ELENA MARSHALL: If the department has done nothing wrong, a transparent investigation should not concern you.
MARCUS HALE: That's easy for you to say.
ELENA MARSHALL: It should be easy for you to demonstrate.
Marcus looked away.
Elena turned toward Robert.
ELENA MARSHALL: Lieutenant, I want a list of every officer who entered the evidence storage area during the last ninety days.
ROBERT GAINES: I'll have it prepared.
ELENA MARSHALL: Include security access records, keycard logs, and any manual entry authorizations.
ROBERT GAINES: Understood.
ELENA MARSHALL: I also want all complaints involving evidence handling, unauthorized searches, and missing property.
Robert nodded.
But before he could move, Peter Lawson spoke again.
PETER LAWSON: Agent Marshall?
Elena turned.
PETER LAWSON: There's something else.
ELENA MARSHALL: What is it?
Peter had opened a different section of the administrative system.
He appeared deeply uncomfortable.
PETER LAWSON: I found a record that doesn't belong here.
ELENA MARSHALL: Show me.
Peter turned the monitor toward her.
On the screen was an internal document marked CONFIDENTIAL.
It contained a list of evidence files, transfer dates, and several payment references.
At the bottom of the document was a handwritten note.
The note contained only six words.
MAKE SURE THE FEDERAL REVIEW NEVER REACHES THIS.
Elena studied the handwriting.
She recognized the style from another document included in her investigation file.
She looked at the date.
The document had been created only two days earlier.
ELENA MARSHALL: Who uploaded this?
PETER LAWSON: The system says it came from the command office.
CHIEF RICHARD DONOVAN: That's impossible.
ELENA MARSHALL: Why?
CHIEF RICHARD DONOVAN: Because nobody in my office should have access to that particular file.
ELENA MARSHALL: Yet someone uploaded it using your department's credentials.
The chief stepped closer to the monitor.
His expression became increasingly strained.
CHIEF RICHARD DONOVAN: I want to know who did this.
ELENA MARSHALL: So do I.
She examined the document's metadata.
A username appeared beneath the upload record.
W.CARTER_ADMIN.
Elena slowly turned toward the telephone.
Deputy Chief William Carter.
The man who had just called the department.
The man who had warned the chief about the federal inquiry.
And the man whose credentials appeared to have been used to upload a document instructing someone to prevent the investigation from reaching the missing evidence.
Elena took a screenshot of the record using her authorized investigative device.
Then she sent it to her technical team.
ELENA MARSHALL: Preserve this document and its original metadata. Do not modify or move anything.
PETER LAWSON: Understood.
A few seconds later, Elena received another message.
This one contained a name.
DANIEL FOSTER.
Underneath it was a photograph of a vehicle parked outside a storage facility on the outskirts of the city.
The vehicle was registered to a company that had received several unexplained payments from a departmental contractor.
Elena enlarged the image.
A second person was visible standing beside the vehicle.
She recognized him immediately.
Deputy Chief William Carter.
Elena's expression hardened.
She had expected to find a connection between Foster and the missing evidence.
She had not expected to find the deputy chief standing beside him.
But the most disturbing detail was not the photograph itself.
It was the timestamp.
The image had been captured the previous evening.
And according to the vehicle registration records, the storage facility was scheduled to be demolished within the next forty-eight hours.
Elena looked at Robert.
ELENA MARSHALL: Lieutenant, I need the address of this facility.
ROBERT GAINES: What facility?
Elena showed him the photograph.
Robert examined the image.
His eyes widened.
ROBERT GAINES: That's the old municipal storage warehouse.
ELENA MARSHALL: Who owns it?
ROBERT GAINES: A private company. They took over the property after the city closed the original building.
ELENA MARSHALL: Is it still being used?
ROBERT GAINES: Not officially.
ELENA MARSHALL: What does that mean?
Robert hesitated.
ROBERT GAINES: There were complaints about unauthorized deliveries there several months ago. The department was supposed to investigate, but I never received the final report.
ELENA MARSHALL: Who handled it?
Robert looked toward the chief.
ROBERT GAINES: Detective Foster.
Elena placed the phone on the counter.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
The missing evidence.
The unauthorized transfers.
The old override code.
The deputy chief's credentials.
The private storage facility.
And now, the possibility that physical evidence was being moved or destroyed before federal investigators could reach it.
She turned toward the chief.