Before leaving, he turned back.
LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PRICE: "Commander, there is something else I think you should know."
ADRIAN COLE: "Go ahead."
LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PRICE: "Iris Whitcomb wasn't the only person who came here with documents. There were others."
ADRIAN COLE: "How many?"
LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PRICE: "I don't know the exact number. But I remember several people asking to speak with someone from internal review. Some were referred to the administrative office. Some were told their complaints were already closed."
ADRIAN COLE: "Do you remember any names?"
Price hesitated.
LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PRICE: "One was Peter Lawson. He was a contractor who said officers had written a false report about him. Another was a woman who claimed her son had been wrongly identified in a police incident report."
ADRIAN COLE: "Did you handle either complaint?"
LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PRICE: "No. Both were sent to the deputy chief's office."
ADRIAN COLE: "Did you ever see the original documents?"
LIEUTENANT SAMUEL PRICE: "No, sir."
Adrian wrote down the names.
ADRIAN COLE: "Thank you for telling me."
Price left the room.
Adrian sat quietly for a moment.
Peter Lawson.
Iris Whitcomb.
At least two other people whose complaints had apparently been redirected.
The pattern was becoming harder to dismiss.
He picked up his phone and called the department's legal liaison.
The call was answered after several rings.
LEGAL LIAISON: "Office of Department Counsel. This is Rebecca."
ADRIAN COLE: "Rebecca, this is Commander Adrian Cole. I need to arrange an independent review of several complaint-handling records."
REBECCA: "Of course, Commander. What type of review?"
ADRIAN COLE: "Potential failures in the internal complaint process, including missing records and possible interference with evidence."
There was a brief silence.
REBECCA: "Are these allegations connected to today's incident?"
ADRIAN COLE: "Possibly. I don't want to make a conclusion before the evidence is reviewed."
REBECCA: "Understood. I can contact the independent oversight office."
ADRIAN COLE: "Please do. I want investigators who have no reporting relationship with Deputy Chief Voss."
REBECCA: "I'll arrange that."
ADRIAN COLE: "Also, I need guidance on preserving all relevant communications and records. This includes electronic messages, archived documents, visitor logs, and camera footage."
REBECCA: "I'll send the preservation instructions immediately."
ADRIAN COLE: "Thank you."
He ended the call.
For the next hour, Adrian reviewed the information gathered by Aaron and Daniel.
The first documents were incomplete, but they revealed a pattern of repeated administrative referrals.
Some complaints had been marked as resolved without supporting findings.
Others contained only short summaries, with no original statements attached.
A few had no reference numbers at all.
One record had been marked as closed even though the complainant had apparently never been contacted.
Adrian placed the documents into separate folders.
He did not want the investigation to become a collection of assumptions. Every allegation needed to be checked against original evidence.
At 11:15 a.m., Aaron called his office.
AARON BELL: "Commander, I've found another recording."
ADRIAN COLE: "What does it show?"
AARON BELL: "Iris Whitcomb returned to the building three weeks ago. She came with another person."
ADRIAN COLE: "Who?"
AARON BELL: "A man named Peter Lawson."
Adrian stood.
ADRIAN COLE: "Can you send the recording to the secure evidence folder?"
AARON BELL: "Already done, sir."
Adrian returned to the surveillance office.
The footage showed Iris entering the plaza with an older man. He appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties and wore a brown jacket over a light-colored shirt.
He carried a folder.
The two approached the entrance together.
Blake Turner appeared near the security checkpoint.
The officer spoke to them for several seconds.
Then he took the folder from Peter's hands.
Peter attempted to retrieve it.
Blake pulled it away.
Iris stepped forward, gesturing toward the documents.
The officer shook his head and pointed toward the street.
The two visitors eventually walked away without the folder.
Adrian watched the footage twice.
ADRIAN COLE: "What happened to the folder?"
Aaron checked the camera from the side entrance.
AARON BELL: "Blake carried it inside."
ADRIAN COLE: "Can you follow him?"
Aaron changed the camera view.
The next recording showed Blake entering an administrative corridor.
He walked past several offices before stopping outside a door marked ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS.
A few seconds later, Graham Voss opened the door.
Blake handed him the folder.
Voss looked inside, said something, and closed the door.
Adrian felt his jaw tighten.
He did not speak for several seconds.
AARON BELL: "Commander, should I continue following the footage?"
ADRIAN COLE: "Yes. Show me what happens after that."
The next camera showed Blake leaving the corridor.
Voss remained inside his office.
Approximately twelve minutes later, another employee entered carrying a stack of files.
The footage did not show what happened to Peter's documents.
Adrian looked at the timestamp.
The recording was three weeks old.
That meant the transfer had occurred long before his appointment.
The evidence was beginning to suggest that Blake had not merely acted as an aggressive officer at the entrance.