ADRIAN COLE: "Were those calls documented?"
HELEN CARTER: "We don't know yet."
ADRIAN COLE: "Could the calls have come from the department?"
HELEN CARTER: "Possibly. We'll compare the dates with internal communication records."
Adrian nodded.
HELEN CARTER: "We also want to interview Officer Turner, but we recommend waiting until the evidence collection is complete."
ADRIAN COLE: "Agreed."
HELEN CARTER: "And we need to speak with Deputy Chief Voss."
ADRIAN COLE: "I understand."
HELEN CARTER: "Because of his position, we will arrange a formal interview through the appropriate process. He will be informed of the subject matter and given an opportunity to respond."
Adrian looked at the document.
ADRIAN COLE: "Make sure the interview is recorded and properly documented."
HELEN CARTER: "Of course."
After Helen left, Adrian remained at his desk.
Outside, the daylight was beginning to fade.
The building had become quieter, and the employees who had witnessed the morning confrontation were slowly leaving for the day.
Adrian looked at his wet black bomber jacket hanging over the chair.
The water had dried, leaving faint marks across the fabric.
He remembered Blake laughing as he threw the cup.
At the time, the officer had seemed completely certain that nothing would happen to him.
He had behaved as though the uniform gave him permission to humiliate anyone who failed to meet his expectations.
But the deeper Adrian looked, the more he understood that Blake might not have been the only problem.
The department's administrative structure had allowed complaints to disappear without clear explanations.
Supervisors had been encouraged to accept informal resolutions.
Evidence had been transferred without proper documentation.
And people who tried to challenge the process had been turned away.
Adrian opened the folder containing the list of forty-nine names.
He read the first five entries.
Then the next five.
Some of the notes were short.
FALSE REPORT.
MISSING WITNESS STATEMENT.
COMPLAINT CLOSED WITHOUT INTERVIEW.
ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS UNAVAILABLE.
He turned to the final page.
At the bottom, Iris had written a sentence in her own handwriting.
"THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE HEARD."
Adrian read it twice.
Then he placed the list beside the other documents.
He knew that the investigation would take time.
He knew that the evidence might be incomplete and that some of the allegations could prove inaccurate.
But he also knew that the people behind those names deserved a fair examination of what had happened to them.
At 6:05 p.m., as Adrian prepared to leave his office, a message appeared on his secure department terminal.
It was an automatic notification from the records system.
SUBJECT: ADMINISTRATIVE ARCHIVE ACCESS REQUEST.
The request had been submitted by the independent review team.
A second notification appeared beneath it.
ACCESS REQUEST PENDING — AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
The approving authority was listed as:
DEPUTY CHIEF GRAHAM VOSS.
Adrian stared at the screen.
The archive contained records that the review team needed to examine.
Yet access to those records still depended on the approval of the person whose office appeared in the evidence.
He immediately called Helen.
ADRIAN COLE: "Helen, have you seen the archive access request?"
HELEN CARTER: "Yes. We submitted it about twenty minutes ago."
ADRIAN COLE: "The system has routed it to Voss for authorization."
HELEN CARTER: "That is a problem."
ADRIAN COLE: "Can we bypass that approval through the independent oversight authority?"
HELEN CARTER: "We are checking the policy now. If the archive is part of the investigation, we may be able to obtain access through a formal preservation order."
ADRIAN COLE: "Please proceed."
HELEN CARTER: "There's another development."
ADRIAN COLE: "What is it?"
HELEN CARTER: "Michael reviewed the access history for the restricted folder. The same administrative account that opened the archive at 7:41 this morning also accessed a document titled COMMANDER ARRIVAL PLAN."
Adrian stood up.
ADRIAN COLE: "What was in that document?"
HELEN CARTER: "We haven't opened it. The file is currently restricted."
ADRIAN COLE: "Who created it?"
HELEN CARTER: "The metadata shows it was created three days ago."
ADRIAN COLE: "By whom?"
Helen paused.
HELEN CARTER: "The creator account is registered to the deputy chief's office."
Adrian looked at the clock.
The day had begun with an officer throwing water into his face.
It was ending with evidence that someone inside the department had prepared a document concerning his arrival before he had even entered the building.
He remembered the photograph Blake had received.
He remembered the note instructing the visitor to be directed to exterior security.
He remembered the 7:41 archive access.
And now there was a file called COMMANDER ARRIVAL PLAN.
ADRIAN COLE: "Helen, preserve that document immediately. Do not open or modify it until your team can examine the metadata and the original file."
HELEN CARTER: "Understood."
ADRIAN COLE: "I want to know who created it, who accessed it, and whether it was shared with anyone outside the administrative office."
HELEN CARTER: "We'll investigate."
The call ended.
Adrian slowly sat down.