She listened to Ellis's explanation without interrupting.
Victoria Hayes: "Has anyone contacted the employee directly?"
Robert Ellis: "Not yet. We want to establish the source of the instruction first."
Victoria Hayes: "Good. Make sure the employee is given an opportunity to explain what happened before any conclusion is drawn."
Robert Ellis: "We will."
Victoria looked at the list of unresolved issues.
The initial confrontation had lasted only a few minutes.
Yet its aftermath was now revealing a complicated trail of messages, assignments, reports, and access requests.
She could not say whether these events were connected.
She could say that each one required verification.
And she knew that the integrity of the investigation depended on resisting the temptation to connect them before the evidence supported it.
That afternoon, Melissa Grant returned to the courthouse to provide a formal copy of her statement.
She had brought the original phone she used to record the incident, along with a written account of what she remembered.
Patricia Monroe met her in the security office.
Patricia Monroe: "Thank you for coming back. We need to verify a few details about the recording."
Melissa Grant: "Of course."
Monroe asked Melissa to identify the beginning and end of the original video.
Melissa showed her the file.
The recording began shortly after Cross had approached Victoria, but before he grabbed her blazer.
It captured his repeated commands, Victoria's questions, the physical contact, and the slap.
It also captured several seconds immediately afterward, when Victoria held her cheek and told him that he had struck her.
The audio was clear enough to distinguish the main statements.
The recording did not show everything that had happened before Melissa raised her phone, but it provided a direct account of the most important part of the confrontation.
Monroe arranged for the file to be copied through the approved evidence process.
The original remained on Melissa's phone.
After the transfer, Melissa reviewed the written statement and signed it.
Melissa Grant: "I just want to make sure this doesn't disappear."
Patricia Monroe: "The recording has been documented, and the review team has a secure copy. You should keep the original file and avoid making changes to it."
Melissa nodded.
Melissa Grant: "I will."
As she prepared to leave, Melissa paused near the door.
Melissa Grant: "Can I ask something?"
Patricia Monroe: "Certainly."
Melissa Grant: "Is the officer saying she attacked him?"
Monroe chose her words carefully.
Patricia Monroe: "His initial report describes the incident differently from what you and other witnesses have reported. The review team is examining the evidence."
Melissa shook her head in disbelief.
Melissa Grant: "I watched it happen. She was asking him what he wanted, and then he hit her."
Patricia Monroe: "Your statement will be considered alongside the other evidence."
Melissa left the office looking troubled.
Monroe returned to the incident file and added a note that the original recording had been preserved.
The evidence was now difficult to dismiss.
But another question remained.
If Cross had genuinely believed that Victoria was the person he had been instructed to locate, why had he not simply checked her identity?
Why had he ignored her questions?
Why had he used physical force?
And why had he submitted a report that appeared to describe events differently from what the video showed?
The answers would need to come from Cross himself, from the records surrounding the assignment, and from anyone who had communicated with him before the confrontation.
That evening, Robert Ellis received a response from the technical team.
They had identified a second record associated with the internal administrative account.
The record showed that the account had accessed the assignment system shortly before the original message was sent.
A separate entry showed that the account had opened a page containing the morning's courtroom schedule.
The access history did not identify the person sitting at the workstation with certainty, but it narrowed the period during which the message could have been created.
Ellis requested the corresponding workstation logs.
He also asked whether the account had been used to make similar requests on previous days.
The technical team agreed to examine the records.
When Ellis reviewed the new information, he noticed a small detail that had not appeared in the earlier summary.
The assignment request had not merely been created.
It had been edited.
The first version contained a general request for an officer to verify the identity of a person waiting near a courtroom.
The later version used stronger language, suggesting that the person might be connected to a criminal matter.
The modification occurred shortly before Cross received the assignment.
Ellis read the two versions side by side.
The difference was only a few words.