"He was a police officer who discovered something he wasn't supposed to discover."
Jessica shook her head.
"My father wasn't corrupt."
David looked at her.
"I didn't say he was."
"Then what are you saying?"
"I'm saying he was one of the few people who tried to stop what was happening."
Jessica glanced at Lieutenant Harris.
The older officer stood several feet away, his face tense.
"Lieutenant?"
Harris didn't answer.
"Is this true?"
He looked toward the ground.
"Jessica, we need to discuss this somewhere else."
She laughed bitterly.
"Somewhere else? You've had eleven years to discuss it."
"That's enough."
"No!"
Her voice echoed through the parking lot.
"You're going to tell me right now why this man knows my father's name."
Harris took a step toward her.
"Get in your vehicle."
Jessica didn't move.
"Did you know my father?"
Harris looked at David.
Then back at her.
"Yes."
The answer was barely audible.
Jessica's eyes widened.
"You knew him?"
"Yes."
"Did you work with him?"
"Briefly."
"Did you know what happened to him?"
Harris remained silent.
Jessica's expression changed from disbelief to anger.
"Did you know what happened to my father?"
Harris finally looked at her.
"I know what the department told us."
"That's not what I asked."
He lowered his voice.
"Your father was officially listed as having resigned from the department. He left the city. The investigation was closed."
Jessica shook her head.
"He never resigned."
David interrupted.
"You're right."
Jessica turned toward him.
David opened the metal case again.
He removed the transparent evidence pouch containing the folded document.
"I found this in the original Northbridge evidence archive."
He handed it to her.
Jessica looked at the paper.
At the top was a departmental seal.
Below it was a typed heading:
PERSONNEL DISPOSITION REPORT
She scanned the page.
Her eyes stopped at the name.
MICHAEL MILLER.
Beneath it was a date.
The date her father supposedly resigned.
But something else caught her attention.
The signature at the bottom.
She recognized it.
Not because she had seen it on official documents.
Because she had seen it thousands of times on birthday cards, permission slips, and school assignments.
It was her father's signature.
Except it looked different.
Jessica leaned closer.
"This isn't his handwriting."
David nodded.
"Exactly."
She looked up.
"How can you tell?"
"Your father was left-handed. Whoever signed this was right-handed."
Jessica stared at the paper.
The signature was clearly forged.
She looked at Harris.
"Who signed this?"
Harris remained silent.
David answered.
"Someone who wanted your father to disappear without creating a missing-person investigation."
Jessica's hands began trembling.
"So what happened to him?"
David closed the metal case.
"That's what we're going to find out."
Harris stepped forward.