It was a small detail.
But sometimes a small detail was enough to reveal that a much larger story needed to be examined.
The following morning, Rebecca Nolan arrived at the station earlier than usual.
She had barely slept.
The records from the previous afternoon had stayed in her mind. She kept remembering the way Kavalik had ordered her to close the system, and the way the printer had continued producing pages even after she had stopped touching the keyboard.
She logged in and checked the ordinary booking queue.
Everything appeared normal.
But when she opened the property archive, a warning appeared.
ACCESS RESTRICTED.
She tried again.
The same message appeared.
Rebecca stared at the screen.
She had used the archive many times before. Her access was limited, but she had never been completely blocked from the records she needed for routine booking work.
She checked the system status.
A maintenance notice had been posted overnight.
The notice stated that certain historical property records were undergoing administrative restructuring.
Rebecca read it twice.
Then she noticed the date.
The restructuring had begun several hours earlier than the scheduled maintenance window.
She immediately called Osei.
REBECCA NOLAN: "Osei, can you come to the booking area?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "What's wrong?"
REBECCA NOLAN: "The property archive is restricted."
There was a brief pause.
DEPUTY OSEI: "Since when?"
REBECCA NOLAN: "Since last night, apparently."
Osei arrived a few minutes later.
He looked at the screen.
DEPUTY OSEI: "They've changed the access permissions."
REBECCA NOLAN: "Can they do that?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "Administrators can change access permissions. But they should have a documented reason."
Rebecca opened the maintenance notice.
The approval field contained a name.
Martin Greaves.
REBECCA NOLAN: "It was approved by the chief administrative clerk."
Osei stared at the screen.
DEPUTY OSEI: "That doesn't make sense."
REBECCA NOLAN: "Why?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "Because Martin doesn't normally approve technical access changes by himself."
Rebecca leaned closer.
The notice included a reference number for the administrative request.
She copied it into the search field.
A second record appeared.
It showed that the access change had been requested through the same shared property operations account that had appeared in the previous day's seizure records.
Osei took a step back.
DEPUTY OSEI: "This is getting worse."
REBECCA NOLAN: "Do you think someone is trying to hide the records?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "I think we need to be very careful about what we assume."
Rebecca looked at him.
REBECCA NOLAN: "But you don't think it's normal."
Osei shook his head.
DEPUTY OSEI: "No."
He glanced toward the sheriff's office.
The door was closed.
Osei lowered his voice.
DEPUTY OSEI: "I need to tell you something about the old transport records."
Rebecca waited.
DEPUTY OSEI: "There was a man who worked for Kingsland Recovery. He used to handle vehicle transfers for the county. His name was Marcus Bell."
REBECCA NOLAN: "What happened to him?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "He left the company about a year ago."
REBECCA NOLAN: "Why?"
Osei hesitated.
DEPUTY OSEI: "He started asking questions about the inventory."
Rebecca looked at him.
DEPUTY OSEI: "He noticed that some vehicles appeared in the company's transport records but couldn't be matched with the county's final disposition reports. He said the numbers didn't add up."
REBECCA NOLAN: "Did he report it?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "He tried."
REBECCA NOLAN: "To whom?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "The property administration office."
Rebecca's expression changed.
REBECCA NOLAN: "Martin Greaves?"
Osei nodded.
DEPUTY OSEI: "After that, Marcus was removed from the transport schedule. A few weeks later, he resigned."
REBECCA NOLAN: "Do you know where he is now?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "Not exactly. But I heard he kept copies of some of the records."
Rebecca looked toward the computer.
The archive was now restricted.
The internal reports were difficult to access.
And a former employee might possess information that had never been entered into the county's system.
She looked at Osei.
REBECCA NOLAN: "Does Judge Whitlock know about him?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "Not yet."
Osei reached for his phone.
DEPUTY OSEI: "I think she needs to know."
Across town, Naomi was reviewing the initial preservation request with Margaret when her phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar.
She answered.
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "This is Naomi Whitlock."
DEPUTY OSEI: "Judge Whitlock, this is Deputy Osei from the sheriff's department."
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "Yes, Deputy. What happened?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "The property archive has been restricted. The access permissions were changed overnight."
Naomi sat up slightly.
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "Was the change documented?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "There is a maintenance notice, but the timing is unusual. It was approved through the administrative office."
Naomi looked toward Margaret.
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "Who approved it?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "Martin Greaves, the chief administrative clerk."
Margaret immediately began writing the name down.
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "Do you know why the access was changed?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "No. But I remembered something that might be important. A former Kingsland Recovery employee named Marcus Bell raised concerns about vehicle inventory records before he left the company."
Naomi looked at Margaret.
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "What kind of concerns?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "He believed some of the vehicles recorded as transferred to storage didn't match the company's final inventory reports. He tried to report it, but nothing happened."
NAOMI WHITLOCK: "Do you know where he is?"
DEPUTY OSEI: "I may be able to find out."
Naomi paused.