"Captain!"
Hayes turned.
"What is it?"
"We have a problem."
Daniel held up his phone.
"Someone accessed the department's internal security system. The surveillance footage from the last forty-eight hours has been deleted."
Hayes frowned.
"Can it be recovered?"
"They're trying, but the access came from an internal terminal."
Claire slowly looked around the room.
"Someone inside the building."
Nobody answered.
Then every computer screen came back to life simultaneously.
A single message appeared across the monitors.
THE TRUTH IS INSIDE THE BUILDING.
Officers stared at the screens.
Daniel looked toward the technical department.
"Trace the source. I want to know exactly which terminal sent that message."
A technician began typing rapidly.
After several seconds, he looked up.
"Captain, I have something."
Hayes approached.
"What?"
"The message originated from the restricted investigation network."
"Which account?"
The technician hesitated.
Then he read the name.
"Detective Marcus Cole."
Hayes went completely still.
Claire noticed his reaction.
"Who is Marcus Cole?"
The captain slowly turned toward her.
"A detective who has worked here for more than fifteen years."
"Is he connected to Emily?"
Hayes didn't answer.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Captain, Cole isn't answering his phone. His office is empty, and his car isn't in the parking lot."
Hayes looked toward the hallway.
"Find him. Immediately."
Daniel nodded and began organizing a search.
Claire remained beside the captain.
"Why are you afraid of him?"
Hayes looked at her.
"I'm not afraid."
"Then why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?"
Before he could respond, Claire's phone vibrated.
She looked down.
Another message had arrived.
This time, there was no photograph.
Only a sentence.
STOP ASKING QUESTIONS. YOU'RE NEXT.
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
Hayes noticed her expression.
"What is it?"
Claire slowly showed him the screen.
The captain read the message.
Then he looked toward the security cameras mounted above the corridor.
For the first time in many years, Richard Hayes felt completely exposed.
Somebody knew what they were doing.
Somebody knew who had entered the precinct.
And somebody knew that Claire Morgan had finally returned.
He turned toward Daniel.
"Lock down the building. Nobody leaves until we know what's happening."
Daniel nodded.
But as he walked away, Claire noticed something strange.
Hayes wasn't looking at the security cameras anymore.
He was looking at the evidence room.
And for reasons she couldn't yet understand, she suddenly had the feeling that the answer to everything was hidden somewhere behind that locked door.
The precinct remained under lockdown for nearly twenty minutes.
Officers checked identification cards, searched offices, and questioned administrative employees. Nobody was allowed to leave until the technical department could determine how someone had accessed the restricted investigation network.
Claire stood near the captain's office, watching everything unfold.
She had spent twelve years trying to understand what happened to her sister. During that time, she had learned that people rarely revealed the truth voluntarily. Sometimes, the only way to discover it was to pay attention to what they were trying hardest to hide.
And Captain Richard Hayes was hiding something.
She watched him speaking with two senior officers. His voice was calm, but his hands kept moving nervously. Every few seconds, he glanced toward the evidence room.
Claire approached him.
"Captain, we need to talk."
Hayes didn't turn immediately.
"Not now."
"You've said that every time I've asked you something."
He finally faced her.
"Because you refuse to understand the situation."
"No. I understand perfectly well that Rebecca Stone is dead, someone has accessed restricted files, and my sister's name is appearing in places where it shouldn't be."
Hayes lowered his voice.
"Come into my office."
Claire followed him inside.
He closed the door and stood behind his desk.
"Sit down."
"I'd rather stand."
Hayes sighed.
"Claire, your father was investigating something extremely dangerous before he died. Your sister became involved, and several people inside this department were affected by what they discovered."
"What did they discover?"
"Evidence of corruption."
"That's all?"
"No."
He walked toward a locked cabinet and removed an old photograph.
It showed three people standing outside a courthouse.
Claire immediately recognized Rebecca Stone.
The second person was Hayes.
The third was a young man wearing a detective's badge.
She studied the photograph.
"Who is he?"
"Thomas Morgan."
Claire looked up sharply.
"That's my father."
Hayes nodded.
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
Her father had died when she was sixteen. She remembered the funeral, the flowers, the endless condolences, and the way everyone had told her that he had been a good man.
She had never known that he had been involved in a secret investigation.
"Why was my father standing with Rebecca?"
"Because they were working together."
"On what?"
Hayes placed the photograph on the desk.
"Your father discovered that certain criminal investigations were being manipulated. Evidence disappeared. Witnesses changed their statements. Suspects who should have gone to prison were suddenly released."
"Who was responsible?"
"We never proved it."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"After twelve years, you're still protecting someone."
Hayes looked directly at her.
"Your father was not an ordinary detective. He knew how to follow money, identify patterns, and recognize when something was wrong. Unfortunately, he also underestimated how powerful the people involved really were."
Claire stepped closer.
"Did they kill him?"
Hayes remained silent.
That silence was more frightening than any answer.
"Captain, I need you to tell me the truth."
"Your father died in a car accident."
"That's what the report says."
"And that's what happened."
"Then why are you afraid to look me in the eyes?"
Before Hayes could answer, someone knocked.
Daniel Reed entered without waiting.
"Captain, we found the terminal."
Hayes immediately turned.
"Whose?"
"Detective Marcus Cole's."
The room became quiet.
"Where is Cole?" Hayes asked.
"Nobody knows. His office is empty, and his phone is switched off."
Daniel handed him a printed document.
"We also recovered part of a deleted message."
Hayes examined it.
The document contained a single sentence:
IF CLAIRE RETURNS, ACTIVATE PROTOCOL NINE.
Claire read the words over his shoulder.
"What is Protocol Nine?"
Hayes folded the paper.
"An old security procedure."
"Why would someone activate it because I returned?"
"It's not important."
"Then explain it."
He looked at Daniel.
"Leave us."
Daniel hesitated before walking out.
Once the door closed, Claire confronted Hayes again.
"You know exactly what that message means."