“I know.”
“Everyone said the same thing. Internal review. Administrative review. Further investigation.”
Naomi listened.
Isaiah looked down.
“They made me feel like nobody would believe me.”
Naomi did not offer an easy promise.
Instead she said:
“I can't undo what happened.”
Isaiah looked up.
“But I can make sure the record reflects what we find.”
He swallowed.
“That matters.”
Naomi nodded.
“It does.”
That afternoon, she met Daniel Brooks.
Then Teresa Hall.
Then the families of three other people.
Each story was different.
The damage was not.
Fear.
Debt.
Lost employment.
Humiliation.
Distrust.
Naomi wrote every consequence into the investigation.
She didn't want a case that merely proved misconduct.
She wanted the record to show who had paid the price.
The most important discovery came from a camera that everyone had assumed was useless.
A traffic pole near the eastern district had been fitted with an old municipal surveillance camera.
Its image quality was poor.
The department had never requested its footage.
But the city transportation office kept backups for thirty days.
The investigators requested them.
There it was.
A view of Naomi's sedan entering the street.
Then Cole's patrol car.
Then the stop.
The angle was distant, but clear enough to establish one critical fact.
Cole's vehicle had been behind Naomi for nearly two minutes before the alleged lane violation occurred.
The camera showed no lane violation.
More importantly, it showed Cole slowing down when Naomi entered the district.
He appeared to wait.
Then follow.
Naomi watched the footage silently.
Lena stood beside her.
“He knew you were coming.”
“Maybe.”
“That's what it looks like.”
“Looks aren't enough.”
Lena sighed.
“You really don't know how to stop.”
Naomi smiled faintly.
“No.”
They traced the vehicle registration.
The municipal database showed Naomi's sedan had been assigned to the Ethics Office.
Someone had accessed that database four hours before the traffic stop.
The login belonged to a communications technician.
The technician denied accessing it.
His computer told a different story.
Someone had remotely logged into his workstation.
Naomi asked the cyber team to trace the connection.
The connection originated inside the police network.
Then disappeared.
The trail had been deliberately obscured.
This was no longer a simple case of a dishonest officer.
Someone had known about the integrity test.
Someone had known Naomi would be driving the vehicle.
Someone had decided she should be stopped.
And someone had expected the planted evidence to work.
Naomi stared at the timeline.
“If they knew about the test,” she said, “then they knew we were investigating.”
Lena's face became serious.
“Which means they may try to destroy the evidence.”
Naomi immediately issued preservation orders.
Every server.
Every phone.
Every vehicle camera.
Every evidence-room record.
Every access log.
Nothing could be deleted.
Nothing could be overwritten.
But they were already too late.
At 11:38 p.m., one of the department's main evidence databases went offline.
A message appeared:
SYSTEM MAINTENANCE.
Naomi looked at the timestamp.
11:38.
Exactly six minutes after she had signed the preservation order.
She picked up the phone.
“Lock the network down.”
The investigator answered:
“Already trying.”
Then the lights went out.
The building fell silent.
Emergency lights came on.
Someone shouted from the hallway.
Naomi remained at the conference table.
“Where's the server room?”
“Basement.”
“Who has access?”
“IT staff and command.”
“Get someone there.”
Two investigators ran downstairs.
Thirty seconds later, one returned.
“The door was open.”
Naomi stood.
“Anything missing?”
“Not hardware.”
“Then what?”
“The backup drive.”
Everyone froze.
The backup drive contained archived footage.
Including body-camera files from previous investigations.
Naomi understood immediately.
Someone was trying to erase history.
She called the state attorney's office.
Then the federal inspector assigned to municipal corruption cases.
Then the mayor.
Within an hour, the building was surrounded by investigators from outside Bellmont.
The internal investigation had become external.
Sergeant Vale arrived shortly after midnight.
He looked furious.
“What is happening?”
Naomi turned toward him.
“Someone accessed the evidence database.”
Vale frowned.
“That's an IT issue.”
“Someone also removed a backup drive.”
“That sounds like an IT issue too.”
Naomi studied him.
“Where were you at 11:38?”
“At home.”
“Your access credentials were used.”
“I told you. Someone must have stolen them.”
“Possibly.”
Vale folded his arms.
“You're making a serious accusation.”
“I haven't accused you.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Not yet.”
Naomi didn't respond.
The external investigators arrived.
One of them placed a sealed document on the table.
“Sergeant Vale, we need your department phone.”
Vale hesitated.
“Why?”
“For preservation.”
“I have nothing to hide.”
“Then surrendering it shouldn't be a problem.”
Vale handed it over.
The investigator examined the device.
Then looked at Naomi.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“His phone has been factory-reset.”
Vale immediately spoke.
“I lost the phone earlier.”