“Is it serious?”
Lydia looked toward the courthouse corridor.
“Yes.”
“How serious?”
She hesitated.
“Serious enough that someone is trying to stop me from looking.”
There was silence.
Then the attorney said:
“Preserve everything.”
“I already started.”
“Don't access anything else from your workstation.”
“Why?”
“Because if somebody knows what you're looking at, your computer could become the next piece of evidence.”
Lydia stared at the terminal.
She understood.
Someone wasn't merely protecting the altered video.
Someone was protecting the person who altered it.
Mara's attorney, Julian Cross, arrived at the courthouse at 3:21.
He was not alone.
Behind him was a forensic examiner named Rebecca Sloan.
Rebecca had spent twelve years investigating digital evidence.
She listened as Julian explained what had happened.
Then she looked at Mara.
“Did you personally observe the timestamp?”
“Yes.”
“Did you photograph it?”
“No.”
“Did the courtroom display it?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca nodded.
“That is enough to establish a starting point.”
Julian frowned.
“But if the court's copy has already been replaced?”
Rebecca smiled.
“Then we find another copy.”
Mara looked at her.
“The backup.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And possibly something better.”
“What?”
“The source system.”
Mara's eyes narrowed.
“The camera?”
“Yes.”
“If the original camera still exists, the recording may never have depended entirely on the courthouse system.”
Rebecca stood.
“Exactly.”
For the first time that afternoon, Mara felt hope.
Not because the case was solved.
But because the evidence had become bigger than one corrupted file.
The parking garage belonged to Meridian County.
Its security cameras were operated by a separate facilities department.
Rebecca contacted the supervisor.
The original recording from April 17 had been automatically retained.
Nobody had requested its deletion.
Nobody had requested its modification.
Rebecca obtained a forensic copy.
She watched it.
Mara watched beside her.
The video showed Daniel Price entering the garage at 9:43 p.m.
Then something unexpected happened.
At 9:44, another person entered.
A man wearing a dark coat.
His face was partially hidden.
He carried a document envelope.
He walked directly toward the administrative elevators.
Mara froze.
“That isn't in the prosecution's video.”
Rebecca nodded.
“I know.”
The next minute was worse.
At 9:51, Daniel left the garage.
At 9:52, the unknown man left.
But the prosecution's version showed Daniel leaving at 9:56.
Four minutes had been added.
Rebecca paused the screen.
“Someone edited the sequence.”
Mara stared at the image.
“Can we identify him?”
Rebecca enlarged the frame.
The man's face remained unclear.
But his badge was visible.
A small rectangular access badge.
Rebecca enhanced the image.
A department emblem appeared.
Judicial Administration.
Mara's expression hardened.
The altered evidence had not come from outside the courthouse.
It had been manipulated by someone who worked inside it.
Lydia was the first to recognize the badge.
She compared the enlarged image with the courthouse employee registry.