She had seen more than Angela expected. Months earlier, Holt had instructed selected officers to give particular attention to properties owned by residents who were resisting Vision Heights offers, and Delgado had kept contemporaneous notes of meetings where officers discussed addresses as if they were assignments from a real estate broker. She knew of body-camera recordings in which Holt spoke with development representatives and of supervisors who marked resident complaints unsubstantiated without interviewing witnesses. Most troubling was a recorded exchange in which he referred specifically to Mrs. Carter's home as a holdout that had to be dealt with before a parcel could be assembled.
"If you've had this information, why hasn't anyone stopped him?" Marcus asked, less accusing than bewildered.
Delgado looked down. "Because information isn't the same as a prosecutable case. Some officers complained and got reassigned. Some evidence wasn't stored properly, and some people were afraid to corroborate what they'd said privately. But I also have to admit I waited longer than I should have. Angela getting dragged out of her house made it impossible to pretend more time would solve the problem by itself."
Angela did not offer easy forgiveness on behalf of every family Holt had frightened. Delgado's choice to come forward mattered, but so had the months in which officers who knew better had continued to follow instructions. The detective seemed to understand that distinction, and she did not ask Angela to absolve her. Instead, she gave Diana the name of the independent investigator who had acknowledged her earlier reports and volunteered to sign a detailed statement about the material she could personally authenticate.
Before the federal referral, Marcus and Diana met with Lieutenant Sarah Jenkins in the department's independent integrity office. Jenkins had asked to see them after reviewing the preservation notice filed at the precinct, and her investigator, Detective Mike Torres, examined the neighborhood recordings with the skeptical attention of a man accustomed to conflicting testimony. Marcus placed the public property records and incident chronology on the table, then explained what Angela had personally experienced and what they were still trying to verify. Jenkins made copies through the department's evidence process and gave them a written acknowledgment identifying every item received.
"We've heard concerns about Captain Holt before," Jenkins admitted. "Some were inadequately investigated, and that's part of what needs reviewing. But don't mistake this room for a guarantee that everyone in our department can be trusted with sensitive evidence. I'll request outside oversight for anything involving officers who report directly to him."
Mike Torres replayed the footage of Holt stepping on Angela's phone, then paused where the captain's boot descended. He asked whether the original file existed and whether any independent witness could authenticate the recording. Marcus supplied Jimmy Parker's name, but Diana insisted that officers contact the family through appropriate procedures rather than assume a teenager should surrender his device without explanation. Jenkins agreed and instructed her staff to preserve relevant departmental recordings, dispatch changes, and reports before any routine system replacement could erase them.
"What about the recordings other officers made during the raids?" Marcus asked. "Some body cameras were running. How do we know that footage hasn't been altered or lost?"