"Not by breaking into a server or taking equipment home," Delgado answered. "That would compromise everything. I've made a sealed preservation request through an independent channel, and I have contemporaneous notes about recordings I reviewed while assigned to those cases. I need a prosecutor who isn't answering to Holt to make sure the originals survive."
Her caution frustrated Marcus and reassured Jack. A sensational file obtained by questionable means could be easy for defense attorneys to discredit, regardless of what it appeared to show. A properly preserved recording, authenticated with logs and witnesses, could hold up under scrutiny. The distinction felt slow when Angela was in custody, but Marcus was beginning to understand that evidence did not become useful because it matched what he already believed.
Delgado turned toward him. "Your wife gave us an opportunity. A lot of neighbors finally spoke at once. That changed the risk for everyone who has been sitting on a complaint. But Captain Holt knows the department, and he has people who will tell him what the ordinary channels are doing. You need to treat your own safety as seriously as the case."
She left by the side entrance before Jack could ask to interview her formally. Marcus watched the door close and thought about the strain in her voice. He had spent years in organizations where following an order could be a matter of survival. He also knew that there was a point at which loyalty to an institution became an excuse for refusing to see what it was doing. Delgado had crossed that point. He hoped the system would not punish her for it.
By late afternoon Daniel had found a separate trail worth following. Crystal Lake Country Club listed James Holt among the sponsors of a private corporate membership package. The club's public event photographs showed Captain Holt at two Vision Heights charity outings, and one disclosed sponsorship had been routed through a company with the same mailing address as Phoenix Ventures. None of it established who paid the captain's dues, but it gave Jack a precise set of questions to send to the club and the developer.
An anonymous message reached Jack's encrypted tip line that evening. It alleged payments from an offshore account to a local financial institution after clusters of property purchases. The attachment contained an image of a signature card that appeared to bear Darren Holt's signature. Daniel refused to treat it as proof until they could confirm its source and integrity.
"Anybody can put a familiar name beside a bank number," he said. "If it's real, a subpoena can verify it. If it's fake, it could wreck the story and help him."
Marcus felt the impatience rise in him. Angela was still in a holding cell, and the man who had ordered the search was presumably eating dinner. But he looked at the image again and admitted Daniel was right. He asked for a copy of the tip to provide to investigators as an unverified lead, clearly labeled as such.