A soft knock at the temporary front door made both of them look up. Detective Rosa Delgado stood outside in civilian clothes, her expression strained. She carried no dramatic announcement, and she did not ask to come inside until Angela invited her. When Delgado stepped into the hallway and saw the broken case, something changed in her face.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I heard there was a second search. I didn't know they did this."
"Neither did we, until last night," Angela answered.
Delgado sat at the table with Diana and Marcus. She explained that she had filed concerns about Holt's unit through departmental channels, but the responses had been slow and opaque. After the second search, she had contacted a state-level law enforcement integrity office outside the captain's chain of command. That office had arranged a formal, logged transfer of records Delgado was lawfully able to identify and preserve in her investigative capacity, rather than allowing them to be moved through informal personal copies.
"I have not brought you originals from the department," she said. "That would make this messier and could put witnesses in danger. But I've brought the case numbers, retention notices, and a list of recordings that independent investigators should demand."
She slid a folder across the table. Inside were dates, incident identifiers, and notes from interviews with homeowners in two other neighborhoods. She had personally reviewed body-camera footage in which Holt talked about "softening up" owners who rejected development offers. She also knew that a routine deletion request had been submitted for one of those files despite a complaint requiring its preservation.
Diana studied the references. "Who has the preserved versions?"
"The state integrity office has initiated a hold through the department's evidence custodian," Delgado replied. "The copies will need authentication. I can testify to what I saw and when I saw it, but the prosecutor needs to obtain the actual files under proper authority."
Marcus had imagined Delgado arriving with a hard drive containing every answer. Instead she had brought something more durable: a route by which the evidence might survive a courtroom. He asked whether she was safe. Delgado gave a small, tired smile and said she had already asked for independent protection if her cooperation became known.
"There is one recording I want you to understand," she told Angela. "It's an interview with Mrs. Carter from three weeks ago. Holt went there in connection with a supposed safety inquiry. During the conversation, he mentioned how much easier life would be if she accepted the developer's offer."
Angela gripped the edge of the table. "She told me."
"I know. But if the recording is intact, we won't be relying only on her memory."
Delgado hesitated before continuing. She said the captain had discussed target properties with representatives of the developer behind a warehouse on Pine Street. A separate investigator had reported seeing him there, and the meeting appeared in a sequence of images taken during an unrelated surveillance assignment. Whether the audio supported the allegations would have to be determined from authenticated files, not anyone's recollection of a rumor. That distinction mattered even though everyone at the table wanted to believe the pieces fit.