"Why are you telling us this?" Marcus asked.
Delgado looked down at her coffee. "Because I watched the video from last night before the incident file was restricted. Your wife asked for a warrant. Griggs threw her down. That's not policing. And I recognized the language Holt used about keeping the neighborhood under control. I've heard it before in meetings about targeted enforcement areas."
Daniel asked whether she would make a formal statement. She shook her head. "I want to. But I need to protect what I know first. There are records that should be preserved, including archived body-camera backups. Internal Affairs has been told about them, and not everyone there is compromised. I can't hand you confidential police files in a diner. I can point investigators to their existence and sign a sworn statement when the right protections are in place."
Marcus respected the boundary. He did not want to turn Delgado's courage into another vulnerability by encouraging her to break the law or compromise evidence. He asked instead what legitimate steps could preserve the material. She gave the name of Lieutenant Sarah Jenkins in Internal Affairs and told him to direct his lawyer's preservation request to her personally.
"And one more thing," Delgado said, rising. "Look at Vision Heights' meetings with Holt outside the station. Crystal Lake is one location. There's also a warehouse on Pine Street. I can't tell you what happened there yet, but somebody should ask why a captain who claims to be dealing with fugitive investigations spends so much time discussing redevelopment maps."
She left as quietly as she had arrived. Marcus watched her reflection disappear from the diner window and wondered how much courage it took to remain inside an organization after losing faith in people who controlled it. Delgado could have transferred, stayed silent, or pretended every rumor was someone else's problem. Instead she had taken a risk for residents whose names she barely knew.
Daniel folded his laptop halfway closed. "That was more than I expected she'd say. But we still need records. I have a company tree I want you to look at."
He traced Vision Heights to Crown Properties, then to a holding company called Phoenix Ventures. One director listed in corporate disclosures was James Holt, who shared a surname with the captain and appeared to be related to him by marriage. The relationship alone proved nothing, but it established a link worth investigating. Daniel had also found disclosures showing that Phoenix Ventures made substantial consulting payments to entities with little obvious operating history.
"We need lawful access to the underlying financial records," Daniel said. "Public filings show enough to justify questions, but not enough to say who received the money. Jack has a source familiar with the accounting. He won't publish until he verifies it."
Marcus nodded. "So we build the timeline and preserve what we have."