As they left the conference room, a voice rose from the end of the hallway. Reigns stood near the records office, red-faced and speaking loudly to two officers who appeared to wish they were somewhere else. "It's all politics," he said. "The new captain gets accused of manipulating evidence, and somehow the accusation disappears. Anyone surprised?"
He turned and saw Marcus with Kim and Morrison. For a moment, his expression held genuine surprise. Then he straightened and squared his shoulders. "Back already?" he asked. "I guess it's easy to get cleared when you're the one in charge."
Kim stepped forward. "Officer Reigns, you are not authorized to contact witnesses or enter the records area concerning this investigation. We need you to return to your assigned station."
Reigns ignored her and addressed Marcus instead. "You still think one recording means something? Motorists lie all the time. You know that."
"The investigation will determine what the evidence means," Marcus replied. "And it'll do so without rewriting the records to make me look guilty." Reigns's face changed. He glanced toward Voss, who had appeared farther down the corridor and was already walking toward him with urgent steps. "Derek," the sergeant said, "stop talking. Come with me."
"I'm not running from this," Reigns snapped. Voss lowered his voice. "Then don't make it worse by standing here saying things they can document." The two men exchanged a look that said more about their fear than either intended. Marcus watched without interfering, aware that the investigators needed the freedom to act without his emotions taking the lead.
Kim asked that the corridor conversation be noted by the officers who heard it. She also recommended that Reigns and Voss be separated from police systems and witnesses while the criminal investigation proceeded. Morrison signed temporary restrictions removing both from all operational duties. Their badges and issued firearms were secured under established procedures pending the next stage of the case.
By the following morning, the county prosecutor had received additional authenticated recordings, witness statements, and financial summaries. Independent investigators had examined the altered access logs and confirmed the discrepancy identified by Bell. They also obtained court-authorized records that supported allegations of improper payments associated with tow assignments. Prosecutors began preparing the charging documents they believed the evidence justified.
Marcus spent that day with Hayes reviewing the precinct's immediate operational needs. Several patrol shifts would have to be reassigned, and some officers worried that longstanding procedures were suddenly being questioned. Marcus made certain that residents still received timely responses and that no staffing changes compromised emergency coverage. He would not allow the investigation to become another excuse for public harm.
At a meeting with union representatives, he explained that every accused employee would receive applicable procedural protections. He also made clear that retaliation against complainants, deliberate equipment disabling, and falsification of official records could not be reframed as loyalty to colleagues. "A good officer should want the truth about a stop preserved," he said. "Otherwise the public has no way to distinguish honest enforcement from a threat dressed up in a uniform."