"After she tore the card, she had me run the internal check. That verified too. I said we should call the validation number. More than once. She refused."
"Did Agent Williams threaten anyone?"
"No. She stayed calm. She told us the case would seal if it was seized. She said it as a warning about the equipment, not a threat against anyone."
A figure appeared in the doorway. Rebecca had approached quietly enough that nobody heard her shoes on the corridor floor. "So now he's your witness," she said to Maya.
"He's describing what he remembers," Maya answered.
Rebecca turned toward Ben. "You could have explained you were following a security instruction."
"I did," Ben said. "But you also told me to close a verified result."
"Watch how you characterize my orders. People here rely on one another."
Maya stepped toward the doorway. "His statement belongs to him, Lieutenant. It won't be edited to protect him, you, or me."
"He works for this department."
"That doesn't mean his memory is department property."
Rebecca's face reddened. "You don't understand the loyalty this job requires."
"Loyalty matters," Maya replied. "But loyalty that asks a person to conceal what he knows isn't service. It's fear wearing a uniform."
Rebecca held Maya's gaze for a moment and walked away. Ben let out a breath he had not realized he was holding. The interviewer asked whether he wanted a break. Ben shook his head. Maya looked at him.
"Start from what you saw," she said. "Tell it accurately. Don't make yourself a hero you weren't, and don't make yourself worse than the facts require."
After leaving the interview, Maya passed through the lobby and watched ordinary life continue. A young patrol officer was patiently explaining a parking report to an irritated driver. Two residents waited to report checks stolen from their mailbox. Someone behind the desk was attempting to calm a frightened caller who could not reach her elderly father. These people were the department too.
Its integrity could not be assessed by the choices of one lieutenant, one chief, or one contractor alone. Maya wanted the investigation to distinguish officials who had altered records from employees who had preserved them, and neither group could be identified by rank.
Lena called her back into the evidence room. Two monitors now displayed a building diagram and an energy-use report. "I've been comparing the network inventory with the physical infrastructure," she said. "The official server room accounts for most of the electrical load we expected. But there's another steady draw from the basement utility corridor. It doesn't correspond to anything shown on the building plan."
Mercer, who had followed them inside, glanced at the chart. "Air conditioning or emergency equipment?"
"I checked both," Lena said. "The draw remains."
"Could it be an old circuit?"
"It could. But I found a fiber line on one approved network drawing. It leaves the server room and continues toward that corridor, then ends on paper without connecting to any listed device."