Mercer pointed.
“You people control everything.”
Brooks opened a laptop.
Displayed the synchronized footage.
Mercer on screen.
Roadside.
Federal packet in his hand.
Timestamp matching the compartment telemetry.
Then his own report.
No packet documented.
Mercer stared.
“That doesn’t show me putting anything in my locker.”
“No,” Brooks said.
“It shows you taking it from the SUV.”
The investigators continued searching.
Under a stack of administrative forms they found photocopies from Marcus’s impound file.
Unauthorized.
Behind a lower shelf, three older civilian complaint folders appeared.
David Martinez.
Sarah Thompson.
James Wilson.
Marcus recognized the names.
Brooks opened one.
These were not copies from the general records system.
They contained handwritten notes.
Supervisor annotations.
Documents that should have been retained in internal affairs archives.
Some pages had been marked:
DO NOT FORWARD.
Another contained Hollis’s initials.
Footsteps approached quickly.
Lieutenant Wade Hollis entered.
“What is happening?”
Brooks held up the warrant.
Hollis barely looked at it.
“You can’t search department property without city counsel present.”
“Yes, we can.”
“This is outrageous.”
Brooks gestured toward the sealed federal packet.
“This was recovered from Sergeant Mercer’s locker.”
Hollis looked at it.