"Who granted the permission?" Elijah asked Mercer when the finding was disclosed.
"We're investigating that," she replied. "And I need you not to assume the answer just because one name would make the story neat."
He nearly smiled because her warning sounded exactly like Bennett's. Mercer noticed and asked whether she had said something amusing. "No," he answered. "You sound like the first people who actually want to know what happened."
A few days later, Calvin Price found a procurement memo approving Northline Civic Strategies for an emergency neighborhood outreach project. The memo had been countersigned by a senior aide to Councilman Victor Ralston and filed without the competitive review ordinarily required for a contract of that size. Another document showed that the aide had asked finance employees to expedite disbursements because the councilman's office expected publicity around the project. The publicity had never occurred.
Price showed the records to Bennett and warned again that they established opportunities and connections, not yet a completed case against Ralston. The councilman's office had influence over many municipal contracts, and proximity to a fraudulent payment was not proof that he personally directed it. Still, the pattern gave investigators a reason to interview people the original prosecution had overlooked. One finance employee remembered being told not to delay the payments with routine questions.
Sarah watched from the kitchen doorway as Elijah and Bennett examined the memo. She recognized one of the names on the vendor list, not because she had approved a payment, but because an applicant had complained months earlier that a promised neighborhood repair never began. Sarah had forwarded the complaint to a supervisor and received no reply. When she told Bennett, the attorney asked her to write down exactly what she remembered, without interpreting its significance.
"You think I'm finally useful?" Sarah asked, trying to make light of it.
"You've been useful all along," Bennett replied. "The system confused your access to information with control over money. That's what we have to keep correcting."
The next significant hearing was held on a gray Monday morning, with the jury absent and the courtroom packed more tightly than it had been during trial. Judge Harrison explained that the issue was not whether people disliked Pierce or admired Elijah. It was whether the government had fairly disclosed material evidence and whether the prosecution could continue without compromising Sarah's right to due process. The clerk placed a stack of verified exhibits on the witness table.
Richard Vance testified again, this time under questions from Mercer, and described the date and contents of the report sent to Pierce. Anika Desai followed him, confirming that the digital record did not reliably identify Sarah as the person who initiated the transfers. Keene, called by the court for limited clarification, acknowledged that he had not received the intrusion report before giving his opinion. He said he would have qualified several passages of his summary had he known the terminal was compromised.