She turned to the chief. "Chief Henderson."
"Yes, Captain."
"I want the security footage from his cruiser impounded immediately. I want his locker tossed. I want every single arrest report he has filed in the last 5 years audited by Internal Affairs. And I want him stripped of his badge and his weapon right here, right now."
"You can't do this," Travis suddenly panicked, his voice cracking. "The union—" Travis stammered.
"The union cannot save you from a federal civil rights violation, kidnapping under color of law, and evidence tampering," Emma cut him off, her voice cracking like a whip.
"Take his badge, David. I'm going to take a shower. Put on my uniform. And when I come back downstairs, we are going to burn this precinct's corruption to the ground."
Two hours later, the District 9 precinct was unrecognizable. The front doors had been locked to the public, a makeshift "Closed for Emergency Maintenance" sign slapped on the glass. Inside, it was a war zone of paperwork, flashing hard drives, and terrified whispers. When Emma Grace descended the metal staircase from the locker rooms, the entire bullpen froze.
The weary, soaking wet woman from cell 3 was gone. In her place stood Captain Grace. She wore a perfectly tailored midnight blue uniform, the brass buttons polished to a mirror shine, the gold double bars of her rank resting heavily on her collar. Her hair was pulled back into a severe, immaculate twist.
She walked with the lethal grace of a predator who had finally been let off the leash.
Travis Holt was sitting in interrogation room A. He had been stripped of his badge, his gun, and his heavy utility belt. He sat in just his uniform shirt and trousers, his hands trembling as he stared at the two-way mirror. He knew Emma was on the other side. He could feel her. Inside the observation room, Emma stood with Chief Henderson and two Internal Affairs investigators, Special Agent Arthur Pendleton, a veteran from the state prosecutor's office, known for his ruthlessness, and Agent Davis.
"The dash cam footage from Holt's cruiser is missing, Captain," Pendleton said, his voice flat. "Looks like someone manually wiped the hard drive in the trunk before their shift ended." "He thinks he's clever," Emma said, her eyes never leaving Travis through the glass. "He wiped the physical drive. He didn't read the memo from the mayor's office last month. All District 9 cruisers were upgraded with a secondary cloud backup system, specifically because of missing footage complaints."
Henderson allowed a grim smile to touch his lips. "I'll have the tech team pull the cloud data." "Do that. But we don't even need it to bury him," Emma said, turning away from the glass.
"I want the evidence room audited. Every single seizure from the last 6 months. Two ounces of high-grade cocaine doesn't just fall out of the sky. He had to get it from somewhere. Which means there's a leak in the chain of custody."
Emma pushed the heavy door to the interrogation room open and stepped inside. The air in the room seemed to drop 10°. Travis jumped slightly in his metal chair, his eyes darting to the door as it clicked shut behind her. Emma didn't sit down.