Chapter 10 - The List of Victims
The Digital Forensics Laboratory occupied the second floor of Police Headquarters.
Rows of computers displayed spreadsheets, surveillance footage, financial records, and recovered documents from the warehouse.
Forensic analyst Kevin Ross looked exhausted.
"You need to see this."
He projected one spreadsheet onto a large monitor.
Every row contained a family's name.
Case numbers.
Court dates.
Attorney assignments.
Custody outcomes.
Rachel stared at the endless list.
"How many families?"
Kevin answered quietly.
"So far..."
He zoomed out.
"...one hundred twenty-seven."
Nobody spoke.
Officer Hale slowly rubbed his forehead.
"One hundred twenty-seven custody cases?"
Kevin nodded.
"Over the last four years."
Detective Ortega stepped closer.
"How many resulted in emergency child removal?"
Kevin typed several commands.
"Eighty-three."
"And how many relied on emergency evidence submitted less than forty-eight hours before the hearing?"
Kevin paused.
"Seventy-six."
Rachel whispered,
"That's impossible..."
Kevin opened another recovered folder.
"It gets worse."
Each family had a status column.
Green.
Yellow.
Red.
Some included handwritten notes.
"Mother isolated."
"Financial pressure."
"No legal representation."
"High success probability."
Officer Hale clenched his jaw.
"They were profiling parents."
Kevin nodded.
"They targeted people least likely to fight back."
Rachel suddenly noticed something else.
"What's this column?"
Kevin enlarged it.
At the top appeared one title.
Coordinator
Beneath it were initials instead of names.
SM.
DL.
RK.
JW.
Detective Ortega circled the first initials.
"SM."
Rachel remembered Hannah's testimony.
"Steven Marshall."
Officer Hale looked toward Ortega.
"If that's true..."
"...then someone inside court administration coordinated the cases."
Kevin opened another recovered document.
This one contained bank transfers.
Large payments.
Different dates.
Different companies.
All eventually leading into the same consulting firm.
Silver Oak Family Consulting.
Rachel frowned.
"I've never heard of them."
Kevin typed the company name.
"No physical office."
"No employees."
"No active website."
Officer Hale folded his arms.
"A shell company."
Kevin nodded.
"It received nearly three million dollars over the past five years."
Everyone exchanged uneasy glances.
This conspiracy was becoming larger with every file recovered.
Just then another analyst rushed across the room carrying a tablet.
"Marcus."
"What now?"
"We recovered deleted emails from Eric Whitmore's phone."
Officer Hale accepted the tablet.
The sender's name had been erased.
Only one subject line remained.
Operation Second Chance
Rachel looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
Kevin opened the message.
Only one sentence had survived deletion.
> Rachel Carter must not regain custody under any circumstances.
There was no signature.
No sender.
Only one attached file.
A scanned photograph.
Officer Hale enlarged it.
The room instantly became silent.
Rachel slowly covered her mouth.
The picture showed Noah...
Walking home from school.
May you like
Someone had been watching her children long before the police ever arrived.
---
