Chapter 19 - Darkness in Headquarters
Emergency generators restored partial power within seconds, but not before every computer screen in the Major Crimes office went black.
"No one touch anything," the digital analyst shouted.
He rushed to the server console.
"When power returns, I need to know exactly what changed."
Officer Marcus Hale drew his sidearm and stepped into the hallway with two patrol officers.
The normally busy headquarters had become strangely quiet.
Emergency lighting cast long shadows across the corridor.
Several officers emerged from nearby offices asking the same question.
"What happened?"
Dispatch confirmed the outage had affected only one section of headquarters.
Major Crimes.
Detective Ortega immediately understood.
"This wasn't random."
Back inside the conference room, the computers slowly restarted.
The analyst's expression changed the moment the first system came online.
"Oh no..."
"What?"
"Someone logged in during the outage."
"That's impossible."
"They didn't use the network."
He pointed toward a disconnected maintenance port beneath one workstation.
"They connected directly."
Rachel looked from one detective to another.
"Did they steal something?"
The analyst compared backup files.
"They copied evidence."
"What evidence?"
"The recovered warehouse recordings."
"The photographs."
"The witness statements."
"And..."
He hesitated.
"Hannah Pierce's testimony."
Officer Hale slammed his fist against the table.
"They're cleaning up before we can charge anyone."
Another detective entered carrying a sealed evidence envelope.
"We found this taped underneath the server rack."
Hale opened it carefully.
Inside was a plain white card with only one sentence printed in black ink.
You keep chasing the middlemen.
Nothing else.
No fingerprints.
No DNA.
Just those five words.
Detective Ortega read the message twice.
"The middlemen..."
Rachel looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Daniel, Eric, Steven Marshall..."
She slowly looked around the room.
"...may not be running this operation."
For the first time, the investigation seemed even larger than anyone had imagined.
Just then Hale's secure phone rang.
The caller identification displayed only one word.
UNKNOWN
He answered cautiously.
"This is Hale."
A calm male voice spoke.
"You're asking the wrong questions."
"Who is this?"
"If you want Rachel Carter and her children alive..."
The line crackled.
"...stop looking at family court."
May you like
The call disconnected.
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