“I can't promise she'll forget what happened. But fear can become less powerful, and her life can grow around it again.”
Mara's eyes filled.
She nodded.
Then whispered, “That's what I want.”
The police investigation began the night Emma was injured.
Detective Naomi Fields, a forty-three-year-old investigator with the county police department, interviewed hospital staff and began collecting available evidence from the garage.
She approached the case cautiously.
The initial facts established an encounter involving Emma, a man who took her folder, and an injury sustained during the struggle. The exact sequence, the man's identity, and his motive required verification.
Lucy had provided some information, but she was seven, frightened, and recovering emotionally from witnessing the incident.
Naomi wanted to protect the child from unnecessary questioning while pursuing independent evidence.
The garage cameras captured portions of the relevant area, but one camera was under maintenance and another produced images too distant to identify the man clearly.
A security officer remembered seeing someone wearing a black jacket leave the structure.
A vehicle was recorded departing shortly afterward.
But the plate was not readable in the footage initially available.
Naomi requested additional records.
She also examined the documents Emma had been reviewing.
Her first conversation with the hospital's compliance officer introduced the possibility that the attack was related to the charitable fund.
The officer showed her correspondence concerning the disputed invoices.
Several emails identified Raymond Voss as the fund's treasurer.
Emma had asked him to explain certain expenditures.
He had resisted providing detailed support.
Naomi made note of it.
Then she began examining his movements.
Rook denied being at the garage.
He said he'd spent the evening at an Iron Ravens meeting in a clubhouse twenty minutes away.
Several members remembered seeing him there.
Hammer confirmed that Rook attended the meeting.
At the time, Hammer believed that statement to be true.
He had seen Rook at the clubhouse shortly before eight.
But he couldn't account for every minute of his friend's evening.
And he didn't know that the attack occurred during a window when Rook could have left and returned.
When Naomi asked Hammer whether anyone in the club had raised concerns about the charitable fund, he hesitated.
Then he said the accounting questions were being addressed.
He didn't mention Brick's photographs.
Didn't mention the supplier complaint.
And didn't mention the disagreement he'd had with Rook about the missing invoices.