The gray pickup remained parked beside the garage.
For the first time since the ambulance departed, he noticed something.
A county utility vehicle had slowed near the house.
The driver glanced toward the driveway.
Then continued.
It might have meant nothing.
But the son felt uneasy.
He looked toward the investigator.
"Do you think somebody will come back?"
She considered.
"We'll assess any specific threats and coordinate with the appropriate agencies."
The son nodded.
Then looked toward his father's empty chair.
He had spent two days worrying about what could happen to the documents.
Now he realized the more important question.
Who had known about them?
And why had a police sergeant been willing to risk his entire career to retrieve a folder from an elderly man's pickup?
The first break in the investigation came from a young deputy.
He had been riding with the sergeant that afternoon.
He had seen the elderly father pushed against the patrol SUV.
He'd heard the complaints of chest pain.
And he'd watched the sergeant try to prevent him from calling for medical assistance.
The rookie was twenty-six.
He'd joined the sheriff's department less than eighteen months earlier.
Before that, he'd worked in a hardware store while completing his studies.
He grew up in a family that believed police officers were supposed to help people when they were frightened.
His grandfather had been a volunteer firefighter.
His mother worked at a public school.
And his father repaired farm equipment.
He wasn't naΓ―ve about the difficulties of law enforcement.
He understood that officers encountered dangerous situations.
He knew suspects sometimes resisted.
And he respected the importance of following lawful instructions.
But the incident outside the white house troubled him.
The elderly man hadn't threatened the officers.
He had asked questions.
He had declined consent to a search.
And when the sergeant grabbed him, the older man appeared to be trying to protect himself from pain rather than attack anyone.
The rookie had been inside the patrol SUV during the initial confrontation.
He hadn't seen the sergeant place the pouch.
But he'd heard enough of the encounter to know that the explanation in the first incident report was incomplete.
The sergeant described the father as aggressive.
He claimed the older man had actively resisted.
And he characterized the chest pain as a possible attempt to avoid arrest.