Reyes laughed bitterly.
“You're turning us against each other.”
Maya looked toward him.
“No.”
“Someone already did that.”
Twenty-seven days earlier, Maya Brooks had been sitting in a windowless conference room on the twenty-third floor of the Chicago FBI field office when the first photograph of Sergeant Danny Reyes appeared on a screen.
Her supervisor, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Laura Chen, stood beside the image.
“Twelfth District.”
Maya studied Reyes's personnel photograph.
Decorated.
Fifteen years in the department.
Two commendations for bravery.
One departmental medal.
No major disciplinary findings.
Laura clicked.
A spreadsheet appeared.
“Over eighteen months, the department has reported eleven irregularities involving seized property connected to this district.”
Maya leaned forward.
“Cash?”
“Mostly.”
“How much?”
“Documented discrepancy is four hundred and eighty-seven thousand.”
Maya whistled softly.
Laura clicked again.
“Possible actual loss closer to one point three million.”
“Drugs?”
“Some.”
“Weapons?”
“Two.”
Maya's expression hardened.
A missing gun was worse than missing cash.
Cash could be spent.
A gun could return in somebody's hand.
“Internal Affairs?”
“Opened three separate reviews.”
“And?”
“Nothing provable.”
“Bad logs?”
“Perfect logs.”
Maya looked at Laura.
“That’s worse.”
“Exactly.”
Perfect paperwork around missing property usually meant someone understood the system.
Laura changed the screen.
Captain Marcus Hale appeared.
“Six weeks ago, we received an anonymous package.”
Maya frowned.
“Physical?”
“Hand-delivered to federal courthouse security.”
“Inside were copies of evidence-room transfer records, access audits, and a note.”
The note appeared.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE EVIDENCE ROOM.
THE PROBLEM IS WHAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE EVIDENCE REACHES IT.
Maya read twice.
“Source?”
“Unknown.”
“Prints?”
“None usable.”
“Cameras?”
“Courier hat, mask, generic clothes.”
“Handwriting?”
“Block letters.”
“What makes us believe it?”
Laura displayed two intake sheets.
“Because the source identified discrepancies nobody outside the district should know.”
One involved twenty-eight thousand dollars seized from a suspected narcotics courier.
Official report said $78,400.
Body-camera audio captured an officer counting approximately $106,000 at scene.
The camera then malfunctioned.
Another involved a pistol.
Logged serial number differed by one digit from the weapon described in arrest affidavit.
Maya asked:
“Where is the original pistol?”
“Nobody knows.”