Chapter 2 - MARA COULD NOT INVESTIGATE HER OWN FAMILY
Mara’s first instinct was to take control.
Her second was to remember the law.
That saved the case.
She stood in the precinct commander’s office with Helen, Caleb, the desk sergeant, and Captain Rebecca Sloan from Internal Affairs.
Rebecca arrived twenty-one minutes after Mara called her.
Mara said:
“My mother is the complainant in a possible assault and evidence-tampering case.”
Rebecca corrected her.
“Your mother is currently listed as the suspect.”
Mara’s jaw tightened.
“Wrongly.”
“Maybe.”
Mara stared.
Rebecca held her gaze.
“You want this clean?”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t touch the investigation.”
Mara hated the words.
Because they were right.
She removed herself formally.
No interviews.
No evidence review beyond what she had already seen.
No command decisions on discipline.
No access to restricted case systems.
Rebecca took the case.
Helen was released from suspect status pending review.
Vanessa was not arrested.
Not yet.
Caleb objected.
“Are you kidding?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Do you want us to arrest your wife without reviewing the evidence?”
Caleb said nothing.
Good.
Procedure mattered most when emotions wanted speed.
The first question:
Who deleted the body-camera files?
The precinct’s digital evidence system showed two officer uploads from the scene.
Both files existed for nine minutes.
Then disappeared.
The deletion came from an administrator account.
User:
LT-GRANT.
Lieutenant Owen Grant.
Vanessa’s uncle.
He was off duty.
Yet his account logged into the evidence portal at 9:42 a.m.
Three minutes after Helen arrived at Central Precinct.
Rebecca asked the systems analyst:
“Can an account be spoofed?”
“Yes.”
“So the login alone doesn’t prove Grant used it.”
“Correct.”
They pulled access logs.
Grant’s account authenticated from a workstation inside Central Precinct.
Workstation C-17.
Assigned that morning to Sergeant Paul Dyer.
May you like
The same sergeant who wrote the initial arrest report.
The story widened.
