“I recorded Harrington before the investigators arrived. He was talking to Thomas about the transfer. But there was a moment when he mentioned Lawson.”
Elena immediately picked up the device.
“What exactly did he say?”
“I haven't listened to the entire recording yet. I wanted to make sure the file was safe before I played it.”
Elena connected the recorder to her laptop. A few seconds later, Harrington’s voice filled the room.
At first, he spoke calmly, almost casually, as though discussing an ordinary administrative matter.
“Lawson understood what needed to be done. He signed the authorization because he knew the department couldn't afford another scandal.”
A pause followed.
Then Thomas’s voice emerged, weak but unmistakable.
“He signed because you threatened him.”
Harrington laughed.
“Everyone had something to lose, Thomas. Lawson had a career. Caldwell had an election. I had a company that was worth more than this entire town. We all made decisions.”
Thomas replied, “You made decisions about other people's lives.”
Harrington’s voice became colder.
“You should have accepted the deal when we offered it.”
“What deal?”
“The one that would have allowed your family to live peacefully. You could have signed the statement, admitted that you had fabricated the financial records, and gone home.”
“And if I had refused?”
“You already know what happened.”
The recording continued for several seconds, but Marcus barely heard it. His attention was fixed on the sentence Harrington had spoken.
Lawson had signed because he knew the department couldn't afford another scandal.
It was not an explanation that cleared him. It was an admission that the signature had been genuine and deliberate.
Elena stopped the recording.
“We need Lawson here,” she said.
“He won't come voluntarily,” Marcus replied.
“Then we'll find him.”
Before Elena could make another call, her phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen and answered.
“Ramirez.”
The person on the other end spoke too quietly for the others to hear.
Elena's expression changed.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Did anyone enter the building?”
She stood.
“Secure the entire area. Nobody touches anything. I'm coming.”
She ended the call.
“What happened?” Marcus asked.
“The state evidence facility just reported an attempted break-in.”
David frowned.
“Was anything stolen?”
“They don't know yet. One of the security officers found a damaged access panel near the archive corridor. The cameras went offline for eleven minutes.”
Marcus felt a chill move through him.
“The evidence room.”
Elena nodded.
“The same room where the eighth recording was previously stolen.”
Rebecca looked toward Thomas.
“Does that mean they're still trying to destroy the evidence?”
Thomas had been listening silently. His hands rested on the blanket across his lap. His body was still weak, and the exhaustion of the day was visible in his face, but his eyes were alert.
“They aren't trying to destroy everything,” he said.
Marcus turned toward him.
“What do you mean?”
Thomas took a slow breath.
“They're looking for one thing. Something they believe I kept.”
“What is it?” Elena asked.
Thomas glanced at Rebecca and Patricia before answering.
“A ledger.”
Marcus frowned.
“We recovered financial documents from Room 417.”
“Those were copies,” Thomas replied. “The real ledger was never in that room.”
David leaned forward.
“Where is it?”
Thomas hesitated.
“For ten years, I believed it was lost. I thought the people who took me had found it. But when Harrington came into my room today, he asked me about a specific page. He wanted to know whether I still remembered the number written at the bottom.”
“What number?” Marcus asked.
“Eight hundred and fourteen.”
Marcus looked at Elena.
The number meant nothing to him.
Thomas continued.
“That page listed the original payments made before the redevelopment project was publicly announced. It showed who received the money, which companies were used, and who authorized each transfer. It was the document that connected the mayor's office to the private medical facilities.”
“And you memorized it?” David asked.
“I memorized enough of it to know what they were hiding. But the ledger itself was kept somewhere else.”
“Where?”
Thomas looked at Rebecca.
“In the house.”
Patricia's face tightened.
“Our old house?”
Thomas nodded.
“Behind the basement wall, near the water heater. I placed it there the night before they took me.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You mean it's been there all this time?”
“If nobody found it.”
Patricia covered her mouth.