He kept close to the vegetation and used the abandoned equipment as cover.
When he reached the edge of the property, he looked back.
No one stood at the window.
No alarm sounded.
He slipped through a gap in the fence and continued toward the service road.
Behind him, inside the building, Aaron Pike returned to the office carrying a folded jacket.
He stopped when he saw the empty chair.
For several seconds, he did not move.
Then he noticed the desk beneath the window.
The open frame.
The fresh marks on the floor.
Pike hurried to the window and looked outside.
“Damn it, Marcus.”
He pulled out his phone and called the sheriff.
Harlan answered on the second ring.
“What?”
“The boy's gone.”
Silence.
Then Harlan's voice became dangerously quiet.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“He got out through the window.”
“You were supposed to be watching him.”
“I was gone for less than ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes is all it takes.”
Pike closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No, you don't. If you knew, that boy would still be in the building.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Find him.”
“Richard, listen to me. We need to stop this. The federal agents have the vehicle records. They know he was brought here.”
Harlan's breathing became audible through the phone.
“Did you tell him anything?”
Pike did not answer quickly enough.
“Pike.”
“I told him the accident wasn't what the report said.”
The silence that followed was worse than shouting.
“You told him what?”
“He asked me directly.”
“And you decided to confess?”
“I didn't confess to anything.”
“You admitted that the report was false.”
Pike rubbed his forehead.
“Because it was false.”
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Then Harlan said, “You have no idea what you have just done.”
“Maybe I do.”
“Find the boy. Get the notebook. Do not contact anyone else.”
Harlan ended the call.
Pike lowered his phone.
He looked through the window toward the trees.
He could still turn back. He could report Marcus's escape, cooperate with the federal investigation, and explain everything he knew about Michael Reed's death.
But he understood what would happen if he did.
Harlan would deny the conversation. The department would distance itself from him. Every decision he had made over the past twelve years would be examined, and some of those decisions could not be defended.
He had spent too long telling himself that silence was the same thing as survival.
Now a seventeen-year-old boy was carrying the evidence that might finally destroy that illusion.
Pike took a slow breath.
Then he made a decision.
He called the federal number he had been given months earlier after a routine inquiry into an unrelated case.
When the investigator answered, Pike spoke before he could change his mind.
“My name is Aaron Pike. I'm a deputy with the Bellhaven County Sheriff's Department. I have information about Michael Reed's death.”
He looked toward the open window.
“And I know where the missing evidence may be.”
Evelyn Brooks was reviewing the depot footage when Agent Walsh entered her temporary office.
The office had once belonged to a county administrator. Its walls were decorated with faded photographs of courthouse renovations and charity events. A narrow window overlooked the parking lot, where federal vehicles stood beside the sheriff's department cruisers.
Evelyn had removed her jacket and rolled up her sleeves. Several folders lay open across the desk.
“What happened?” she asked.
Walsh closed the door.
“We've confirmed that Marcus was taken to the depot. We also found signs that he was held in one of the offices.”
“Was he there when the team arrived?”
“No.”
Evelyn's expression tightened.
“Any indication of where he went?”
“Not yet. But we have another development.”
Walsh placed a printed photograph on the desk.
It showed a close-up of the security camera's recording screen. In the background, Aaron Pike could be seen leading Marcus through the depot entrance.
“Pike has contacted our office,” Walsh said.
Evelyn looked up.
“Voluntarily?”
“So far, yes. He says he wants to provide information about Michael Reed's death and the missing evidence.”
“What does he want in exchange?”
“He hasn't asked for anything yet.”
“That doesn't mean he won't.”
Walsh nodded.
“Agreed. We'll treat him as a potential witness whose statements need independent corroboration. His involvement in Marcus's detention makes this particularly sensitive.”
Evelyn studied the photograph.
“Did he say where Marcus is?”
“He claims he doesn't know. According to his initial account, Marcus escaped from the depot before Pike realized he was gone.”
Evelyn leaned back.
“That's plausible, but we need to verify it.”
“We're checking the timing against the security footage.”
“What else did he tell you?”
Walsh opened her notebook.
“Pike says Michael Reed was investigating the disappearance of evidence connected to Samuel Reed's shooting. He claims the missing material included a digital recording, several photographs, and an original property inventory.”
“Does he know where the material went?”
“He says he knows where one part of it was stored. He also says the original dispatch recording concerning Michael's death may have been copied before the official system was altered.”