Marcus felt the old frustration return.
“Every time we find something, there's another place to search, another record that might have disappeared, another person who might lie.”
Evelyn turned toward him.
“I understand why it feels that way.”
“Do you? My father spent years trying to find out what happened to Samuel. Then he died. I spent two years believing the official report because nobody gave me a reason to question it. Now we find out the people who were supposed to protect us may have been working together.”
Evelyn let him finish.
“You're right to be angry. But we cannot let that anger decide what the evidence means. If we accuse the wrong person, we give the people responsible an opportunity to discredit everything we have found.”
Marcus looked away.
“So we just wait?”
“No,” she said firmly. “We document. We verify. We protect the witnesses. And we move as quickly as the law allows.”
She glanced toward the front window.
“And we stop assuming that the people who have controlled this county for years are the only people capable of acting.”
That last sentence stayed with Marcus.
He had spent most of his life thinking of Bellhaven as a place where everyone knew everyone else. The sheriff attended school events. County officials appeared at charity dinners. Business owners sponsored sports teams. People donated to the food bank and shook hands at public ceremonies.
It had never occurred to him that the same network of relationships could be used to make wrongdoing difficult to detect.
The community's trust had become part of the machinery.
And now, if the evidence was real, that trust had been abused.
A federal investigator approached Walsh with a small tablet.
“Agent, we have preliminary information on the message sent to Mr. Bell. The sending account appears to have been created recently. We're requesting additional records from the service provider.”
“Any indication of who sent it?”
“Not yet. But we found a possible connection between the photograph and a camera mounted across the street. The camera belongs to a business next door.”
Walsh took the tablet.
“Can we obtain the footage?”
“The owner is cooperating. The recording system may have retained the relevant period, but we haven't reviewed it yet.”
“Preserve it immediately. Do not rely on the owner's copy alone. Make a documented acquisition and maintain the original system if necessary.”
The investigator nodded and moved away.
Marcus looked at the message again.
If you give them the recording, the next funeral will be yours.
He had read the words so many times that they no longer seemed like a threat sent by a stranger. They felt like a continuation of the conversation his father had started years earlier.
Someone wanted the evidence buried.
Someone knew where Thomas worked.
Someone had been watching before Marcus arrived.
And someone was willing to threaten a teenager to prevent an old case from being reopened.
Marcus turned to Pike.
“You said Harlan wasn't the only person involved.”
Pike nodded.
“Do you think the person who sent that message was connected to him?”
“I think it's possible. But I don't know.”
“Would Harlan send a threat like that?”
“He might. But it isn't his usual method.”
“What do you mean?”
“Harlan prefers to use official authority. He makes calls, issues orders, and lets other people carry them out. A message like this could have come from someone who operates outside the department.”
“Someone like Daniel Voss?”
Pike did not answer immediately.
“I don't know enough about Voss to say. I met him a handful of times. He was polite, careful, and difficult to read. He rarely raised his voice. He didn't need to.”
“Why not?”
“Because people listened when he spoke. He had relationships with the county commissioners, the local business community, and several judges. If Harlan was the person who enforced the rules, Voss understood how the rules were written.”
Evelyn had been listening.
“Did Voss ever give you instructions directly?”
“No. Not in the way Harlan did.”
“Did he discuss Samuel Reed's case with you?”
“Once.”
Walsh stepped closer.
“When?”
“About a week after the shooting. He came to the station and asked whether the department had recovered any documents related to a property dispute.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I didn't know anything about the documents.”
“Was that true?”
“No. I had transported the evidence box.”
Pike looked at the floor.
“He told me that sometimes an investigation could become more complicated than it needed to be. He said that people who wanted to do the right thing could cause harm by pursuing every rumor they heard.”
Marcus felt anger rise again.
“He told you to stop looking.”
“Not directly. He made it sound like advice.”
“And you listened.”
“Yes.”
Pike's shoulders sagged.
“I listened because I was afraid. Harlan had already made it clear that my future in the department depended on my loyalty. Voss didn't threaten me. He made me understand that there were consequences for asking the wrong questions.”
Evelyn studied him.
“Did you report the conversation?”