Chapter 15 - The Missing Three Minutes
The caller was a retired building technician named Harvey Sloan. He'd maintained the cameras at Malcolm's warehouse. After the murder, security footage had been copied for investigators, but the company archive had lost three minutes from the loading dock.
"Not lost," Harvey said when Kim arranged a formal interview. "Removed from the company version. The original is still on a backup drive I preserved under the retention policy."
He'd feared losing his pension if he spoke. Recent news of the investigation finally convinced him that silence wouldn't protect anyone.
Detective Kim arranged collection of the drive. I wasn't permitted to watch the evidence before investigators examined it. Two days later, she told us it showed Pike's van arriving after Ethan had left. Another man, whose face was partly obscured, carried a small metal case into the warehouse. The video didn't show the murder. It did show that someone had lied about the timeline.
Harvey also supplied an audio file Malcolm had recorded before his death, explaining why he was frightened. It was intended for his attorney. In it, Malcolm described false shipping records, the missing audit copies and threats from Arthur Haynes.
Ethan listened in Celia's office. His father's voice filled the room, tired but steady.
"If anything happens to me," Malcolm said, "the people who approved these shipments will tell Ethan I was confused. He will want to believe them because he loves this company. Please don't let him."
Ethan covered his face. I had never seen a rich man look so poor.
There was a pause in the recording. Then Malcolm added something no one expected.
May you like
"There's one person I trust to read the laboratory results without being bought. Find Rosa Vega."
The message ended with a sound at the warehouse door and Malcolm saying, "Arthur? Why is your security man here?"
