Chapter 15 - UNDER MARA'S NAME
The playground had been built as a memorial by a local veterans' group. A bronze plaque near the swings listed Captain Mara Quinn among soldiers lost overseas. Below her name sat a small sealed time capsule filled with letters written by children.
Jonah had visited the memorial with Tessa the summer he turned ten. He'd persuaded the caretaker to let him add one more letter. The tiny recording card from the bear was inside that envelope.
"You kept it safe for five years," Olivia told him. "That's more than enough. Now other people carry it."
Investigators secured lawful access to the capsule and documented every step of the recovery. The card was old. Its label was smudged. Specialists made a working copy without using the fragile original as a plaything. Olivia sat through the night without asking them to hurry.
When Chen finally called, her voice was different.
"We recovered audio and still images," she said. "Some files are damaged. But the portion we can authenticate matters."
A recording captured Mara reading shipping numbers aloud. A second voice confirmed a route change despite the presence of children and aid workers. The time stamps placed the order before the schoolhouse attack. It wasn't enough by itself to establish every person's guilt, but it directly contradicted the claim that no rescue was underway.
One image showed a Talon truck passing the school, carrying crates with markings from a restricted supply program. Another showed the same vehicle beside a checkpoint controlled by forces that were supposed to be hostile to the convoy.
"So they were moving supplies to the wrong people," Olivia said.
"That's what we're investigating," Chen replied. "We need custody records, contracts, and witness statements to establish exactly what happened."
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The next morning Sloane's lawyer requested access to the recorded material through the formal legal process. That was expected. What wasn't expected was the message that arrived from an unknown number minutes later.
THE CARD IS ONLY A COPY. ASK WHO HAS THE ORIGINAL ORDER.
