Chapter 7 - THE MAN AT THE DOOR
Caleb arrived at Adrian's office ten minutes after being summoned. He came in without a jacket, phone in one hand, as if he had been interrupted in the middle of a busy day.
Nora put the access report on the desk. "Explain this."
Caleb looked at it. "I don't remember approving an outage."
"Your credentials did," Adrian said.
"Passwords get stolen. You know that."
"The system uses a badge and a physical key."
"Then somebody stole those too."
Seven months earlier Adrian would have accepted that answer from Caleb. They had served on a neighborhood safety board together. Caleb had escorted Adrian's mother to appointments and carried her groceries when she grew ill. Trust had made questioning him feel disloyal.
Now Adrian asked, "Where were you on February eighteenth?"
"At home. Ask my wife."
Nora leaned forward. "We will. Detective Ortiz will too."
Caleb stared at the photograph on the desk. For a moment his eyes stayed on the tool case rather than Graham's ring.
"You shouldn't drag Mara Miller into this," he said.
Nobody had mentioned Mara's name.
Adrian felt the room change.
Caleb seemed to hear his own mistake. "Jace told me his sister was worried. I was going to check on her."
"Don't," Adrian said. "No contact with either of them. You're relieved of duty while we investigate. Return your badge."
Caleb slowly set it down. "I've protected you for nine years."
"Then you understand why I have to protect them."
After he left, Nora called Ortiz again. Adrian's phone vibrated before she finished speaking. It was a voicemail from Emma, her first message since leaving.
"Adrian, I'm sending Nora a copy of the medical report your lawyer mentioned. They listed me as a witness. I never signed anything."
May you like
A second text followed, containing a photograph of her alleged signature.
Under it, someone had written: SHE SAW HIM FAIL THE TEST.
