Chapter 6 - The Name on the BadgeThe name was Detective Morgan.
Daniel didn't speak.
Neither did Alvarez.
I didn't understand why until Alvarez slowly lowered her hand.
"Morgan?"
Rachel nodded.
"Your sister's original investigator."
Daniel stared at her.
"You said he was involved?"
"I said he buried the investigation."
"That's not the same thing."
Rachel's expression hardened.
"It was enough."
Alvarez stepped closer.
"What did he do?"
Rachel looked at me.
Then at the memory card.
"He made evidence disappear."
She pointed toward the card.
"That contains copies."
"Copies of what?"
"Everything."
Alvarez's jaw tightened.
"How did you get it?"
"I stole it."
"From Morgan?"
"No."
Rachel looked toward the river.
"From the people who were holding me."
The detective took a breath.
"Rachel, I need you to tell me everything."
"I will."
She looked at Daniel.
"But not here."
We returned to the station.
Rachel sat in an interview room for nearly four hours.
She told them about Elena.
About the night she disappeared.
About the people who recruited vulnerable women by promising work.
About buildings used as temporary holding locations.
About recordings.
About intimidation.
About officials who were paid to ignore suspicious reports.
But she didn't know everything.
Nobody did.
The organization had been designed around secrecy.
Different people knew different pieces.
Dean knew locations.
Someone else handled money.
Someone else handled transportation.
Someone else made sure complaints went nowhere.
And Morgan had been the bridge between them and the system.
The memory card contained financial records.
Messages.
Photographs.
Video files.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Alvarez watched the screen in silence.
Then she stopped.
"Go back."
The technician rewound the video.
I watched.
The image showed a warehouse.
A man walked into frame.
He turned toward the camera.
I knew him.
My stomach dropped.
I whispered his name.
Alvarez looked at me.
"Who?"
"That man."
"Do you know him?"
"No."
"Then why do you recognize him?"
I couldn't explain it.
I'd seen him before.
Not in the room.
Somewhere else.
A memory surfaced.
The night I had been taken.
A car.
A man standing beside it.
He had opened the door.
I had never seen his face clearly.
But now I did.
It was him.
I pointed at the screen.
"That's the man."
Rachel leaned closer.
"Who is he?"
The technician paused the video.
Alvarez enlarged the image.
The man's face became clearer.
Daniel suddenly stood.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"What?"
He pointed at the screen.
"That's my father."
The room went silent.
Daniel's father had been dead for nine years.
But the man in the video was alive.
Or had been alive when it was recorded.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
Rachel whispered:
"It's not him."
Daniel turned.
"What?"
"It's his brother."
He stared at her.
"Your uncle?"
Rachel nodded.
"He changed his name."
Alvarez leaned forward.
"Why?"
Rachel looked at the memory card.
"Because your father was the one person who tried to expose them."
Daniel froze.
"My father?"
"He discovered what they were doing."
"Then why didn't he tell me?"
"He tried."
Rachel's voice softened.
"You were sixteen."
Daniel sat down.
His entire understanding of his family was collapsing.
His father hadn't abandoned him.
He had been trying to protect him.
And someone had spent years making sure Daniel never knew.
Then the technician interrupted.
"Detective."
Alvarez looked up.
"We found something else."
He opened a file.
A scanned document appeared.
A bank transfer.
The recipient's name was Detective Morgan.
The sender was Daniel's uncle.
Date:
Three days before Elena disappeared.
Daniel stared at it.
Then another file opened.
A second payment.
Then a third.
Alvarez whispered:
"That's enough for a warrant."
Rachel shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Morgan will know."
"Know what?"
"That we've found the card."
She pointed toward the screen.
"And when he realizes that, he'll disappear."
Daniel stood.
"Then arrest him."
Alvarez shook her head.
"We need to do this carefully."
Rachel looked at me.
"Careful is what kept them safe."
I met her eyes.
"And silence kept me there."
Alvarez looked between us.
Then she made a decision.
"Nobody contacts Morgan."
She stood.
"We let him think the evidence is still missing."
The technician closed the file.
But before the screen went dark, one final notification appeared.
A message.
Unknown sender.
Only six words.
You should have stayed in the basement.
Everyone in the room froze.
May you like
Because the message wasn't sent to the police.
It was sent to me.
