Chương 11
I stopped.
A screenshot of an incoming message on Chase’s phone would reflect Chase’s display settings, not mine.
Evan heard the silence.
“I looked at an old message thread with him.”
“And?”
“He uses light mode.”
That mattered more.
Not enough.
But more.
“Are you sure?”
“I took a photo.”
“You took a photo of his phone?”
“When Dad was making him show us the post.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Without permission?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t trust him.”
That answer was both terrible and useful.
“Do not alter the photo.”
“I won’t.”
“Do not crop it.”
“Okay.”
“Send the original file to Detective Bell when he asks.”
“And tell him exactly how you got it.”
Silence.
“Even the part where I photographed Chase’s phone?”
“Especially that part.”
Evan exhaled.
“Right.”
“Anything else?”
“One thing.”
I waited.
“He told Dad the message came through at 11:42.”
“Yes.”
“But the screenshot he sent me says 11:42 a.m.”
I went completely still.
“Are you sure?”
“I zoomed in.”
“Send nothing to me.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want my device becoming part of the evidence chain unnecessarily.”
“Okay.”
“Call Bell.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you said not to fix things.”
“This isn’t fixing.”
I looked through the secure-room window at Reyes.
“This is preserving evidence.”
Evan was quiet.
Then he said, “Lauren.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
I almost told him that apology had become background noise.
Instead I said, “Call the detective.”
I ended the call.
Reyes stepped into the hallway.
“What changed?”
“Potentially fabricated evidence.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Potentially?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I stared at her.
“That seems like an odd response.”
“It means you’re still thinking.”
She nodded toward the room.
“We need you thinking.”
I followed her back inside.
Priya had a new test model displayed on the screen.
Colored lines traced temperature and vibration sequences across a digital graph.
She looked up.
“If the module weakness is stress-order dependent, we may be able to reproduce it without exceeding certified limits.”
Haskell added, “Which would be bad.”
“Very.”
Reyes closed the door.
“Engineering approved a controlled bench test.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
I looked at the clock.
“Where?”
“Pax River.”
Priya brightened.
“I can be there.”
Haskell said, “Of course you can.”
She ignored him.
Reyes looked at me.
“You’re coming.”
It was not a question.
“Understood.”
A legal officer near the wall cleared his throat.
“Commander Maddox.”
I turned.
He had spent most of the afternoon saying very little while writing a great deal.
“If your family matter becomes criminal or media-facing, command may need to separate you from portions of the review.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
“Because of credibility?”
“Because of perception.”
“That’s worse.”
“It often is.”
No one spoke.
He continued.
“I’m not saying that will happen.”
“But it could.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the records spread across the table.
Five years earlier, I had raised a concern and watched it disappear beneath an official conclusion.
Now the same technical question had returned at exactly the moment my personal credibility was being dragged into public view.
The timing was almost absurd enough to laugh at.
Reyes watched me.
“What do you need?”
“Access to the original Kerr raw data.”
“We’re still working it.”
“No.”
I pointed at Vale’s approval notation.
“I need the complete archive, including panel correspondence.”
The legal officer frowned.
“That may include privileged material.”
“Then obtain what can legally be released to the safety team.”
Reyes studied me.
“Why now?”
“Because if the testing reproduces the anomaly, everyone will ask why the earlier review missed it.”
Priya said, “And whether it was missed.”
I nodded.
“Exactly.”
Haskell leaned back.
“You think Vale buried it.”
“I think I don’t know.”
Reyes’s eyes stayed on mine.
“But you want the documents before anyone has time to shape the story.”
“Yes.”
That was the first thing all day I said without hesitation.
Reyes picked up the secure phone.
Outside the building, my name was becoming gossip.
Inside it, thirty-two pieces of hardware were becoming a safety problem.
For the first time, the two disasters no longer felt separate.
Someone had already learned how useful a damaged reputation could be.
And if the old investigation had been handled the way I was beginning to fear, I was about to find out whether that lesson had been learned five years before Chase ever put his hand on me.
By sixteen hundred, the authorization request for the old review correspondence had climbed three levels above the room and disappeared into the administrative machinery that decides whether people can look at things everyone agrees matter.
Priya packed her laptop into a hard case and asked whether anyone knew where she could find food that had not come from a vending machine.
Haskell pointed toward the hallway.
“There’s a sandwich place past the east gate.”
“Good?”
“No.”
“Then why recommend it?”
“Because you asked where food was.”
She stared at him.
“That answer explains your entire personality.”
He looked pleased.
Reyes handed me a travel packet.
“Transport leaves in forty minutes.”
I glanced at my phone.
No new message from Detective Bell.
No new message from Evan.
That silence made me more uneasy than either one calling.
“Can I make one personal call before we go?”
Reyes nodded.
“Five minutes.”
I stepped into the stairwell and called Graham.
He answered with background noise behind him.
A television.
Cabinet doors.
Diane speaking somewhere farther away.
“Lauren?”
“Has Chase come back?”
“No.”
“Has he called?”
“Once.”
“What did he say?”
Graham hesitated.
“That he was handling it.”
My stomach tightened.
“That phrase means nothing useful.”
“I told him the same.”
“Where is he?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“Did he sound upset?”
“Yes.”
“Angry?”
“Yes.”
“Drunk?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“I spent enough years around drunk Marines to know the difference.”
Fair.
“Did he mention me?”
Graham went quiet.
“Graham.”
“He said you were turning everyone against him.”
I leaned my shoulder against the concrete wall.
“What did you say?”
May you like
“That he managed that without help.”
I closed my eyes.
