Your father modified it himself. I never even knew it existed, Nia admitted. She pressed carefully along the damaged section, feeling for anything the intruders might have missed. Her fingers caught on a slight irregularity. Wait.
Judge Price leaned in. What do you see, Nia? It's not just one layer. Nia traced the hidden seam. There's another compartment behind this one.
She applied pressure to specific points, remembering how her father had always emphasized the importance of backup plans. A soft click rewarded her patience. A second panel slid open, revealing a shallow space untouched by the earlier search. Inside lay several items carefully wrapped in oil cloth. Nia removed them one by one, laying them on her father's old desk while Tessa recorded.
A challenge coin. Daniel identified the first item. That's from our old investigative unit. He picked it up, turning it to catch the light. I haven't seen one of these in 20 years.
Nia unwrapped a bundle of papers covered in her father's precise handwriting. The notes were filled with strings of numbers and letters, clearly coded. A storage locker number was written clearly on one corner. M47B. Below it, two words stood out in block letters.
Brass Locust. What does that mean? Tessa asked, zooming in on the phrase. It was a classified designation, Daniel replied quietly. Something your grandfather and I investigated before, he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
At the bottom of the compartment lay an old photograph, its edges worn soft with age. Nia recognized her father immediately, younger, in his dress uniform, standing proudly beside a fresh-faced Daniel Voss. A third man stood with them, but his face had been deliberately scratched out of the image. "Who was he? " Nia asked, holding up the photo.
Daniel's jaw tightened. "Someone who betrayed everything we were trying to protect. Your father and I were part of an internal inquiry into stolen military technology. Advanced targeting systems being diverted through domestic channels. We had proof, documentation, witnesses, but before we could present our findings, everything fell apart.
Judge Price moved to the window, watching the investigators still processing the scene outside. Is that why they tried to destroy his reputation? To discredit any evidence he might have kept? They did more than that, Daniel said. They buried the entire investigation, classified everything under national security, made your father look unstable when he tried to push back.
I should have done more to help him, but I let them intimidate me into silence. Nia stared at her father's coded notes, anger rising in her throat. So today wasn't just about harassing me. They thought he left proof here. Evidence that could still hurt them after all these years.
The crack of a gunshot shattered the moment. Glass exploded from somewhere outside, followed by screams and shouts. "Everyone dropped instinctively as Tessa rushed to the window. " "Someone shot Mrs. Patterson's camera rig, " she reported, ducking low. "The big one she was using to record the whole street.