Daniel's face had gone very still. Maya understood why. Catherine Hayes had personally overseen the investigation after he recused. If she had also been discussing how to redirect evidence. Maya stopped herself.
Suspect. Not prove. Sophia looked at Marcus. Can we authenticate the voices? Likely.
Do it. Marcus nodded. Evelyn tapped the table. There's more. She pulled out another handwritten sheet.
These are ARCA for the archive checkout signatures from the week of the leak. Emily Collins. Two entries. One listed a sealed conduct collection. The second listed a restricted student services index.
Sophia frowned. Was she authorized? Her student media credentials allowed supervised research. Supervised by whom? Evelyn looked down.
Catherine Hayes' office. The rain seemed louder. Daniel said quietly. That matters. Sophia glanced at him.
It may. She turned to Maya. What did Ryan say yesterday? Maya opened her notebook. She read the exact words.
Maria's disciplinary complaint. The emergency loan request. Then the time and location. Sophia looked at Maria. Was that emergency loan detail in the leaked files?
No. Anywhere public? No. Had you ever told Ryan? Maria's expression hardened.
I had never spoken to Ryan Whitmore in my life. Sophia wrote something. Good. Maria blinked. Good?
Legally, yes. Maya understood. Ryan had known a detail that should have remained sealed. That did not prove how he learned it. But it connected him to information outside the public breach.
Owen leaned forward. What if they say somebody told him? They can, Sophia said. Then what? Then we ask who?
The room fell quiet. That was the difference between rumor and evidence. Rumor collapsed when pressed. Evidence produced another name, another document, another timestamp. Marcus suddenly sat upright.
Wait. He was staring at his laptop. What? There's a cashed administrator log. Sophia leaned closer.
I thought you lost access. I did. This is local. He opened a directory. When I serviced the media control room last week, the system mirrored access data for troubleshooting.
His fingers moved quickly. A list populated the screen. Emily Collins, her student credentials. Archive portal access. Restricted index lookup.
Then a time. 10.06 p.m. The night of the leak. Maya looked at Evelyn. Was the archive open then? No.
Marcus kept scrolling. The request came through remote access. Sophia's voice sharpened. Authenticated? Yes.
With her credentials? Yes. Could they have been stolen? Possible. Do we have proof they weren't?
No. Again. Not enough alone. But another brick. Marcus opened the IP history.
A campus address appeared. Founder's society network. No one spoke. Then Daniel said, print it. Marcus did.
The printer near the kitchen office word to life. One page slid out. Then another. Sophia arranged everything across the scarred wooden table. The courtyard footage.
The disabled camera log. Evelyn's archive ledger. Maria's screenshots. Owen's old complaint. Emily's authenticated access.
The Founder's Society network connection. The partial recording. Ryan's sealed detail statement. Sophia looked at all seven people. Individually, some of this can be explained away.