She allowed herself that moment. She let it sit in her chest for the rest of the afternoon, watching officers whisper about Corbin's empty desk, watching Miller avoid eye contact with everyone who passed him in the hallway. The moment didn't last. The next morning, Alice was called into Osmar's office. She walked in expecting an update on the hearing.
What she got instead felt like the floor dropping out beneath her. There's a problem with the evidence, Osmar said, sliding a document across her desk. The video was obtained outside of proper chain of custody. Officer Gordon's phone was handed to Whitlock, who handed it to you. That's not admissible under department procedure.
It's the truth, Alice said. Timestamped, unedited, straight from the original source. That doesn't matter if procedure wasn't followed, Osmar said flatly. And the original complaint file Fenwick claims to have recovered was never formally reinstated after it was removed from the system years ago. Without proper reinstatement, it's inadmissible as well.
Alice stared at her, disbelief turning slowly into fury. You're the one who deleted it in the first place. That's a serious accusation, Osmar said, her voice cold. It's the truth, Alice said again, louder this time. Osmar didn't flinch.
Sergeant Corbin has been reinstated. Effective this morning. There simply isn't enough properly documented evidence to support disciplinary action. Alice felt the room tilt slightly. Six years of careful work, undone by a technicality invented by the very person who created the problem in the first place.
And that's not all, Osmar continued. The evidence tampering review regarding your forged signature is moving forward. Given the seriousness of the allegations and the pattern of conflict you've brought into this precinct since your return, I'm suspending you from your captaincy, effective immediately, pending the outcome of that investigation. Alice felt her whole body go still. You're suspending me while the man who assaulted me walks free.
I'm following procedure, Osmar said. You're protecting him, Alice said. Just like you protected him 6 years ago. Just like you protected him with those other two women whose files I found buried in your system. Something flickered across Osmar's face, gone almost as fast as it appeared.
I don't know what you think you found, Captain, but I'd be careful about accusations you can't prove. Alice didn't say another word. She stood up, turned, and walked out of the office before she said something she couldn't take back. She spent the rest of the day clearing out her office, boxing up files and personal items with hands that refused to shake, even though everything inside her wanted to. As she carried the last box down the hallway, she passed beneath one of the small body cameras mounted near the ceiling, the ones she had mandated departmentwide just weeks earlier.
A tiny red light blinked steadily above the lens, quiet and constant, recording everything happening in this hallway right now, the same way it had been recording everything happening in every hallway of this building since the day she'd installed them. Alice stopped walking. She looked up at the camera for a long moment, something shifting behind her eyes. She hadn't installed those cameras, thinking about herself. She'd installed them for accountability, for the next officer who might need proof nobody could bury.