Mercer went back to his desk. He didn't close the file on Dana Carter. He didn't open it further either. He just left it exactly where it was. A name still listed as a person of interest, sitting in a folder that now had two conflicting stories inside it.
The next call he received wasn't about the case at all. It was a request for him to report to internal review first thing the following morning. No reason was given. Mercer expected a closing interview. He told himself that on the drive over, routine, procedural, the kind of meeting where a case gets signed off and filed, the room told him otherwise before anyone spoke.
Too many chairs. Too many people already seated. An internal review investigator he didn't recognize. Someone from Hian's evidence audit office. A folder open in front of her.
Reed near the wall not meeting his eyes. And the department commander at the head of the table with two thin stacks of paper laid side by side. Dana Carter walked in a moment after him and took the one remaining seat. She didn't look at Mercer. She didn't need to.
The commander didn't waste time on pleasantries. The system produced a candidate, he said. Third of four, 61% confidence. Who decided she was the suspect? Mercer kept his voice steady.
"The evidence pointed to her." "No." The commander slid one of the stacks toward him. The original AI output untouched, still carrying its own hedged language. "The evidence pointed near her."
This says further corroboration recommended. Your report says identified suspect. Those aren't the same sentence. Mercer didn't answer right away. "You moved the line," the commander said.
I want to know when and I want to know why. Reed stepped forward and placed his notepad on the table open to the dated entries. "Every change is timestamped," he said. The original wording next to what got submitted. A witness statement that said I couldn't say for certain.
Rewritten as an identification. A vehicle with no visible plate rewritten as located near the crime scene. And after physical evidence pointed to someone else, the file stayed open on the original candidate. Anyway, the evidence audit officer turned a page in her own folder. Renee Castillo's fingerprint was recovered from the access tag 2 days ago.
Her employer confirmed her shift ended 20 minutes before the theft was flagged. That information reached this department the same day and Miss Carter's file, the commander said, was still marked open yesterday morning. Mercer looked at the table. I wanted to verify chain of custody before. Before what?
The commander said, before you admitted the case never should have had her name in it. Dana spoke for the first time. I'd like to know one thing. The commander nodded for her to continue. At any point, she said, "Did the facial recognition system itself say I committed this theft?"