“Was Ryan Mercer there?”

A pause.

“Why?”

“His name is in the file.”

“Yeah. He was there.”

“Did he participate?”

“Not according to the evidence we had.”

“What did he do?”

The detective hesitated.

“He was filming.”

David looked up.

“Filming?”

“Most of the confrontation.”

“Do you have the footage?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“His phone was damaged before officers got there. He said the video was gone.”

David stared at the old photograph.

“Did you believe him?”

The detective sighed.

“Let’s just say we would’ve liked to see it.”

David ended the call.

Then he searched Ryan’s old social media accounts.

Most posts from that period had been deleted.

But one short video remained archived on a third-party website.

It showed Ryan laughing outside the nightclub.

The timestamp was less than an hour before the fight.

In the background, a man wearing a dark jacket said:

“Bet you won’t do it.”

Ryan answered:

“Watch me.”

David replayed the clip.

The words were ordinary enough.

But something about the tone bothered him.

He made another call.

This time to the woman Marcus had protected that night.

Her name was Angela Brooks.

She was thirty-one now, living in Dayton.

When David mentioned the incident, she went quiet.

“I don’t talk about that anymore.”

“I understand.”

“No, you don’t.”

David waited.

Angela continued.

“People made that night about the men who fought. Nobody cared why it started.”

“I care.”

She laughed bitterly.

“That’s what reporters always say.”

David almost apologized.

Instead, he asked one question.

“Do you remember Ryan Mercer?”

Silence.

Then Angela whispered:

“Yes.”

David leaned forward.

“What do you remember?”

She took a breath.

“He was the one who told them to stop me.”

David stopped writing.

“What?”

“He wanted a video.”

“Of what?”

“Of me getting scared.”

The room seemed suddenly smaller.

Angela continued.

“He told his friends to block my way. He thought it would be funny.”

David stared at his notes.

“And Marcus?”

“He came over because I was screaming.”

“Did Ryan attack him?”

“No.”

“Then what happened?”

Angela’s voice shook.

“Ryan told the others that Marcus was threatening them.”