Neither officer spoke after that.

At the station, Police Chief Howard Keller arrived personally.

Keller was a large man in his sixties with silver hair and an expensive watch. He had served thirty-seven years in law enforcement and liked reminding reporters that he had never missed a Christmas parade.

He shook Marcus’s hand.

“General Cole, I cannot apologize enough.”

Marcus did not take his eyes off him.

“For what?”

Keller seemed surprised.

“For Officer Briggs.”

“You’ve already decided what happened?”

“We’ve seen the witness videos.”

“Good.”

Keller lowered his voice.

“This man does not represent my department.”

Marcus looked through the glass wall toward Briggs sitting in an interview room.

“One man rarely does.”

Something passed across Keller’s face.

Gone quickly.

Marcus noticed.

He had survived combat commands, political hearings, budget fights, and enough meetings with powerful men to know when a sentence made someone uncomfortable.

“Where’s the evidence bag?” Marcus asked.

“Secured.”

“Who secured it?”

“Our property officer.”

“I want state investigators present before it’s tested.”

Keller smiled politely.

“Of course.”

Marcus looked at him.

“And every arrest involving Briggs during the past eighteen months gets preserved. Body camera footage. Evidence logs. vehicle GPS. Property records.”

Keller stopped smiling.

“That’s a fairly broad request based on one incident.”

“No.”

Marcus reached into his jacket.

He placed Leonard Price’s letter on the table.

“It’s based on seven.”

Keller read the first page.

His expression changed.

Only slightly.

But Marcus saw it.

“You know Leonard?”

Keller looked up.

“Should I?”

Marcus waited.

The chief glanced down again.

“No. The name just sounded familiar.”

Marcus said nothing.

Silence was useful.

People often rushed to fill it.

Keller did.

“General, Briggs has had disciplinary issues. Nothing like this, but attitude complaints. We can handle him internally.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Keller looked up.

“Why?”

“Because this stopped being internal when he planted evidence on a member of a state commission.”

Keller’s eyes hardened.

“You believe he knew who you were?”

“I don’t know.”

Marcus leaned back.

“But somebody knew I was coming.”

Chief Keller stared at him.

Before he could respond, an officer opened the door.

“Chief?”

“What?”

The officer looked nervous.

“We’ve got a problem with the bag from the park.”

Marcus stood.

“What problem?”

The officer swallowed.

“It has an evidence-room seal.”

Nobody spoke.

The little plastic bag Briggs had supposedly found in Marcus’s pocket had not come from a street dealer.

It had come from inside the police department.

The seal number traced back to a narcotics seizure eight months earlier.

Twenty-three bags of cocaine had been entered into evidence after a warehouse raid.

According to the official record, all twenty-three remained locked inside the department’s controlled evidence room.