# Chapter 6: The Missing Evidence
The operations center went silent for only a heartbeat.
Then everyone moved at once.
"What do you mean, we've lost contact?" Director Collins demanded as he hurried into the command center.
An analyst looked up from his workstation.
"The transport vehicle stopped transmitting ninety seconds ago."
"Mechanical failure?"
"We don't know."
"The GPS signal vanished just outside Mill Creek."
Collins' expression hardened.
"Pull up every traffic camera within a five-mile radius."
The wall of monitors instantly changed.
Maps replaced satellite images.
Blue icons marked federal vehicles.
One icon blinked red.
Then disappeared.
---
I stepped beside Collins.
"What was in that vehicle?"
"The evidence from Richard's house," he replied.
"Lily's phone."
"The blood samples."
"Richard's shirt."
"The forged medical documents."
Everything we needed to dismantle Richard's lies.
If those items disappeared...
The case would become much harder to prove.
Not impossible.
But harder.
Collins picked up another secure phone.
"Lock down every highway."
"No local assistance."
"I repeat—no local assistance."
---
Within three minutes, a drone located the missing SUV.
It sat abandoned beside an old logging road.
All four doors were open.
The engine was still running.
No agents were inside.
The camera zoomed closer.
One analyst frowned.
"There's blood."
Another switched to thermal imaging.
"No bodies."
"No heat signatures nearby."
Collins didn't hesitate.
"Deploy Tactical Team One."
---
Twenty minutes later, live video streamed from the agents' body cameras.
The abandoned SUV looked untouched.
There were no bullet holes.
No shattered windows.
No signs of a crash.
Only blood on the driver's seat.
A tactical medic knelt beside it.
"Small amount."
He examined the stain.
"Likely a gunshot wound to the shoulder."
Another agent searched the surrounding woods.
Fresh footprints.
Four different sets.
Two heading north.
Two heading east.
The evidence containers were gone.
---
Back at Site Echo, Lily had finally awakened.
She looked around the unfamiliar hospital room.
Confusion slowly gave way to memory.
Then fear.
I was beside her before she could try to sit up.
"Easy."
"You're safe."
Her eyes searched my face.
"Richard?"
"He doesn't know where you are."
She let out a shaky breath.
Then she noticed the concern in my expression.
"What happened?"
I didn't want to tell her.
But she deserved the truth.
"Someone intercepted the evidence transport."
Her face drained of color.
"My phone..."
"We're going to get it back."
"It has everything."
"I know."
She closed her eyes.
"He'll destroy it."
I gently took her hand.
"He won't."
I wasn't entirely sure I believed my own words.
---
Director Collins entered the room a few minutes later.
"There may be some good news."
Lily looked up hopefully.
"The transport team activated an emergency beacon."
I frowned.
"I thought the signal disappeared."
"It did."
"For exactly twelve seconds."
Collins placed a tablet on the bedside table.
A map appeared.
A tiny red dot blinked near an abandoned paper mill.
"The beacon transmitted one final location before it was destroyed."
He looked at me.
"If the attackers haven't moved the evidence yet..."
"We still have a chance."
---
The tactical team reached the paper mill just after sunset.
Body camera footage showed broken windows.
Rusted machinery.
Collapsed walls.
The place had been abandoned for years.
The team entered quietly.
One room at a time.
Flashlights swept across dust-covered floors.
Nothing.
Then an agent raised his fist.
Movement.
Voices echoed somewhere below.
A hidden basement.
The team descended the concrete stairs.
At the bottom, they found two injured federal agents tied to steel support columns.
Both were alive.
One had been shot through the shoulder.
The other had a broken arm and severe head injuries.
The team cut them free.
"Where's the evidence?" the commander asked.
The wounded agent struggled to speak.
"They... took it..."
"Who?"
He swallowed painfully.
"The Chief..."
Another cough interrupted him.
"And..."
His voice faded.
The medic stabilized him.
"Don't force it."
But the injured agent grabbed the commander's sleeve.
"There was... someone else..."
"Who?"
The answer came in a whisper.
"A woman."
---
Back at Site Echo, Collins replayed the body-camera footage three times.
"A woman?"
Ramirez frowned.
"Mercer never mentioned a woman."
Collins nodded.
"Exactly."
He turned toward another analyst.
"Review every security camera from Richard's estate again."
"Focus on female guests."
---
An hour later, the analyst entered carrying a tablet.
"I think we found her."
The screen displayed footage from the Easter party.
A woman in her early forties.
Dark hair.
Elegant cream-colored suit.
She never smiled.
While everyone else watched the Easter egg hunt, she quietly observed the room.
When Arthur carried Lily outside...
The woman didn't look at Lily.
She looked at the cracked phone under the sofa.
Then she calmly walked away.
Ramirez enlarged the image.
"Who is she?"
The analyst typed rapidly.
Facial recognition completed in seconds.
A name appeared.
Victoria Kane.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Current private attorney.
Outside legal counsel for Hale Development Group.
Collins' face darkened.
"She's the attorney who received Richard's contingency email."
Ramirez nodded slowly.
"And now she's stealing evidence."
---
Before anyone could respond, another alert sounded.
This time, it came from the cybercrime division.
The analyst looked stunned.
"Director..."
"What now?"
"We've recovered deleted files from Richard's cloud server."
Collins folded his arms.
"Tell me."
The analyst looked directly at Arthur.
"There are seventeen separate video files."
"Recorded inside Richard's house."
Lily's breathing caught.
The room became perfectly still.
"What kind of videos?" Arthur asked quietly.
The analyst hesitated.
Then answered.
"They appear to show months of domestic abuse."
He looked down at the screen again.
"But..."
"But what?"
The analyst swallowed.
"One file is labeled..."
He turned the monitor toward them.
The filename contained only four chilling words.
Easter. Final Version.
No one in the room spoke.
Because everyone understood the same terrible possibility.
Richard hadn't simply planned to abuse Lily that afternoon.
May you like
He may have planned to make Easter...
The last day of her life.
