Kelvin looked surprised.
Damon said nothing.
Ryan continued.
"I approached you assuming you were suspicious."
"You were."
"I was wrong."
Damon leaned back.
"Thank you for saying that."
Ryan looked at the table.
"I also want to ask about the video."
"You've seen it."
"I have."
"Then you know why we were there."
Ryan nodded.
Kelvin opened a folder.
"We found something else."
He slid a photograph across the table.
It showed a locked metal gate.
Behind it was a drainage system.
"What am I looking at?"
"An access point."
"For what?"
"An underground discharge line."
Ryan looked up.
"How do you know?"
"Because we followed the pipe."
Damon added, "It runs beneath the maintenance building."
Ryan's eyes narrowed.
"Did you enter the property?"
"No."
"Then how?"
"We used a public easement."
Kelvin opened another photograph.
This one showed a map.
A red line followed the underground pipe.
It ended near the river.
Ryan felt a chill.
"Where did you get this map?"
"Public records."
"Does the city know?"
"They should."
"Should?"
"We requested the engineering plans."
"Did they give them to you?"
Kelvin shook his head.
"No."
Ryan stared at the map.
There was something else.
A handwritten note in the corner.
Ryan recognized the initials.
"Where did you get this?"
Damon looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I recognize the handwriting."
Kelvin frowned.
"Whose?"
Ryan didn't answer immediately.
He knew the initials belonged to someone in his own department.
Someone who had reviewed previous complaints.
Someone who had told officers that the reports were "probably nothing."
Ryan stood.
"I need to check something."
Damon watched him leave.
The investigation was no longer about an environmental leak.
It was becoming an internal police matter.
And Ryan was beginning to understand that the most dangerous evidence wasn't necessarily hidden underground.
Some of it was sitting inside filing cabinets.
The next morning, Ryan arrived before his shift.
He went directly to the records room.
He requested every complaint connected to Riverside Park over the previous two months.
The clerk looked surprised.
"That's a lot."
"Pull them."
Within an hour, Ryan had a stack of reports.
He began reading.
One complaint.
Then another.
Then another.
All mentioned the same things.
Strange odors.
Dark runoff.
Maintenance trucks arriving late at night.
Repeated requests for inspection.
Most had been marked:
NO FURTHER ACTION.
Ryan felt his pulse rise.
He found one report dated April 14.
It was signed by an officer named Victor Hale.
Ryan knew Hale.
Senior patrol officer.
Popular.
Well-connected.
He had trained Ryan during his first month.
Ryan read the report.
"Caller observed suspicious activity near maintenance facility."
That sounded familiar.
But there was a problem.
The report said the officer had investigated and found nothing unusual.
Ryan checked the timestamp.
2:17 a.m.
Then he checked the body-camera archive.
There was no footage.
That was unusual.
Ryan searched again.
Nothing.
He went to Sergeant Mason.
"Hale's report."
Mason read it.
"What about it?"
"There's no camera footage."
Mason frowned.
"Maybe the system malfunctioned."
"That night?"
"Could have."
Ryan placed another document on the desk.
"This complaint was made by Kelvin Miles."
Mason read it.
Then another.
And another.
"They've been reporting this for weeks."
"Apparently."
Mason looked at Ryan.
"Why are you digging?"
"Because something doesn't add up."
Mason leaned back.
"You need to be careful."
"Why?"
"Because accusations against fellow officers are serious."
"I'm not accusing anyone."
"Not yet."
Ryan went quiet.
Mason lowered his voice.
"Do your job. Follow evidence. Don't decide the ending before you have the facts."