Chapter 7: The Opening of the Case text
The controlled opening began at 8:15 a.m. the following morning.
Patricia, Detective Ruiz, Hale, a prosecutor from the financial-crimes unit, and I observed from behind the evidence-room glass while the sealed suitcase was photographed, weighed, and unlocked under full documentation. Chloe remained in a separate interview room giving a formal recorded statement; she was not required to watch the contents emerge.
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Inside the case were multiple bound folders of original contracts bearing my company’s letterhead and my signature—documents Mitchell had handled for years under the authority I had given him for tax and compliance work. Alongside them were USB drives, a secondary set of what appeared to be altered versions of the same contracts, and a thin envelope of banking printouts that Hale immediately flagged for forensic imaging. The weight Chloe had described was accounted for by the volume of paper and the external hard case itself. Nothing in the visible inventory resembled an anniversary gift.
Ruiz stated the obvious for the record: the materials were consistent with an attempt to relocate original instruments that could later be replaced or destroyed, leaving a secondary trail that pointed away from the person who had arranged the movement. The written instructions, the overheard statements, and the secured physical evidence now formed a single timeline.
