Chapter 11: The Investigation Begins
291 words
Julian moved with a manic energy that terrified and reassured Elena. By midnight, the floor of his office was covered in takeout boxes and printed statutes. He wasn't just working a case; he was waging a war.
“Okay,” Julian said, pacing the small room. “First step, preservation of evidence. We hit them with a subpoena for the security footage from the hallway outside Arthur’s room for the last 48 hours. If he fell, cameras saw it.”
He drafted the motion, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
The response came the next morning, faster than any legal discovery process usually moved. A courier dropped a letter on the desk while Elena was curling up in the corner chair, trying to get warm.
Julian ripped it open. He let out a harsh, dry laugh.
“‘Due to scheduled system upgrades, video surveillance on the third floor was offline for maintenance during the requested timeframe,’” he read.
“He deleted it,” Elena said, her voice hollow. “Spoliation of evidence.”
“Of course he did. He’s scrubbing the scene.” Julian crumpled the letter. “But that’s a mistake. Juries hate coincidences. ‘Maintenance’ during a fracture? That smells like a cover-up.”
He grabbed his coat. “I’m going to file an emergency injunction to halt any data deletion on their servers. Stay here.”
CRASH.
The front window of the office exploded inward in a shower of safety glass. Elena screamed, diving to the floor as shards sprayed across the room.
A brick skidded across the linoleum, stopping at Julian’s feet.
Julian didn't flinch. He looked at the hole in his window, then down at the brick. Wrapped around it was a note, scrawled in thick black marker:
BACK OFF OR SHE GETS WORSE THAN A SPLASH.
End of Chapter 11
