It felt like home.
Chapter 18
Carson couldn’t let go of the Avery Shone case.
For three days, he reviewed cold cases during work hours, but at night, when Nora was asleep, he’d pull out his laptop and dig deeper into Captain Shaw’s tenure as head of the department.
He told himself it was routine. Due diligence. Making sure cases were properly handled.
But the more he looked, the more inconsistencies he found.
Evidence destroyed in the Avery Shone case. A stalking case from 2019 where the suspect’s background check mysteriously disappeared. An assault from 2020 where critical surveillance footage went missing.
All during Shaw’s tenure. All with his signature on the authorization forms.
It could be coincidence. Administrative errors. Legitimate reasons.
Or it could be something else.
“You’re doing it again.”
Carson looked up from his laptop. Nora stood in the doorway of their bedroom, wearing one of his T-shirts, hair mussed from sleep. Seducing him without even trying.
“Doing what?”
“The brooding thing,” said with an eyeroll. “It’s two in the morning, Carson. Come to bed.”
He wanted to. But he couldn’t. “I will. Just finishing up some work.”
She moved closer, peering at his screen. “Cold cases. You’ve been looking at those every night this week.”
“There’s something off about them. Evidence that disappeared, cases that went cold for no good reason.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’m probably seeing patterns that aren’t there.”
“Or you’re seeing something everyone else missed.” Nora sat on the arm of his chair. “Talk me through it.”
“You should sleep—”
“I can’t sleep when you’re out here obsessing. So talk to me. Maybe a fresh perspective will help.”
Carson hesitated, then pulled up the files. “Okay. Look at this. Avery Shone—the woman from your building who reported feeling watched. Three years ago, she had a break-in. Same patternas what Eugene did—things moved around, nothing stolen. Evidence was collected but then destroyed. Authorized by Captain Shaw.”
“Shaw. That’s the captain before Holloway?”
“Yeah. He retired five years ago. Moved to Arizona.” Carson switched files. “Now look at this. Stalking case from 2019. Victim reported being followed for months. They finally got a license plate number for the suspect’s vehicle, ran a background check. But the results disappeared from the system. Shaw signed off on destroying the physical paperwork, claiming it was duplicated elsewhere. But I can’t find the duplicate.”
“That’s weird.”
“It gets weirder.” Another file. “Assault case from 2020. Victim was attacked in her home. Security cameras from her building caught the suspect’s face clearly. Footage was entered into evidence. Then the hard drive failed. Shaw authorized disposal of the corrupted drive without attempting data recovery.”
Nora frowned. “Three cases, all involving women, all with evidence disappearing under Shaw’s watch?”
“At least three. I’ve only gone through half the cold case box. There might be more.” Carson leaned back in his chair. “It could all be legitimate. Equipment fails. Paperwork gets lost. Evidence gets destroyed for valid reasons.”
“But you don’t think it is.”
“I think there’s a pattern. And patterns mean something.” He closed his laptop, sighing with exhaustion. “I’m going to talk to Captain Holloway tomorrow. See if he remembers anything unusual about Shaw’s tenure.”
“Good.” Nora stood and held out her hand. “Now come to bed. You can’t solve cold cases if you’re exhausted.”
