Maya's expression remained still, but her attention sharpened.
Paul asked, "Did they ever mention a USB?"
"Not directly."
"Did they search your backpack in front of you?"
"Part of it."
"Did you see them find the black drive?"
"No."
Paul looked toward the investigator standing outside the door. "Have the property inventory brought here."
Several minutes later, the documented list of Isaiah's belongings arrived. Paul read through it carefully: laptop, charger, wallet, university identification, clothing, notebook, calculator. Then: one blue USB storage device. There was no black drive.
Isaiah stared at the list. "That's not right."
Paul looked up. "You're certain?"
"Yes."
Maya finally spoke, but only to clarify the boundary. "Paul, not from me."
He understood. He turned back to Isaiah. "Where exactly did you last see the black drive?"
"I thought it was in the backpack."
"You thought?"
Isaiah closed his eyes for a moment, trying to reconstruct the evening. "I'm not sure anymore."
Paul closed the inventory and stood outside the room. The digital forensics specialist was waiting with a tablet.
"We have something from the hospital workstation," she said.
Paul stepped into the hallway. Maya followed far enough to listen, but did not touch the tablet.
The specialist continued, "During the lockdown, a removable drive was connected to the police liaison computer. It contains ordinary university files: engineering coursework, spreadsheets, class documents."
"The blue drive," Paul said.
"That's what it looks like."
Maya looked through the glass at Isaiah, then down the corridor toward Harland, who was already speaking with department counsel. Harland had searched for something specific: he had opened Isaiah's blue college drive, but the black one was missing.
Paul lowered his voice. "If we can't find it, Harland will say Isaiah invented it after the fact."
Maya watched Harland continue talking as though the night had already become a legal argument instead of a medical emergency. "That's exactly what he's going to say."
Behind the glass, Isaiah looked toward his mother and asked the nurse something Maya could not hear. A moment later, he raised his voice just enough: "Mom."
Maya returned to the doorway.
"Did you know any of this was going to happen?"