For the first time, he understood that Dugan was preparing to separate himself from everything they had done together.
Inside the conference room, the specialist recovered a deeper audit layer that ordinary users could not modify through the standard evidence screen.
He pointed to a series of entries.
"Here. Original camera status. Original case inventory. Subsequent administrative changes. The system retained each event even though the current screen no longer showed the earlier versions."
Blake asked, "Can these logs identify the accounts used?"
"Yes."
He highlighted two names.
Travis Mercer.
Raymond Dugan.
Blake sat back.
"That gives us a timeline."
Noah said quietly, "That's why I left the notes."
Blake looked at him.
"The notes helped us know where to look. The audit system is what establishes the changes."
Noah nodded.
He understood the distinction.
A second investigator entered carrying the surviving contents of the black metal case.
"We finished the preliminary inventory."
Blake stood.
"What did you find?"
The investigator placed several folders on the table.
"The case is legitimate county property. It was prepared for the leadership transition."
Noah looked at the label on the first folder.
Carver County Sheriff Transition Integrity Review.
Blake opened it.
The introductory memorandum identified Maya Williams as the authorized recipient upon assumption of office.
The sealed package had never been stolen.
It had been assigned to her.
The investigator continued.
"The purpose was to brief the incoming sheriff on unresolved internal-control issues before she took command."
Blake turned several pages.
The concerns included missing evidence, altered incident reports, unexplained camera failures, closed complaints, and supervisory changes made without complete documentation.
Then she found Mercer's name.
Several entries involved him.
One concerned an evidence discrepancy.
Another referenced a prior complaint.
A third involved a report modification requiring additional review.
Blake turned another page.
Dugan's name appeared as the approving supervisor.
Then it appeared again.
And again.
Noah read silently over her shoulder.
The surviving records did not prove every allegation, but they established that the concerns existed before that night.
Blake closed the folder.
Mercer had assumed Maya was carrying evidence that could incriminate her.
Instead, he had opened an official package prepared for the woman who was about to become his sheriff.
The digital specialist returned to the audit screen.
"We have the roadside video, the original evidence status, the administrative changes, and the transition records."
Blake looked toward the conference-room door.
"This isn't one bad stop anymore."
Maya was standing in the hallway with Reeves when Blake stepped outside and told her what they had confirmed.
Maya listened without interrupting.
When Blake finished, Maya looked through the glass toward Dugan and Mercer.
"No," she said quietly. "It isn't."
Dugan asked to speak with Agent Blake before any further interviews began.
Blake agreed, but she chose the conference room and brought another investigator with her.
Dugan noticed immediately.
"I thought this was a conversation."
"It is," Blake said. "It's also part of an investigation."
Dugan sat across from her.
Mercer remained outside near the booking area where he could see the conference-room door but could not hear what was being said inside.
Dugan folded his hands on the table.
"I want the record to reflect that Deputy Mercer made the roadside decisions. I wasn't present."
Blake opened her notebook.
"That is already clear."
"I responded based on the information he gave me."
"What information?"
"That he had detained a woman carrying restricted internal review records under questionable circumstances."
Blake nodded.
"And after you arrived?"
"I reviewed the incident."
"Did that include the dash camera?"
"I reviewed the evidence status."
"Did you physically handle the camera?"
Dugan paused.
"Yes."
"Did you handle the memory card?"
"I may have."
"Did you damage it?"
Dugan's expression tightened.
"I don't recall damaging it."
Blake did not react.
"Did you remove pages from the transition package?"
"No."
"Did you change the evidence packaging?"
"The original packaging was compromised."
"Did you alter the electronic classification?"
"I performed a supervisory correction."
Blake looked down at her notes.
"What was incorrect about the original classification?"
Dugan hesitated again.
"The equipment was damaged."
"Who determined that?"
"Mercer reported the media was unreadable."
Blake looked at him.
"So your correction relied on Mercer's statement."
"Yes."
"And you did not independently verify the device."
"I'm not a digital technician."
Blake closed the notebook.
"That will be all for now."
Dugan frowned.
"That's it?"
"For this interview."
He stood slowly.
"You understand what Mercer is going to do, don't you?"
Blake remained seated.
"What do you think he's going to do?"
"He's going to blame everyone around him."
"That sounds like something you should discuss with your attorney."
Dugan left without responding.
Mercer was waiting near the hallway.
"What did you tell them?"
Dugan kept walking.
"Nothing that concerns you."
Mercer followed him.
"You said you were going to handle this."
"Lower your voice."
"You told me what to put in the report."
Dugan stopped.
Several deputies looked up.
He turned toward Mercer.
"I told you to write an accurate report."
Mercer stared at him.
"No, you didn't."
Dugan's voice stayed controlled.
"Think very carefully before you continue."
Mercer stepped closer.
"You told me to write that her refusals were noncompliance. You told me to make the vehicle entry sound necessary. You told me the camera was unreadable."
"I repeated what you told me."
"That's not true."
Noah stood near the evidence workstation and heard every word.
So did two other deputies.
Dugan noticed the attention gathering around them.
"This conversation is over."
Mercer gave a short laugh.
"That's convenient."
He walked away before Dugan could answer.
Maya was in a separate office with Reeves when Blake entered a few minutes later.
"We're separating them now," Blake said.
Maya looked up.
"Mercer and Dugan?"
"Yes. Their accounts are already beginning to conflict."
Reeves asked, "Do you have enough to establish who changed the evidence?"
"We have account access, timestamps, Noah's preservation notes, and the original system states. We still need interviews and forensic confirmation."
Maya nodded.
"That's the right order."
Blake studied her.
"You could make this easier politically if you issued a statement tonight."
"No."
"Reporters will be here by morning."
"I know."
"You'll be asked whether you think this was corruption."
Maya looked toward the glass wall separating the office from the main corridor.
"I'll say there's an independent investigation."
Blake nodded once.
"That's the answer I was hoping for."
Maya stood.
"Where is Evelyn Brooks?"
"On her way. She agreed to give a formal statement here, but only to the outside team."
"Good."
A little after 3:30, Evelyn entered through the courthouse-side entrance, wearing the same dark slacks and light blouse she had worn to dinner. A gray cardigan was buttoned over it.
She carried her phone, a yellow legal pad, and her reading glasses in a small case.
Reeves met her first.
"Mrs. Brooks?"
"Yes."
"I'm Michael Reeves, county attorney."
She shook his hand.
"I was told an outside investigator wanted to see me."
Blake approached and introduced herself.
Evelyn nodded politely.
"Before we start, I want to be clear about something. I don't know what happened before I stopped my car. I can only tell you what I saw after I got there."
"That's exactly what we want," Blake said.
Evelyn relaxed slightly.
Maya remained several feet away until Evelyn noticed her.
"Are you Miss Williams?"
"Yes."
Evelyn looked at her for a moment.
"I heard they're calling you Sheriff Williams now."
"They are."
Evelyn gave a small, tired smile.
"Well, Sheriff Williams, I nearly kept driving."
Maya looked at the phone and legal pad in her hands.
"But you didn't."
"No."
"That matters."
Evelyn nodded and followed Blake into the interview room.
Her video confirmed the condition of the Bentley after the windows had been broken.
It showed Maya standing away from the vehicle with her hands visible.
It showed Mercer beside the open trunk and Noah nearby.
It also captured part of Mercer's effort to make Evelyn leave the roadside.
More important were her handwritten notes.
She had written them before she knew Maya's position, before she spoke with anyone from the county, and before the incident could become public.
Blake reviewed the pages carefully.
"You wrote down that Captain Dugan asked for your original phone."
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"That bringing the whole phone in that night would be best for chain of custody."
"Why didn't you?"
Evelyn adjusted her glasses.
"Because he sounded more interested in having the phone than in hearing what I saw."
Blake wrote that down.
Outside the interview room, the investigation team continued reviewing the surviving transition package.
One investigator brought Blake a file when Evelyn's interview ended.
"We found another complaint connected to Dugan's supervisory review."
Blake opened it.
Then another investigator handed her a second file.
The pattern was similar.
Disputed evidence handling.
Changed wording in reports.
Complaints closed after supervisory intervention.
None of the older files proved misconduct by themselves.
Together, they raised a new question.
Dugan's involvement might not have started that night.