**The First Lie**
Officer
Daniel Brooks arrived seventeen minutes after the incident.
He was a calm, experienced investigator who had spent years learning one
important rule:
The first story people told was rarely the whole story.
He found Sophia sitting in a security office.
Her wrist was wrapped in an ice pack.
Emily had already been transported to the hospital.
"Tell me what happened," Daniel said.
Sophia took a shaky breath.
"Emily became angry."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Then?"
Sophia looked down.
"She pushed me."
"And you fell?"
"Yes."
Daniel studied her face.
There was no visible panic now.
Only calculation.
"Did you know Emily was pregnant?"
"Of course."
"How long have you known her?"
"Years."
Daniel wrote something in his notebook.
Then asked the question Sophia hadn't expected.
"Why were you following her?"
Sophia froze.
"I wasn't."
Daniel looked up.
"You weren't?"
"No."
"Then why does Camera Twelve show you following her from the north
entrance?"
Sophia stared at him.
"I was shopping."
"Coincidentally behind her?"
"Yes."
Daniel nodded.
He didn't argue.
He simply closed the notebook.
"Fine."
As he walked out, his partner approached.
"Something bothering you?"
Daniel answered quietly.
"Her story is too clean."
"Meaning?"
"She has an answer for everything."
He looked toward the surveillance control room.
"Let's see what the cameras say."
But when they opened the first recording...
The screen suddenly went black.
The footage had been deleted.
Daniel stared at the monitor.
"Who deleted it?"
The technician shook his head.
"I don't know."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Find out."
Because suddenly this wasn't just a case of one woman pushing
another.
Someone had tried to erase the evidence.
And that meant someone had been planning ahead.
