Season 2 Chapter 6: A Killer Inside The Family
Chapter 6: The Dead Man's Fingerprints
The Federal Evidence Building was immediately placed on lockdown.
Armed officers flooded every hallway.
No one was allowed to leave.
Michael Brooks stood outside the evidence room, staring through the shattered glass door.
Daniel Carter's journal was gone.
Detective Sarah Mitchell knelt beside the damaged electronic lock.
"No forced entry."
Michael frowned.
"How is that possible?"
She pointed toward the access scanner.
"The thief didn't break in."
"They were let in."
Crime scene technicians dusted the scanner for fingerprints.
Several minutes later, the lead forensic examiner approached.
"You need to see this."
He handed Sarah a printed report.
Her face slowly changed.
Michael noticed.
"What is it?"
She hesitated.
"I've never seen anything like this."
Michael took the report.
At the top were three words.
FINGERPRINT MATCH FOUND
Below them...
GEORGE BROOKS
Michael stared at the page.
"No..."
The examiner nodded.
"The scanner identified George Brooks' fingerprints."
Michael's voice became sharp.
"That's impossible."
"My father has been buried for over a month."
The examiner quietly replied,
"I know."
"But the system doesn't lie."
Silence filled the hallway.
Sarah folded the report.
"Either someone copied George's fingerprints..."
"...or someone wanted us to believe they did."
---
Later that afternoon...
The forensic laboratory completed another analysis.
This time...
The security cameras.
Michael and Sarah watched the footage frame by frame.
At exactly 8:43 PM...
A man wearing a gray maintenance uniform entered the building.
His face remained hidden beneath a baseball cap.
He walked naturally.
Never hurried.
Never looked toward a camera.
Almost as if he already knew where every camera was located.
"He planned this," Sarah whispered.
Michael nodded.
"He knew the building."
The mysterious man reached the evidence room.
He placed one finger on the scanner.
The door immediately unlocked.
He entered.
Forty-three seconds later...
He walked out carrying nothing.
Michael frowned.
"He didn't leave with the journal."
Sarah replayed the video.
"Watch carefully."
The man paused beside a janitor's trash cart.
For less than two seconds...
He switched evidence bags.
The real journal disappeared inside the trash container.
The evidence bag he carried out...
Was empty.
Michael whispered,
"He distracted everyone."
Sarah immediately contacted building security.
"Find the janitor."
Minutes later...
The answer came back.
"There was no janitor scheduled tonight."
Michael slowly looked at Sarah.
"The cart..."
"...was part of the plan."
---
That evening...
The abandoned Brooks mansion received another unexpected visitor.
Emily Carter stood alone outside the front gate.
She had never visited before.
She quietly placed a bouquet of white lilies beside the old oak tree where Daniel's journal had been buried.
"I finally found you, Dad."
A soft voice answered behind her.
"So did someone else."
Emily spun around.
An elderly man stepped from the shadows.
Thin.
Gray beard.
Weathered face.
His eyes filled with fear.
Emily gasped.
"Samuel..."
Samuel Reed nodded slowly.
"I don't have much time."
Emily looked shocked.
"I thought you disappeared."
"I was forced to."
He looked nervously toward the mansion.
"They're watching."
Emily frowned.
"Who?"
Samuel reached into his coat and removed a small cassette tape.
"I couldn't protect your father."
"But I protected this."
Emily accepted the tape carefully.
"What is it?"
Samuel swallowed.
"The only conversation George Brooks never knew I recorded."
Emily's heartbeat quickened.
"Who was talking?"
Samuel's hands trembled.
"Thomas..."
"...and someone even more dangerous."
Before Emily could ask another question...
A gunshot shattered the evening silence.
Samuel's eyes widened.
A dark stain spread across his shirt.
He collapsed into Emily's arms.
She screamed for help.
Samuel struggled to breathe.
With his final strength...
He whispered four words.
"It wasn't Thomas alone..."
His body went limp.
The cassette tape slipped from Emily's hand onto the wet grass.
Across the street...
A black SUV slowly pulled away into the darkness.
Inside...
An unseen figure calmly removed a silencer from a pistol.
Then spoke one sentence.
May you like
"The wrong witness survived too long."
END OF CHAPTER 6
