Chapter 4 - A Dead Man's Ring

Thomas Ellis had died nineteen months earlier on a flooded highway outside Fort Avery. The report called it a single-vehicle accident. Mara had accepted the folded flag, hugged their mother, and buried him under a cloudy Georgia sky.

But Thomas had been a federal warehouse auditor. His last voicemail said, "Mara, when this blows up, remember that inventory numbers are just names in disguise."

She had replayed it a hundred times, never understanding what he meant.

Now the ring in the photograph made her grip the edge of the table.

Thomas had been the brother who remembered birthdays and never let her travel without emergency cash. She remembered his terrible singing on family road trips, his stubborn kindness toward strangers, and the unanswered texts still saved in her phone.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

"Anonymous package," Price said. "Delivered to our front desk."

"Keep the original. Preserve chain of custody. And tell me who authorized the timestamp."

"You're giving me instructions?"

"I'm helping you avoid looking foolish in court."

A knock interrupted them. A woman in a charcoal blazer entered without waiting: Elise Warren. She placed her credentials on the table and gave Price a calm look.

"Captain Ellis is part of a protected federal investigation. Your interview is finished."

Price blinked. "No one told us—"

"That was the point."

In the hallway Elise lowered her voice. "Your brother's death file was reopened this morning. The medical examiner retained tissue samples. Somebody altered the vehicle record after his accident."

Mara's pulse surged. "Who?"

"We don't know yet. But the evidence photograph is bait. Whoever sent it wanted you rattled and off mission."

They crossed the courtyard past soldiers hurrying to afternoon formation. Across the street, Victor Hale leaned against a government sedan, watching Mara with his phone at his ear.

Elise noticed him too. "Do not confront him alone."

"He's standing there because he thinks he won."

"Let him think it."

As they passed, Victor spoke loudly enough to be heard. "Nice to see your guardian angel, Captain. Ask her what happened to Thomas's last report."

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Elise stopped walking.

And Mara understood from the investigator's face that there was something else she had never been told.