Page 47 of Dead Air
"And if Wallace questions your authority?"
"I answer to Professional Standards Division, not the Chief." Parks tapped the bag. "Found this hidden inside an air vent in Hutchinson's bedroom. Taped behind the register cover."
Lawson opened the evidence bag carefully. The paper inside showed age—creases from multiple foldings, slight yellowing at the edges. She recognized the handwriting immediately. Monica's distinctive script. The same handwriting from the journal and storage unit documents.
She unfolded it carefully, preserving the plastic covering. Not a confession but a list of names. Department personnel organized by division. Patrol. Narcotics. Homicide. Vice. Her own name appeared at the top with a notation: "Can trust completely."
"This isn't what I expected." Lawson scanned the document. "These aren't dirty cops. These are the clean ones."
"Officers who refused bribes or participation in cover-ups." Parks nodded. "Landry documented the honest cops for protection."
Lawson examined the list more carefully. Most names had been crossed out. Some with dates noted beside them. Others with notations like "transferred" or "resigned." Only threenames remained unmarked—her own, a patrol sergeant who'd retired last year, and a records clerk who'd moved to Atlanta.
"The pattern emerges when you check the dates." Parks sipped his coffee. "Five years of systematic removal. Every crossed-out officer was either dead, transferred, or forced out through manufactured complaints."
"Someone's been cleaning house." The realization crystallized. "Removing obstacles to department corruption."
"Exactly." Parks leaned forward. "Notice anything about Hutchinson's name?"
Lawson found it in the Narcotics section. Crossed out with different ink. More recent than the other markings. "Monica crossed him off the clean list."
"Changed her assessment at some point." Parks nodded. "Question becomes why."
"He turned. Started working with whoever was running the corruption." Lawson studied the document again. "But why would Hutchinson keep this? It implicates him."
"Leverage, perhaps. Protection against whoever runs the organization." Parks took the list back and returned it to his messenger bag. "Or evidence he planned to use for negotiation if caught."
"Or someone planted it for us to find." Lawson countered with another possibility. "Creating false connections."
"Unlikely given its location." Parks shook his head. "Hidden too carefully for planted evidence. Required specific knowledge of the apartment layout."
Lawson considered the implications. The list documented a systematic purge spanning five years. Clean officers removed through carefully orchestrated means. Monica tracking the pattern until her death. Hutchinson initially trusted, then marked untrustworthy.
"There's more." Parks extracted another evidence bag from his messenger bag. Smaller than the first. Single notecard inside. "Found this behind the same vent. Different paper. More recent."
Monica's handwriting again. A single line centered on the card: "He knows I know."
No name. No elaboration. Just four words documenting a fatal realization.
"She discovered who ran the corruption network." Lawson stared at the card. "Confronted Hutchinson about his involvement."
"Which gave him motive for her murder." Parks finished the thought. "Yet someone killed him to prevent that connection from emerging in Blackwell's podcast."
"Someone higher in the organization." Lawson remembered the hooded figure from the security footage. "Someone who couldn't risk Hutchinson talking if pressured."
"Exactly." Parks returned the notecard to his bag. "The confession note serves a dual purpose. Closes Monica's case while preventing further investigation into Hutchinson's connections."
The coffee shop filled with new customers. A tour group entered, chattering about riverboat cruises and historic homes. The noise provided additional privacy for their conversation.
"Department corruption explains the evidence gaps in Monica's case." Lawson kept her voice low. "The purposeful mishandling. The witnesses never re-interviewed."
"And why Internal Affairs received direct orders to stand down on certain investigations," Parks nodded. "Cases involving specific businesses or individuals quietly redirected despite clear evidence."
"Which businesses?"
"Construction companies. Import businesses. Entertainment venues." Parks recited from memory. "The pattern becomes visible only when examining five years of case assignments across divisions."
"Monica found the pattern." Lawson tapped her fingers against the table. "Started documenting the clean officers as potential allies."
