Chapter 10 - The Unseen Ally**
The sun rose cold and grey over the misty mountain valley, casting long shadows across the roadside diner.
Ethan sat in a corner booth near the back exit, wearing a dark baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.
A woman in a heavy green canvas jacket walked in, holding a steaming mug of black coffee as she sat down across from him.
Her name was Detective Sarah Jenkins, a former internal affairs investigator from the state capital.
"How did you get the flag camera footage, Jenkins?" Ethan asked, keeping his hands low beneath the table.
"Samantha didn't wipe the cloud, Ethan," Jenkins revealed, setting a flash drive on the Formica table.
"She wiped your local account, but the hardware had a secondary mirror link routed directly to the State Prosecutor's office."
Ethan looked at the small metal drive, feeling a sudden ray of hope break through his despair.
"Why would it mirror to the State Prosecutor?" Ethan asked, puzzled.
May you like
"Because your late wife Sarah set up that secondary mirror link three days before her fatal car crash," Jenkins dropped the bombshell.
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