The forensic specialist arrived before noon.
Finnley sat across from him in Marcus Hale's conference room while the black drive remained sealed inside an evidence bag. Nora stood near the window, arms folded, watching the parking lot.
The specialist introduced himself as Daniel Price and explained that he would make a forensic image of the drive before opening any files. He would preserve the original exactly as he found it.
Finnley appreciated the precision.
He had spent three years watching people treat records as if they were merely pieces of paper. Now every detail seemed important.
Daniel connected the drive to an isolated computer.
A progress bar appeared.
Finnley watched without speaking.
The first directory contained ordinary company files. Payroll records. Inventory reports. Tax documents. Vendor contracts.
Then Daniel opened another folder.
It contained encrypted files.
“How many?” Marcus asked.
“Thirty-seven.”
“Can you access them?”
“Eventually.”
Finnley looked at the screen.
“What's that?”
A folder had been modified only weeks before Camden's reported death.
Its name was simple.
PRIVATE.
Daniel opened it.
Several documents appeared.
The first was a spreadsheet.
Finnley recognized the transaction numbers immediately.
They matched the suspicious transfers.
His pulse quickened.
Daniel opened another file.
This one contained a timeline.
Dates stretched backward almost two years.
Each entry recorded a transaction, an access attempt, a password change, or a conversation.
Finnley leaned closer.
Camden had been documenting everything.
The timeline showed something Finnley had never known.
The financial irregularities had begun months before his arrest.
They had not started with him.
The first suspicious transfer occurred while Finnley was still finishing school.
The second happened before he had even been given company access.
Finnley stared at the dates.
“So I couldn't have done the first ones.”
Marcus nodded.
“That changes the entire pattern.”
Daniel continued.
Several later transactions occurred after Finnley had already been removed from the company system.
Yet his credentials were still used.
Finnley felt the room go silent.
“My credentials were active after they fired me?”
Marcus shook his head.
“They shouldn't have been.”
Nora stepped closer.
“Look at the access source.”
Daniel enlarged the record.
The system had logged the transactions through an administrative terminal.
The terminal was physically located inside the Silver Lake house.
Finnley looked at Marcus.
“That's Reagan's access.”
“Or someone using a device she could access,” Marcus said.
Finnley remembered Nora's warning.
Don't assume.
He nodded.
The next file was a scanned notebook.
Camden's handwriting filled the pages.
He had written down every inconsistency he discovered.
One sentence appeared repeatedly.
“Finnley did not have access.”
Another appeared beneath it.
“Someone is using his identity.”
Finnley's eyes burned.
His father had known.
Camden had known before the arrest.
He had known during the investigation.
And yet Finnley had still gone to prison.
The next page changed everything.
Camden had written that he believed the person responsible was not acting alone.
Finnley read the names.
Carter.
Reagan.
And an unfamiliar name.
Victor Shaw.
Finnley didn't recognize it.
Marcus did.
“Victor Shaw was the company's former systems administrator.”
“Former?”
“He left shortly before your trial.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked at the screen.
“He was fired.”
Finnley frowned.
“By my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Camden never told me.”
Nora asked Daniel to open the next file.
It contained correspondence between Camden and Victor.
The messages were tense.
Victor repeatedly denied accessing financial systems without authorization.
Camden accused him of creating duplicate credentials.
The final message from Victor was short.
“You're looking in the wrong direction.”
Finnley read it twice.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
No one answered.
Daniel opened another folder.
This one contained scanned legal documents.
Finnley recognized his own name.
His conviction.
His sentencing.
His prison records.
Then he saw something that made him sit upright.
A letter from Camden to the prosecutor.
It had never been delivered.
The date was three days before sentencing.
Camden had written that he believed the evidence against Finnley was incomplete and that additional records existed.
Why hadn't the prosecutor received it?
Marcus read the document carefully.
“This was never filed.”
“Can we prove it was sent?”
“There should be a delivery record.”
Daniel searched.
Nothing.
The letter existed.
The delivery record didn't.
Finnley felt anger rise.
Someone had stopped the letter.
Someone had known about it.
The next folder contained correspondence with a private investigator.
Camden had hired someone to trace the altered records.
The investigator's report was incomplete.
One page was missing.
Daniel searched for the missing page.
There was no file.
Finnley looked at the timeline.
The investigator had stopped working two weeks before Camden's reported death.
A note beside the entry read:
“Paid in full. Told not to continue.”
Finnley looked at Marcus.
“Who paid him?”
“We need to find him.”
Nora nodded.
“I'll locate him.”
Before she could move, Daniel spoke.
“There is one more thing.”
He opened a folder titled DEATH.
Inside were documents relating to Camden's final medical records.
Finnley stared.
“Why are these on the drive?”
Daniel opened the first file.
It was a hospital discharge summary.
Camden had been treated for complications related to cancer.
The date matched Reagan's account.
Finnley exhaled.
At least one thing was true.
His father had been sick.
But the next document showed something unexpected.
Camden had left the hospital against medical advice.
The reason given was “personal security concerns.”
Finnley looked at Marcus.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
The following file was a handwritten note.
Camden had written:
“They know I have the drive.”
Finnley's stomach tightened.
The date was four days before his father's death.
Then came another note.
“Move everything to 108.”
That explained the storage unit.
Camden had moved the evidence because someone had discovered he had it.
Finnley looked at the screen.
“Did my father know he was going to die?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not necessarily.”
Daniel opened the final file in the folder.
It was an audio recording.
The date was the night before Camden's death.
Finnley looked at Marcus.
“Play it.”
The room filled with static.
Then Camden's voice came through.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
“If you're hearing this, Finnley, I wasn't able to finish what I started.”
Finnley closed his eyes.
His father's voice continued.
“I need you to understand one thing. I did not abandon you.”
Finnley's throat tightened.
“I believed you were innocent from the moment I saw the first records.”
A pause.
Then Camden said something that made Finnley open his eyes.
“The person who framed you is not the person you think.”
The recording ended.
Finnley stared at the black screen.
The room remained silent.
He had spent years believing Carter and Reagan were at the center of everything.
Camden had just warned him otherwise.
Someone else was behind the frame-up.
And whoever that person was had apparently been close enough to Camden to know about the drive.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“There is another encrypted file.”
“What does it contain?”
“I don't know.”
Finnley stood.
“Open it.”
Daniel entered the necessary commands.
The file requested a password.
Finnley thought about his father.
His mother's name.
His childhood home.
His birthday.
Nothing worked.
Then he remembered the groundskeeper's words.
Look where your mother used to keep her winter things.
The cedar chest.
The second key.
The symbol.
Finnley took the brass key from his pocket.
Its etched symbol looked almost like a small letter.
He turned it over.
On the back was a number.
108.
Finnley stared.
The key hadn't simply led him to the storage unit.
It had been connected to it from the beginning.
He gave the number to Daniel.
Daniel tried it as part of the password.
The encrypted file opened.
A single document appeared.
Its title was:
“THE PERSON WHO GAVE FINNLEY HIS FIRST ACCESS.”
Finnley's heart began pounding.
He already knew the answer.
Carter.
But beneath the title was a second name.
Not Carter.
Not Reagan.
Victor Shaw.
Finnley looked at Marcus.
The man who had taught him the system had been someone else entirely.
And suddenly the question changed.
If Victor had given Finnley his credentials, who had taught Victor?
Click here to continue reading: PART 10: Victor Shaw’s Name Led to a Forgotten Training Record, Where Finnley Found the First Evidence That His Conviction Had Been Designed Before He Entered the Company
Three Years Behind Bars Ended at a Locked Door, Where Finnley Learned the Man He Came Home For Had Been Dead Without Him
Part 9 of 20
