Page 81 of Fatal Fame

"It is, but I'll speak to him."

"So my did father ask you to look into the glove from the Hale case?"

Callie felt her pulse quicken. There was no hesitation in Mia's voice, no uncertainty. This wasn't a guess, this was confirmation of something she already suspected.

"Mia—"

"What did you find? And don't tell me it's nothing, because I'm well aware that it's gone missing."

The directness of the question, delivered with the confidence of someone who'd already done her own investigation, made Callie pause. "How do you know that?"

"Anita told me it wasn't there when I asked about it at the hospital. But only a day before that, I'd gotten word from a reliable source that it was logged in evidence."

“Logged is one thing, in evidence is another. Who was your source?" Callie pressed, her investigative instincts overriding her initial reluctance to discuss an ongoing inquiry.

"I can't say without him losing his job."

"Mia, it's vital that?—"

"Promise me you won't get this person in trouble," Mia interrupted, her voice carrying the steel that Callie was beginning to recognize as a family trait.

Against her better judgment, Callie found herself agreeing. "I promise."

"Rishi."

"Rishi told you?" Callie's mind raced through the implications. Lab technicians weren't supposed to discussevidence with civilians, but if Rishi had noticed discrepancies in the testing protocols...

"He saw inconsistencies in what DNA was being tested. The DNA from under Jacob's nails was processed, but not the latex glove. Which brings me to my next question." Mia's voice took on the focused intensity of someone closing in on a target. "Who was in charge of the evidence in the Hale case? Like, who actually handled it?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"It was Anita, wasn't it?"

The certainty in Mia's voice made Callie's blood run cold. "How do you know that? Did Rishi tell you?"

"No. I took a wild guess based on everything else that's been happening." Mia paused, and when she continued, her words came faster, more urgent. "There's something else. Ethan saw a white Jeep speeding away from Hemlock Hollow Farm right after we fell into that well. Anita owns a white Jeep."

"Mia, that's quite an accusation."

"Tell me you don't see an issue with the evidence and the chain of custody."

Callie stared at the paperwork spread across her desk, official documents that painted a picture of systematic evidence tampering spanning a decade. "I'll say it's unusual, yes. But there could be a simple explanation."

"Ask her," Mia said in a way that brooked no argument. "Ask her directly."

"She's my sergeant, Mia. I can't do that. There are ways these things are handled. Besides, I haven't seen her."

"Where is she?"

Callie put her hand over the phone and called out to the bullpen. "Anyone know where Sergeant Emerson is?"

Deputy Martinez looked up from his paperwork. "She got a call from the hospital. Gideon's out of the coma and wanted to speak to a police officer. She went to get a statement from him."

The words hit Callie hard. She brought the phone back to her ear, knowing from the silence that Mia had heard every word.

"She's going after him," Mia said, her voice flat with certainty.

"What?"