Chapter 12 - The Evidence Locker
Elena spent the following morning examining her service records.
The medical files documented her injuries, rehabilitation, and eventual medical separation. The incident reports described the fire aboard the Resolute in precise, impersonal language.
She remembered every moment the documents failed to capture.
The alarm.
The smoke.
The heat pressing against her skin.
The trapped sailors who had not reached the exit.
She had gone back because she knew people were still inside.
At the bottom of a folder, she found a reference to a supplemental witness statement from Chief Petty Officer Samuel Ortiz.
Beside his name was a note:
Follow-up requested. Statement incomplete.
Elena remembered Sam as the engineering technician who had helped coordinate the evacuation.
She wrote his name in her notebook.
Then her phone rang.
“Commander Alden?” a woman asked. “This is Rachel Bennett from the Navy's procurement compliance office. Admiral Carrow asked me to contact you.”
Bennett asked whether Elena had ever tested Daniel's equipment, approved his company, or authorized the use of her military credentials.
Elena answered no to every question.
“Please preserve all communications,” Bennett instructed. “We'll examine the documentation before drawing conclusions.”
After the call, Elena found an old envelope addressed in her father's handwriting.
Inside was a copy of the commendation notification.
At the bottom, Hugh had written:
Received. Discuss with Elena later.
She stared at the words.
He had known the commendation existed. He had apparently intended to discuss it with her.
Yet he had spent five years allowing Marin to call her a failure.
Elena photographed the document and stored it with her other records.
Then she created a list of questions for the investigators.
Who had prepared Daniel's consultation document?
Who had inserted her name?
Was the digital approval marker authentic?
And why had her father's name appeared in the notification record while his family continued to deny the significance of her service?
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She didn't have the answers yet.
But she had something she hadn't possessed for five years: a way to pursue them.
