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Row seven: LOD-007. SUBJECT: DI Priya Sharma (Met). ACTION TAKEN: OCG-funded holiday to Dubai. OUTCOME: Case re-assigned away from Sharma’s unit. Sharma now ACO.
She called her only reliable contact—DS Marcus Webb, a grumpy but clean tech analyst. He met her in an all-night diner, reading the PDF over her shoulder.
She looked up. Across the diner, a man in a black coat was rising from his booth, hand moving toward his jacket. Marcus saw it too.
You’ve opened the index. Now you’re on the list. Row 33.
Kate grabbed the laptop and bolted through the kitchen exit, sirens already wailing in the distance—but not coming to save her. Coming to finish the index.
Her stomach turned. Carl hadn’t been investigating criminals. He’d been investigating the investigators.
“Run,” Marcus said.
“Guv,” she said, breath fogging in the alley. “It’s Rainer. Carl’s dead. I’ve got the index. And I’ve got the passphrase.”
Kate stopped breathing. Hargreaves was her new boss’s boss.
On the desktop, a single folder: . Inside, no images, no bodycam footage, no witness statements. Just a table. Four columns: CASE REF , SUBJECT , ACTION TAKEN , OUTCOME . Thirty-two rows.
“This isn’t evidence,” Marcus said quietly. “It’s a map. Each ‘CASE REF’ is a dead end unless you have the original files. Carl was indexing his way to the top of the rot.”
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