The Staff Band in the Evidence Bag
Chapter 10 - The Staff Band in the Evidence Bag
Daniel was released after prosecutors reviewed Eli’s photograph and neighborhood cameras.
Officer Ruiz returned the orange STAFF band Grant ripped from his arm. It had been collected from the park as part of the public-confrontation footage.
Daniel turned it over.
A thin adhesive strip ran beneath the printed word STAFF.
Inside was a tracking chip.
The foundation had monitored his location for months.
Claire confirmed Grant placed chips inside staff bands, volunteer badges, and scholarship wristbands. He used them to know who entered offices, workshops, and restricted areas.
Maria had worn one on the day she died.
Detectives compared its archived location records with her dashboard camera.
The band showed Maria at the park after her car had already crashed.
Someone had copied the signal to create a false alibi.
Paul Mercer carried the duplicate transmitter.
Federal agents arrested him.
Paul demanded immunity.
He confessed to sabotaging Lena’s helmet and rail, planting evidence at Daniel’s home, and following Maria on the highway.
He insisted Grant never explicitly said to kill anyone.
“He said make sure the problem does not reach the meeting.”
Daniel looked at him through interview-room glass.
“How did you interpret that?”
“The way he paid me to.”
Paul also described Nathan’s fall.
Grant intended only to frighten his son and stop him from exposing the land deal. The loose railing failed more completely than expected.
After Nathan died, Grant blamed everyone except himself and turned the tragedy into a foundation.
“Did he ever show remorse?” Brooks asked.
Paul laughed bitterly.
“He showed remorse whenever cameras arrived.”
Paul gave investigators access codes to an off-site backup.
The archive copied helmet footage to a satellite server owned by Vantage Youth Systems.
Federal agents obtained a warrant.
The company reported that all files had been deleted.
Claire knew better.
Grant never deleted leverage.
He stored copies in physical media where digital warrants would not find them.
Nathan’s journal mentioned “the wall of broken helmets.”
The phrase referred to a memorial exhibit inside the foundation headquarters.
Hundreds of donated helmets hung behind glass, each representing a youth injury Grant claimed his programs prevented.
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One of those helmets contained the master archive.
The challenge was finding it before Grant did.
