The next few minutes stretched long, and Peter could hardly stand it. He was on duty. He should be actively confronting the threat. Hewantedto be involved. But he’d failed. Again.
Sirens wailed in the near distance. Must be the officer’s backup. He checked his watch. His boss should be here any moment now too. It was shaping up to be a regular party. He only hoped Henderson managed to compel his assailants to join them.
But as the sirens grew louder, he heard the return of the officer’s boots on the concrete of the parking lot. One set of unhurried footfalls. Even before the man rounded the corner, Peter knew he was alone. The duo had gotten away.
Obviously unhappy with his failure to apprehend the fleeing criminals, the officer stomped over to rejoin him. “Didn’t even see them,” he said before Peter could ask. “I heard a vehicle start up on the other side of the trees, but they were long gone before I could get over there.”
A truck that looked like his boss’s turned into the parking lot, followed about twenty seconds later by a car with strobing red and blue lights. The truck pulled to the side to let the patrol car pass, then both made their way to the front of the lot, where Peter and Officer Henderson stood.
Andre jumped out first. After quickly confirming Peter was okay, he badged them into the building and dashed to the office to shut off the alarm. Peter and the officers followed, all three crowding into the small space with Andre, who was already calling up the security footage.
“It’s gone,” he growled. “The recorded video cuts out at three twenty-six.”
Peter grimaced. That would have been right before he’d seen the first person arrive. He searched one of the screens in front of them and noted the missing red dot that would have indicated the live footage was also being recorded. Well, this was a fine kettle of tea. He rubbed his aching head and scowled when his hand encountered a sticky mess. He hadn’t realized he was bleeding too. He wiped his fingers on his black jeans and returned his attention to the matter at hand.
With a few keystrokes from Andre, the red dot reappeared on each screen. Lot of good that would do them now. His boss started to swivel, then seemed to think better of it when it nearly brought him knee to knee with Officer Henderson.
Peter opened the office door and moved just outside the room to give them a bit more space. He glanced at the hook where the master key card usually hung. Gone, as he’d suspected. He pointed to the empty spot. “Looks like they took the master key card. Can we check where they might have used it, or did they wipe the badge logs too?”
Though he’d never done it, he knew the camera footage could be deleted by anyone with access to the computer. When he was hired, he’d been strictly warned to avoid that area of the program so he wouldn’t accidentally mess anything up. But the badge logs were set up differently. While any of the security guards could access a read-only version of them, a manager’s passcode was required to manipulate the data.
Andre’s fingers flew across the keys, and a few seconds later helet out a triumphant grunt. “Nope. Those are intact.” He stared at the screen, and the officers bent to peer over his shoulders.
Peter tamped down the urge to crowd back in and look at the logs himself. He wanted to see where these guys had gone. Which businesses might have been compromised.
A whirring sounded, and the printer spit out two sheets of paper. Andre grabbed them and handed one to Officer Henderson. “These are the businesses that were accessed via the master key card tonight. I’ll have to contact the owners or local managers to inform them of the breach and get permission to do a cursory search for evidence. We’ll have to program a new master key card too.”
“I can start making those calls while you do that,” Peter offered.
“Thanks.” Andre passed a copy of the list to him.
“Do that, then we’ll need to get an official statement from you,” Officer Henderson said.
“Sure thing.” Peter quickly scanned the list. There couldn’t be much worth stealing from the café, so he skipped to the next line. The other three made his gut clench. The master key card had been used to access the jewelry store, the insurance office, and Pendleton Accounting. This could have massive implications, especially if his assailants had managed to hack into either of the offices’ computer systems.
But maybe they hadn’t. After all, they couldn’t have been in the building more than twenty or thirty minutes, and that included the time they would have spent retrieving the master key card from the security office and wiping the recorded footage. Coupled with hitting four different businesses, they wouldn’t have had much time to spend in any one place. But why else would they have gone in?
He didn’t know the answer, but figuring out motives wasn’t his job. Right now, he was on damage control. Taking a deep breath, he reached for his work phone, then remembered hisassailants had taken it along with his personal cell. He’d have to use the office phone.
“Pardon me.” He squeezed past the two officers and retrieved the phone from the other side of the room. “And again. Sorry.” He made his way back to the door without stepping on anyone’s toes and turned to exit into the main lobby to make his calls.
“Hold up, Peter.” Andre stopped him. “There’s blood all over the back of your head. Thought you said you were fine.”
He waved off his boss’s concern. “That’s where I got whacked. I’m all right, just need to clean up.”
“Not a chance. You get injured on the clock, you get checked out by a professional.”
“I’m really quite all right.”
“Sit.” Andre pointed to one of the lobby chairs. “I’m calling an ambulance, and you’re going to let them take you to the ER. That’s an order.”
Seeing that arguing would be futile, Peter sighed. “May I at least start making the calls while I’m waiting?”
One of the officers snorted, and Andre rolled his eyes. “Fine. But soon as they’re here, you’re out. Got it?”
“Loud and clear.” He let the office door close behind him, then released another heavy sigh. Ducking out when this was all his fault was not cool. But he knew Andre was just playing by the rules. Peter would do what he was told, then he’d try to help out however he could.
7
