Hidden Patterns and Happy Hour
Nick
“So, someone came from the only door, took an expensive machine, and no one noticed them?” Serena confirms. She sounds snide, and for the first time, I’m with her. This is too early to be standing under the bright fluorescent lights of a university lab being stared at by seven pairs of eyes behind glasses of varying thicknesses.
The lean old man, who introduced himself as the head researcher on the project, throws a glare at Serena. “The Resonance Array Prototype, not amachine. And I’m sorry, the university doesn’t provide enough budget to hire bodyguards for every prototype we create. I guess you’ll just have to do your job now.”
Right. Time to de-escalate because if I’m not enjoying the theft case this early in the morning, I’d hate processing a murder scene. “Sir, my colleague, who just needs a cup or two of coffee, is just trying to understand how we can limit the suspect list.” I elbow Serena to warn her.
“Again, that’syourjob. We’ve given you all the information we have,” he says, somehow still looking down at me when I tower over him by half a foot.
“Of course. We just have a couple more questions that’ll help us do our jobs better.” I continue before he can throw in another snark. “When did you realize theprototypewas missing?”
“Around two hours ago. My assistant, Rajesh—” he points at a young, meek-looking kid standing behind the researchers. “—came in early to conduct some final tests while I was taking a class across campus. He found it missing. We immediately reported it to the dean, and he called you. Then you took your sweet time to show up, and now anyone could be using our work to make money.”
I groan internally, but the smile on my face doesn’t waver. Just strap me into a suit and put me behind a hotel reception. But I do have a sudden urge to introduce this guy to Elliot, so he could mentally destroy him piece by piece. Snark is not hot on everyone. I power through, ignoring Serena’s glare as she attempts to incinerate the man. “So, this work is expensive? You said it deters pests and wildlife from attacking crops?”
He takes a long, impatient breath like I’m being impossible. “I said it produces high-frequency sounds that incapacitate wildlife and pests in a small radius without harming humans. That’s the most non-invasive way of dealing with this problem yet. Of course it’s expensive.”
“Right. Were you worried someone might try to steal it to use it or sell it?”
He contemplates, his gaze distant. “It must be that old bat, Dr. Montgomery." He nods and looks at me. “I told him about how far we’ve come with this research at a bar last week. He was so jealous. Must have stolen the thing to take credit.”
I note down the name. “I’ll interrogate him. Who else knew about your research?”
“Very few people. It was confidential because we were still understanding how the Resonance Array Prototype would affect humans, especially if they have very sharp hearing, like one of my former students who had to be taken off the project because he fainted when we tested the prototype the first time.”
That piques my interest. People with very sharp hearing? Is he saying what I think he’s saying? “Can I have the name of this former student?”
“Lucas Hall,” he rattles off, and I note it down with otherinformation about the security system and the names of other people who had access to the lab.
We leave to check the entry log for yesterday at the building's main door, which housed the department’s labs.
“That guy is an ass,” Serena announces the moment we're out of earshot of that ass and his band of nerds.
“That’s kind of mandatory for geniuses. Haven’t you seenYoung Sheldon?”
“If they were really geniuses, they’d have put a tracker on their expensiveprototype. Assholes.”
“Hey, look at the bright side. We’re almost done here, and in ten minutes, we get to have coffee.” I steer her by her shoulders to the security guard at the door, who sends us the record of everyone who used their cards to enter the building yesterday.
Then we stroll to the closest coffee shop filled with students in hoodies and jeans. “They all look so much younger than we ever did at their age,” I reflect as we make our way back to our car, each of us holding a coffee cup and a sandwich.
Serena glares at me. “Speak for yourself. I can still pass for a college student.” She takes a big bite of her sandwich in spite.
“Mmm-hmm.” I let her live in her cute little delusional world. The place has to be great for mental peace. “Let’s go to the precinct and see if any of our suspects checked into the building yesterday. Maybe this’ll turn out to be an easy open-and-shut case.”
***
It wasn’t an easy open-and-shut case. After poring over the names of a few hundred people who checked into the building yesterday and cross-referencing their projects to make sure they had a reason to be there, I wanted to learn how to fix security cameras myself so I can fix the one in the lab.
I groan. “I don’t want to live in a world where security cameras don’t workrightwhen someone commits a crime.”
Serena looks up from her desk across from mine. “But it’s yourjobto find the criminal, not anyone’s responsibility to prevent crime,” she rattles in an annoying low-pitched voice.
“Okay, yeah, that guy was an ass.”
Serena points at me. “Thank you. And you can thank me for something too. Guess who is the roommate of the guy who entered the building yesterday even though he had no open projects?”
