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“Bout time your ass showed up,” Simon said. “Grab a box and join the fun.”
Ant raised his eyebrows. “This the shit Top was talking about?”
“It’s a fucking mess, Ant. None of this is in any sort of order.”
“Whoever put this shit away just chucked it in the boxes. Or they dropped them on the floor and just swept the paperwork in.” Audrey wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “This is ridiculous. I’ve never seen such piss poor storage.”
Antony rolled up his sleeves and sat down. “Okay. How are we handling this?”
Simon shoved a box at him. “Piles. Sorting by case number. Anything doesn’t have one—”
“What do you mean, ‘anything doesn’t have one?’”
“Yeah. There’s unmarked shit in here.”
“Fuck me. All right.” He pulled the lid off of the box and set it aside. “We’ll combine cases later?”
“That’s the plan.”
Eight hours later, Randall came out of his office and found the trio hunched over their respective piles. He’d heard the occasional question, and the more frequent curse during the afternoon, but otherwise, they’d worked in complete silence. Audrey was pacing back and forth between four different piles of papers, flipping through the stack she had in her hands, and placing individual sheets here and there. All three of them had ink smudges all over their fingers and faces. Simon sported a near perfect set of fingers across one side of his face from all the grime on the pages. Five evidence boxes sat empty in a far corner.
“You three look like shit,” he said.
“Gee. Thanks, Top,” Audrey said. “Who the hell packed this crap up?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Before my time, Linser. What’s on the boxes?”
“Nothing. That’s the problem.”
He frowned. “I need to make some calls. Find out who was in charge of this shit. I cannot imagine how this would have ever passed any sort of inspection.”
“It wouldn’t have. No way.” Antony watched as Randall looked at the outsides of the boxes and then wandered around the tables. He picked up a few papers and glanced through them.
“What’s this pile over here?” he asked, gesturing at the largest stack in the middle of the table.
“That’s the unmarked pile.”
“Unmarked.” Randall grimaced. “Really.”
Simon pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. “Mmhmm.”
“Pack it in for the day. Go home. We’ll start fresh in the morning. I’ll join you.”
***
Antony jumped in his car and drove out toward Huachuca Canyon Road. He pulled into the trailhead parking area and looked around. Aside from the breeze and a distant bird call or two, the afternoon was quiet. A small building sat well off the road, and he walked around back, watching out for any wildlife. He gauged the distance between the parking area and the corner of the building and placed the small package to where it barely peeked out. A tiny silver balloon bobbled happily in the light breeze.
Satisfied, he walked back to his car and looked. Not enough to be seen by a casual glance. He smiled and pulled out his phone. Lesley’d be off work soon. Perfect.
He typed out a message and drove back to his apartment to wait.
As Lesley logged off her computer, Stina peeked around the corner of her cubby. “So, how’s things with the future lover?”
Lesley blushed. “He’s fine.”
“Date tomorrow, yeah? Nervous?”
“Not really. I thought I would be, but no.” She stood and grabbed her wallet. “Ready?”
