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But…
Madison did not do mornings very well. At all.
Pete had called her an hour ago, panicking like he did. No one had shown up to replace him that morning. Madison was the next one on the schedule. So there she was.
But A.J. Callum should have been there somewhere. A.J. was scheduled to be there. It wasn’t like her to not be where she was supposed to. “Did you call her?”
“I tried her cell. She didn’t answer.” Pete had a worried look in his blue eyes that had Madison’s stomach tensing. “This isn’t like her at all.”
“It isn’t.” Madison pulled out her own cell. She dialed A.J. The woman had a seventeen-month-old daughter, and was halfway through her second pregnancy now. Her husband was Major Crimes. Sean could get called out at any time. Something could have happened, and A.J. hadn’t been able to call in yet.
Madison dialed. Nothing.
Madison started toward the locker room. A.J. was a creature of habit. If she was there, her things would be in her locker. Madison knew the combination.
Less than two minutes later, her tension doubled.
A.J.’s bag was right there in her locker. But A.J. was nowhere to be found. Madison tried not to panic. But since the shooting, when things weren’t what she expected…
She and Pete headed toward the main lab doors. She was going to go check Major Crimes. See if A.J. was up there with her husband, maybe delivering results, or something, and just didn’t have her phone.
Haldyn was coming in, with Detective Dodson to guard her for the second day in a row. Relief went through her seeing the other two women—Lila was armed. And if something was going on, Madison didn’t want to deal with it herself. She just didn’t.
Madison met Haldyn at the door.
“Madison, what’s wrong?”
“A.J. was supposed to be in the lab. Her bag is in her locker. But we can’t find her. Anywhere. I’ve checked the log.” There was an electronic system that tagged every tech’s movements if they were physically carrying evidence. It was in response to all of the stolen evidence that had happened in the last several years. “I tracked her to the vault. Almost eighty-seven minutes ago. We’re on our way there now.”
Haldyn gave her bag to Pete. “Put this on my desk. Let’s go.”
Haldyn was fast when she wanted to be. But Detective Dodson cut in front of her. “Dr. Harris, you and Madison need to stay behind me.”
“Where is the guard?” Haldyn asked. Hearing the fear in her tone had Madison’s ratcheting up exponentially.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen anyone but Pete here since I clocked in. He called me in. He thought A.J. had called off.”
Detective Dodson stepped in front of Haldyn and Madison. “Pete, head upstairs. Acardi is up there, along with Foster and Fields. You go straight to them and send two of them down to me.”
Haldyn swiped her card and entered her executive passcode. It overrode any locks that might have been changed from the inside. And signaled that a supervisor had entered. Madison stayed on her footsteps.
The evidence vault consisted of a dozen rooms that could only be accessed with security cards. Each room was filled with rows and rows of shelf units. Every box in the vault was tagged with an RFID tracker. Any evidence that could be was also tagged. Behind those dozen rooms were two other doors—one led to the drug evidence room, and another to the weapons evidence room. No one but Haldyn, and a handful of departmental supervisors with Major Crimes and Daniel and the chief were allowed into those rooms. Even to secure that evidence required two techs at a time—and required a supervisor’s signature. Plus, Haldyn had to sign off at the end of the week on every entry/exit into those two rooms.
A.J. wouldn’t have been in the back rooms.
“She was tagged entering evidence in B7, over ninety minutes ago.”
Haldyn pointed to the second door.
She reached it first.
“After me, Haldyn,” Detective Dodson said.
Haldyn nodded, then slipped her key card into the door.
Detective Dodson pushed it open. And stepped inside.
Madison stepped up behind her.
