Chapter 6 - Smoke in the Records Room
The smoke hit the corridor before the flames did.
Soldiers poured out of offices while fire crews rushed in from the opposite entrance. The records wing was sealed within minutes, but not before black smoke stained the ceiling above the archive room.
Lena stood outside in the cold with Tessa, watching water run beneath the door.
“Tell me that’s a coincidence,” Tessa said.
Captain Reed emerged twenty minutes later, coughing into her sleeve.
“The originals are damaged,” she said. “Some may be recoverable.”
Lena’s face remained still.
Reed added, “Your copies are safe.”
“So somebody burned a room for paper I already copied.”
“Maybe.”
Lena looked toward the roof, where smoke drifted into the morning sky.
“Then whoever did it doesn’t know what I kept.”
Fire investigators quickly found the source: a trash can beside a file shelf. Accelerant traces made an electrical accident unlikely.
Security footage should have identified who entered the wing.
Should have.
The camera system had lost signal for eleven minutes.
But one camera had not failed.
A loading dock camera outside the building showed a contractor van arriving at 1016 and leaving at 1028.
The van belonged to Vaughn Defense Systems.
“Lock their access to post.”
“Already requested.”
“Requested?”
Reed’s eyes sharpened. “Their access is tied to an active support contract. Garrison legal is reviewing the suspension.”
Hale slammed his palm onto the desk.
“A records room is on fire and somebody is reviewing paperwork?”
Lena, standing near the door, spoke quietly.
“That’s how this started, sir.”
Paperwork delayed.
Paperwork lost.
By 1600, CID had identified the driver of the contractor van: Martin Vale, a maintenance supervisor employed by Raymond Vaughn.
Vale claimed he had been delivering diagnostic equipment.
There was no delivery scheduled.
There was also no equipment in the van when investigators stopped him.
In the center console was a printed photograph.
Lena entering the Inspector General office.
Molina carried the evidence bag into Hale’s office.
Nobody spoke.
A timestamp.
And reflected in the glass door behind her was the person who had taken it.
Lena leaned closer.
Her voice dropped.
“That’s not Vale.”
May you like
She pointed at the reflection.
“That’s Staff Sergeant Colter.”
