Art, The Story Ch. 01

Deep in thought, I almost missed two groups of people approaching the equipment building from both sides. I had to find a place to hide and quick. It was dark in the building except for light shining in through the windows in the overhead doors. The walls had open shelves and a few closed cabinets, but they'd be obvious places to check. In one corner there were several wooden skids loaded with bags of what smelled like fertilizer. Climbing up on top of the bags, I found a gap between two of the skids that was just large enough for me to wiggle into. I pulled my bag of clothes in after me and tugged one of the top bags over a little bit to narrow the gap. I was afraid to close it all the way because the stack might topple in on me. The color of my shirt wasn't a bad match, so I pulled the shirt collar up over my head. I was as hidden as I was going to get.

When the building lights came on I was feeling totally exposed, although I didn't think they could see me without getting on top of the bags. Maybe the fertilizer smell will make them hesitate to do that. I heard them opening and closing the cabinets and I was thankful that hadn't been my choice. Someone said, "There's no sign anyone has been in here. How many have the combination to this place?"

"There's probably quite a few, but the doors are covered by security cameras so there's little chance of someone stealing equipment."

"Do you know this Arthur Jones we're looking for?"

"Sure, almost everyone knows Art. You guys are looking for the wrong guy if you think he'd hurt Professor Jameson."

"We're just trying to see if someone like Jones could have left the grounds."

There was a radio chirp and someone said, "Sully, this is Bingham, we've completed the sweep of the grounds along the fence. We found some tracks in the wet grass that looks like a small animal, but nothing like it was made by an adult male. There's a locked building with grounds keeping equipment and we've just cleared it."

"OK, we'll check the vehicles left in the parking lot and then wrap it up. '10-4'."

"Detective Sullivan says he's releasing all the plant's employees. I want all of you Research Center security people to spread out with us through the parking lot so you can respond if someone finds their cars tampered with. Keep your eyes open. Jones may be hiding in or around the cars."

There was some more chatter and the lights went off and then the door closed. I returned to my perch on the tractor seat. Many of the cars must have left while I was hiding, including the hearse like vehicle. That's good; I didn't need to see them bring out the Professor's body.