The Day Before Read Online Free Page A

past the atrium. Dr. Vergeet came in at five this morning to this mess. There were no phone calls, nothing from security, and all the electronics in the building are fried. She isn’t happy.”
    Sam nodded and started taking notes. “I wouldn’t be happy either. Cameras in all the halls and standard perimeter security?”
    â€œThe latest and greatest, before the incident. Sunday night, one of the security guards logged out early, claimed he was sick. His name is Mordicai Robbins.”
    â€œWhere’s he now?”
    â€œUnknown. He’s a weekend-­only guy. Records from HR say he’s single. The morning security guard says Robbins likes to take off at random—­fishing trips, that sort of thing. We’re trying to reach him, but he’s got his phone turned off.
    â€œThe logs for security that night show both Mr. Robbins and”—­he consulted his notes—­“Melody Chimes worked Sunday night. We have the phone record of Mr. Robbins calling in to the main office asking permission to leave. Miss Chimes is on the recording, too, confirming that she would contact the on-­call backup officer, Leandra Kinsley. We sent an officer out to talk to Kinsley, who says she went to bed at eleven Sunday night. She reported to her day job in Edmond at eight the next morning, and didn’t hear a thing about the break-­in until the police called at three.”
    â€œChimes?” Sam looked at Altin, expecting a laugh. “Melody Chimes? Really?”
    â€œIt’s legal.”
    â€œSome parents are cruel,” she said with a shake of her head. “Where is Miss Chimes?”
    Altin frowned. “Also missing.”
    â€œMiss Chimes called a friend and broke into the lab? Is that the theory?”
    â€œThat’s a theory.”
    â€œI hear a ‘but’ coming.”
    Altin nodded as he said, “Miss Chimes is a nineteen-­year-­old college student working on an art and marketing degree. She hired on as a part-­time night-­shift employee with the Wannervan Security Firm last fall to earn some money on the side. Good family, no financial problems, she’s passed every drug test. There’s nothing in her profile that’s a red flag for a destructive crime like this.”
    Sam nodded. “So work it the other way: what’s missing and who would want it?”
    â€œNothing obvious is missing,” Altin said with a tired sigh. “We did a check of the high-­end, easy-­to-­move stuff first. Computers, monitors, the break-­room television, that’s all here. All the data is here, all the lab reports are here. All we have is the fried electronics and the broken windows. Dr. Vergeet called as soon as she pulled up and has her teams going over the computers to see if anything was uploaded or downloaded. So far, there isn’t a keystroke out of place.” He spread his hands in defeat. “It looks like careless vandalism, maybe a crime of opportunity although I want to find Robbins and Chimes before I write it all off. Also, there’s this.” Altin handed her a set of forensic gloves. “Check this door out.”
    Sam ducked under the police tape and inspected the broken hinges. “That took a lot of force.”
    â€œThese are steel fire doors. Each one weighs over a hundred pounds, and the hinges are supposed to support over four hundred pounds each.”
    â€œYou did your research.”
    â€œI got bored waiting for you to show up,” Altin said. “Dr. Vergeet is ready to file a vandalism claim with the insurance and be done with it, and the rest of the mess fits. But this doesn’t. You’d need a battering ram to bend the door like this, and to get it at this angle, I think you’d have to be standing inside the guarded portion of the lab. I mean, I need to run some computer scenarios to prove it, but to me it looks like the door was pushed out, not