Chapter 2 — Maya pointing to the dusty metal locker — Then David demands to know why the costumes are locked away
Maya lowered her hand from the security camera.
She walked slowly across the concrete floor toward the equipment rack.
Grant remained standing by the clothing rack, watching the glowing console screen reflect off David’s glasses.
“Look at the timestamp on that file,” David said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
He tapped the edge of the monitor with his index finger.
A string of numbers glowed in the corner of the display.
02:14:08 AM.
“That’s from twenty minutes before we even walked into the building,” David said.
Grant stepped closer, squinting at the glowing interface.
“Who had access to the console at that hour?” Grant asked.
“Only the department heads,” David answered without looking up.
He used the mouse to click on a secondary folder in the system directory.
A new window popped open on the screen, displaying a list of recent user logins.
The last recorded entry showed a username that none of them expected to see.
Maya stared at the name highlighted in blue on the screen.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Maya said.
“They weren’t even scheduled to be on property tonight,” David muttered.
He clicked on the properties tab of the locked metal locker’s digital sensor log.
Another file path expanded beneath the username.
A physical key override had been logged in the system database just one hour prior to their conversation.
David leaned back from the console and stared at the old padlock hanging from the rusted latch of the metal locker across the room.
“Wait a second,” Grant said, stepping toward the locker.
He reached out and touched the shackle of the padlock dangling loosely in the hasp.
“The digital log says the locking mechanism was disengaged remotely,” Grant said, turning back to face David and Maya.
“But the physical keyhole is completely jammed with hardened epoxy.”