Stone opened the small panel and looked inside. “Caleb, remember the vent in the ductwork near where Jonathan’s body was found. The grille was bent?”
“Yes, I remember you pointing that out. What about it?”
“If someone placed a camera attached to a long cable inside the ductwork in the book vault and bent the grille open, the camera would have a clean shot of the vault area where Jonathan was that morning. And if someone was down here with a receiver attached by that cable to the camera, I believe he could see everything going on up there, including Jonathan’s movements.”
“Damn,” Reuben said. “And they used the ductwork—”
“Because that was the only way to run the cable. A wireless signal might not go through all the concrete and other obstructions,” Stone said. “I think if we examine the ductwork inside the vault behind that bent grille, we’ll note some evidence of how the camera was hung. The person waits down here, sees Jonathan on the camera and hits the manual switch, having disconnected the warning horn beforehand, and in ten seconds the gas is fully dispersed and Jonathan dies.”
“But whoever did it would certainly have gone to retrieve the camera, so why didn’t he bend the grille back then?” Reuben asked.
“He might have tried, but once you start bending those grilles, it’s hard to get them back perfectly.” He looked at Caleb. “Are you all right?”
Caleb was ashen-faced. “If what you’re saying is true, then someone working at the library killed Jonathan. No one else could’ve entered the book vault unaccompanied.”
“What the hell’s that?” Reuben hissed.
Alarmed, Stone looked at the door. “Someone’s coming. Quick, behind here.”
They scrambled behind the HVAC system, Reuben having to half carry the terrified Caleb. They had barely gotten out of sight before the double doors opened. Four men came in, all wearing blue jumpsuits. Right behind them a forklift sailed into the room, driven by a fifth man. Another, obviously the boss, held a clipboard as the others gathered around him.
“Okay, we’re taking this one, this one and that one,” he said, pointing at three cylinders, including two attached to the piping. “And replacing them with the three on the forklift,” he added.
The men went to work carefully unhooking the enormous pressurized cylinders from the pipes while Stone and the others watched from their hiding place.
Reuben glanced at Stone, who shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Caleb was shaking so badly that Stone grabbed one of his arms and Reuben the other to try and steady him.
A half hour later the three cylinders were lifted up by the forklift and strapped on. Next the three cylinders the men had brought in were attached to the piping system. Then the forklift moved out of the room, with the other men trailing. As soon as the doors closed behind the men, Stone went over to the newly installed cylinders and read the labels. “FM-200. Caleb, you said the library was scrapping the halon system. They must be replacing it with this type of fire suppressant.”
“I suppose,” Caleb replied.
“Okay, we’ve got to follow them,” Stone said.
Caleb whimpered, “Please, Oliver, no.”
“Caleb, we have to.”
“I . . . don’t . . . want to
Stone shook him hard. “Get ahold of yourself, Caleb. Right now!”
Caleb looked at Stone in stunned amazement and then sputtered, “I don’t appreciate you
Stone ignored this. “Which way is the loading dock?”
Caleb told him, and as they were heading out, Stone’s cell phone buzzed. It was Milton. Stone told him what had happened. “We’re going to follow the cylinders,” he said. “We’ll keep you posted.”
Milton clicked off the phone and looked up at Annabelle. They were in her hotel room. He relayed what Stone had told him.
“That could be dangerous,” she said. “They don’t really know what they’re getting into.”
“But what can we do?”
“We’re their backup, remember?”
She ran to the closet, pulled out a bag and slipped a small box out of it.
Milton immediately looked embarrassed because it was a tampon box.
She noted his discomfort. “Don’t get all shy on me, Milton. Women always hide things they don’t want found in their tampon box.” She opened the box, took something out and slipped it in her pocket. “They said the name of the company was Fire Control. I’m assuming they’re going to the company’s storage facility. Can you find it?”
“Your hotel has WiFi, so I can look it up on the Net,” Milton said, his fingers already flying over the keyboard.
“Good. Is there a novelty store around here somewhere?” she added.
He thought for a moment. “Yeah. It’s got like magic stuff too. And it’s open late.”
“Perfect.”
CHAPTER 37
THE NOVA FOLLOWED THE FIRE Control, Inc., truck at a discreet distance. Caleb was driving, Stone next to
