Chapter 22: The Vault Was Empty Before They Arrived
Chapter 22: The Vault Was Empty Before They Arrived
The radio transmission ended.
No one in the hidden office moved.
The words echoed through every investigator's mind.
"Unauthorized access to the district evidence vault."
Dr. Evelyn Brooks reacted first.
"Prepare the vehicles."
"We're leaving immediately."
Within seconds, investigators packed laptops, sealed evidence drives, and locked every recovered document inside reinforced cases.
Jonathan Vale turned to Anna.
"You're staying here."
Anna looked at him.
"No."
His voice remained calm but firm.
"It's too dangerous now."
Anna shook her head.
"If whoever planned this used me as a distraction..."
"...then I need to understand why."
Jonathan studied her for a long moment.
He knew that expression.
Once Anna had made a decision, changing her mind was almost impossible.
Finally, he sighed.
"You stay beside me."
"Not one step away."
Anna smiled faintly.
"I promise."
Twenty-five minutes later...
A convoy of black SUVs entered the District Education Administration Complex.
Police vehicles already surrounded the building.
Yellow crime-scene tape blocked every entrance.
Reporters had somehow arrived before the investigators.
Live cameras pointed toward the front doors.
As Jonathan's vehicle stopped, officers immediately cleared a path.
Dr. Brooks hurried inside without answering a single question.
Anna followed closely beside her grandfather.
The evidence vault was located two floors underground.
Three electronic security doors.
Fingerprint access.
Retina scanners.
Twenty-four-hour surveillance.
On paper...
It was impossible to enter unnoticed.
Yet every door now stood wide open.
The heavy steel vault at the end of the hallway remained unlocked.
No signs of forced entry.
No broken locks.
No shattered cameras.
Everything appeared... perfectly normal.
Too normal.
The lead detective greeted Dr. Brooks.
"You're here."
"What happened?"
He slowly shook his head.
"We're still trying to understand."
Jonathan looked toward the vault.
"May we?"
The detective nodded.
"Be careful."
The forensic team hasn't finished processing it."
Inside...
Rows of metal shelves stretched across the room.
Hundreds of evidence boxes remained exactly where they should be.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Richard Carter frowned.
"So..."
"Nothing was stolen?"
The detective looked uneasy.
"That's what we thought."
He walked toward Shelf C.
Then Shelf F.
Then Shelf J.
Finally he stopped.
"Look closely."
Anna stepped forward.
Every evidence box had a barcode.
Every barcode matched the inventory system.
Everything looked complete.
Then she noticed something.
She gently touched one of the boxes.
It felt...
Too light.
The detective carefully opened it.
Empty.
Another box.
Empty.
Another.
Empty.
One after another...
Every evidence container held only blank archive folders.
Mrs. Foster whispered,
"Oh no..."
The detective nodded grimly.
"They didn't steal the shelves."
"They didn't steal the boxes."
"They removed every original document."
Silence filled the vault.
Dr. Brooks slowly turned toward the inventory terminal.
"When?"
The forensic technician answered.
"Approximately three weeks ago."
Everyone stared.
"Three weeks?"
The technician nodded.
"The barcodes were scanned."
"The boxes were resealed."
"The inventory database updated."
"No alarms were triggered."
Jonathan narrowed his eyes.
"So today's break-in..."
The detective finished his sentence.
"...was staged."
Anna slowly looked around the room.
"The evidence was already gone."
No one disagreed.
One investigator opened the digital access log.
Only three people had entered the vault during the previous month.
The first...
A senior archivist.
The second...
A maintenance engineer.
The third...
Dr. Evelyn Brooks herself.
She frowned.
"I've never entered this vault."
The technician enlarged the log.
"The system says you did."
Dr. Brooks stared at the timestamp.
Saturday.
8:17 p.m.
She remembered exactly where she had been.
"I was giving a keynote speech at the State Education Conference."
Jonathan looked toward the technician.
"So someone cloned her credentials."
"That's our current theory."
Anna remained silent.
She walked slowly toward one corner of the vault.
Everyone else focused on computers.
She focused on the room.
The floor.
The walls.
The ceiling.
Then she noticed something strange.
One of the security cameras was pointing...
Away from the shelves.
Toward the entrance.
She frowned.
"Dr. Brooks."
The superintendent walked over.
"What is it?"
Anna pointed upward.
"Why would a camera inside the vault watch people entering..."
"...instead of watching the evidence?"
The detective looked up.
His expression changed immediately.
"That's not the original position."
A forensic photographer quickly compared archived images.
The detective was right.
The camera had originally faced the shelves.
Someone had rotated it.
Months ago.
Jonathan quietly smiled.
"They weren't protecting evidence."
"They were protecting whoever entered."
Another investigator suddenly called out.
"I've recovered archived camera footage."
Everyone rushed toward his monitor.
The oldest available recording played.
The timestamp matched the night Dr. Brooks' credentials had supposedly been used.
The vault door slowly opened.
A single person entered.
The figure wore a black hood.
A face mask.
Gloves.
No identifying features.
The person walked confidently through the vault.
As if they already knew exactly where everything was stored.
Then...
The hooded figure suddenly stopped.
They looked directly toward the security camera.
Slowly...
Deliberately...
They raised one gloved hand.
Not to hide.
Not to wave.
But to hold up a small white card.
The investigator paused the video.
Everyone leaned closer.
Only three handwritten words appeared on the card.
"Too Late Again."
A deep silence settled over the underground vault.
Whoever had orchestrated this wasn't simply escaping.
They were leaving messages.
Taunting the investigators.
Staying one step ahead.
And for the first time...
Anna realized something that made her heart sink.
May you like
The mysterious enemy wasn't reacting to the investigation anymore.
They had been planning for it all along.
