He stroked the long blond hairs on his chin.
“Can you look up Aaron Treadman’s data? He was let go a few months back.”
“If he was let go, then he would have had to turn in his card.”
“Just look.”
“Even if he didn’t, all of his privileges would have been revoked. They told me this during orient—”
“Just look,” Vaughn repeated sharply.
“Alright, alright.”
The guard was seated in front of a computer. Judging by the size of him, he wasn’t used to moving much. But at least he typed quickly. A spreadsheet appeared, the cursor jumped around.
“That’s weird.”
“What?”
“I see Aaron’s name here. His card wasn’t deactivated.”
Darnell grumbled something disparaging.
“When was it last used?”
“A couple of days ago. But if he was fired, it shouldn’t—”
“Pull up the video footage from the last time his card was used.”
The guard muttered under his breath, something about thisnotbeing protocol.
Darnell was fuming, heat coming off him in waves. A manifestation of his anger.
The spreadsheet vanished, replaced by a black screen. The guard clicked furiously. Logged out, logged back in.
“What’s happening?” Darnell demanded.
“The footage... it’s all black.”
“Where was the card scanned?” Vaughn asked.
“The cage behind Sherrerd Hall.”
Of course it was.
“What do you mean all black?” Vaughn said, shaking his head. He was starting to heat up, just like Darnell. “Was the camera painted over?”
He pictured their unsub standing on their toes, maybe on a portable step stool, showering the camera with black spray paint. More than likely wearing a mask but before they blacked out the lens, they might be able to get an idea of the unsub’s height and build.
No such luck.
“No, I have footage from today, but not the day the card was used... someone deleted the video. Wait—that’s not right, either. It wasn’t deleted. Someone replaced it with an all black video. Why would they do that?”
Vaughn thought he knew why.
A missing file might be noticed. Perhaps security did a daily or weekly audit to make sure all cameras were up and running properly. If they noticed a missing file, they might be inclined to investigate. Realize that the tanks were gone, too. Sound the alarm.
“How difficult would it be to do something like that? Get into the system?” Vaughn asked. “Delete or replace files?”
