Crime Scene 21.1 The Second Shake Job
Thursday. 6:45pm. The Warehouse.

A successful infiltration starts with reconnaissance. So, before the actual job on Friday, Ellie wanted to go take a look on Thursday. Just a bit of surveillance. And maybe get a head start on the investigation in the meantime. Normally, she would also be doing research about the target online. But Sam had taken care of that part. Ellie read through her report thoroughly. She checked every box to prepare for this infiltration, even things she normally didn’t bother with. She didn’t want to be rusty on the job. This way, she wouldn’t be a liability when Rose was there.

The warehouse was nothing special. Three stories high with a small section of office floors in one corner. The loading docks were in the front to the south and west side. It was at the edge of the city, so it backed up against the highway and into the desert. It was gray, blocky concrete with a tin roof. It was medium sized for a warehouse with loading docks to the back and front.  Ellie could tell from the outside that there were no heat vents or extra insulation, meaning there was no refrigeration inside.

What was of greater interest was the names Ellie discovered on the publicly filed ownership and lease paperwork. Or rather the lack of names. Based on the phone numbers making calls to the location, the Baileys or someone connected to the Baileys almost certainly had a hand in it, but they had no proof of it. There was also someone else unfamiliar in the mix. There was a possibility that more concrete evidence could be found on site and that was what Ellie was after. Something that tied Shake to a real person. Preferably Dara Bailey.

There was limited information on what else passed through the warehouse. But Sam had suspicions it wasn’t just overpriced meal replacement drinks and Ellie of course agreed. Ellie hoped the Baileys were doing something blatantly illegal. It would be the perfect revenge to bring them down exactly the way they tried to take down her family.

Ellie was conveniently dressed in the dull grey sweatshirt and work jeans typical of the warehouse workers. It wasn’t anything special and easily purchased online. She just had to get through the gate.

The gates were guarded, of course. Intake was on Mondays, and shipments were on Friday, as Sam had reported. So, what were they doing the rest of the days?

To keep alert, she chewed on a stick of caffeinated, cinnamon-flavored gum. It was a pack she’d stolen from Geoff back when they did recon for Ombra nightly. He’d never seemed to notice it was missing, preoccupied as he was with other snacks he had on hand. She’d never had much use for it since, but it was all she had in her car.

Ellie kept her mind occupied by running through her plans and their contingencies as she loitered just out of sight of the employee gate entrance. The timing had to be just right. She just hoped she didn’t freeze before she got the chance to sneak in. The days were still mild this late in November but once the sun went down, the cold set in quickly. True, it was nowhere near as cold as it would be in Illinois, but back home, she could wear several layers without drawing attention. Right now, she needed her uniform to be seen. She had to look like she did this every day and had just walked over from a warm car. She didn’t even wear gloves. Instead, she wore a thin solution over her fingers that filled out and smoothed her fingerprints. It was a cross between glue and a pore filler. Unfortunately, it did little to keep her fingers warm. She tried not to fiddle with it too much. It came off easily with some water or a good scrub.

Geoff interrupted her vigil with a message asking where the mixing stand and paper towel rolls were. What was he making? He was supposed to be studying. She texted back with the location of the cleaning supplies but that she didn’t have a mixing stand. And then followed it with another warning him not to use the magnetic stirrer in place of a real mixing stand. Could never be too careful.

And then, her moment came. People were starting to make their exits from the building. Shift change. As the first wave made their way to the gate, she slowly shuffled her way into view. Looking bored and just a little reluctant to face another day at the warehouse. She reached the gate, still appearing distracted right as the workers at the other side got to the door, which they opened without thinking.

“That stack nearly crushed my hand! I need a spotter next time.”

“Yeah, right, they’re not hiring more people right now. We got who we got.”

“Back of the warehouse is closed off again. Can you believe I had to go all the way around with the forklift?”

“Is that why you were taking so long? We thought you were stuck on the shitter.”

She waited politely as they exited, even waving with the spirit of comradery before slipping in past them. She tried not to look too eager to start a night of backbreaking manual labor. But no one called her out.

It was that simple. She wasn’t too rusty. The rest would be easier. Now, to get into the offices.

The key to walking into places you where you are not supposed to be is to act like you are supposed to be there. Not just that, but that you’re not just loitering. You have to walk like you’re on the way to where you’re supposed to go. No gawking. It helped to have a floor plan or a general gist of the layout. However, this was a scouting mission to ease the way on the real mission with Rose on Thursday. She simply picked a direction as she walked into the wide-open loading dock and kept walking, eyes forward. If she could find the offices, great, if not, she would know where to not look next time. Most paramount was to not get caught. If they suspected someone had snuck in, they would increase security, making the return trip harder.

The warehouse was almost empty by warehouse standards. It was cavernous, like most warehouses. Most of the merchandise was focused in the center, leaving a wide space around the edges.  Yet the warehouse looked more cluttered than it should have. Piles of empty cardboard boxes were thrown together in haphazard stacks beside the shelves of full packing crates. Even from a distance, Ellie felt she could knock over whole stacks with a gentle shove. Apparently, they didn’t have concerns about safety inspections. Maybe she could call one on them anonymously, just to mess with the Baileys. Assuming they weren’t just paying off the inspectors.

The overhead lights did little to actually illuminate the space, each giant cone only lit a five-foot space below it. And the rafters above the lights remained in shadow. Ellie noticed skylights along the middle of the ceiling. During the day they probably diffused enough ambient light to see by, but they were useless at night. She couldn’t help but imagine the thief Torrens would have a field day with those if he had a hankering for dangerously addictive smoothies.

Between the giant pallets of crates and the low lighting, it was impossible to see to the other end of the warehouse. But Ellie knew from experience that the office space was not likely to be in the center anyway. She took a sharp left and stuck to the walls. The offices would be somewhere on the side. She kept her steps even and her gaze forward. She mimicked the tired posture of the workers she had seen leaving.

The flash of red in the corner of her eye nearly made her ruin the whole act. Her head involuntarily jerked to the right. Her brain automatically sought to confirm she had been mistaken. She wasn’t. Standing frozen in the aisle, just within range of the light, was Rose. For her part, Rose looked equally shocked. Ellie remembered herself and turned the jerking motion into a violent fake sneeze into the crook of her right elbow. The motion hid her slipping an earbud into her left ear. Rose turned away, going in the opposite direction. Ellie kept walking. She put her hands in her pockets, secretly connecting her phone to an audio channel. After a few moments, she heard it connect.

“…Elizabeth.” Her voice was laced with so much venom, Ellie almost hung up right there. But, she forged on. Now that she knew Rose was there, they needed to communicate.

“Sam, I need you to—”

She was interrupted by Sam’s most exasperated sigh. “I’m connecting you to Rose.”