When the identification pad lit up and the door unlocked, Ellie stopped for a few seconds. “I take it red denotes things that have been rejected, yellow questionable and green means the city can use what’s in it.”
“How did you know that?” Noah scratched what little hair he had. “I didn’t have the chance to..” He paused when she pointed at the red box labeled ‘Stricken’. “Ah, it was more that you beat me to the punch.” Turning to leave, Noah looked at his watch. “I will be here a little late this evening, so let’s call it about 5:30?”
Glancing at the clock in the evidence room, Ellie noted that she had about two hours. “Assuming that I can make sense of the mess here, that should be sufficient. Thank you, Noah.” Ellie watched the man wave and walk away.
Opting to use the overhead lighting rather than just the dim red light, Ellie flicked the switch and waited a few seconds while the fluorescent lights blinked then bathed the room in their soft white light. A cursory glance over the boxes didn’t give Ellie any indication of what was in them and she knew that it was done on purpose to confuse the opposing side by burying important files in other things that mean virtually nothing.
-Discovery is the polite way of telling someone to fuck themselves.-
Ellie muttered to herself and picked a yellow box labeled ‘Misc reports’ and pulled the top free. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ellie was happy to see that the folders within the box were clearly labeled and even had full names rather than shorthand references. Thumbing through the files slow enough to make sure that she wasn’t overlooking anything important, Ellie reached the middle and stopped when she saw ‘Clorox’ written on a label.
-What the hell? That is bleach. I got it, this is clean. Wait, that is too easy, Tatum would have caught that easily.-
Going with her hunch rather than the skeptical thoughts, Ellie plucked the file from the box and began scanning the paperwork within. Minutes after she’d started her browsing, Ellie knew that there was no secret signal to her within the boxes. Designed to be as useless as possible to any other attorney, Ellie concluded that the layout was set much like searching the internet without a specific topic and getting lots of junk in the return.
-An exercise in futility. Don’t give the opposition anything.-
Deep within the letters of request from the state asking for various maps and city plans, Ellie found a set of black and white photocopies of what appeared to be the sewage and water lines that surrounded Phantasmagoria. Slipping the odd paperwork from the metal clip that held the documents, Ellie spread the grainy images out and lined them up to what she’d seen from pictures that Deputy Director Powell showed her.
-Wait a second. The trucks…-
Ellie quickly looked down in her leather satchel and double-checked herself to be certain.
-I’ll be damned. The trucks are right at access points to the water line. Angelie, what the heck were you all doing?-
Once she’d committed the images to memory, Ellie read further and found that the trucks were all standard tankers and held a little over six thousand gallons a piece. Combined with the short interview with Tatum, Ellie rubbed her chin while mulling over mild confusion.
-Water. Tatum said water. All they found was water. If I am right about twenty-four thousand gallons of water.-
Catching herself staring mindlessly at the few bullet points that she’d scribbled into her personal notebook, Ellie noted that hours had passed as she had tried to make sense of the various interviews and studies that revolved around the case. Leaning back in the chair and stretching her arms, Ellie sighed as she was no closer to the answers than she really started with. Looking down at her notes and seeing a few little pencil dots around where she’d been tapping, Ellie sighed again.
-Salt water. Why salt water? Where did they get it? The beach is roughly two hours away and it would have been noticeable to just have four trucks from Petersburg just grabbing up sea water.-
Sensing that her time was about up, Ellie began placing everything back under the big clip when she spotted something she’d not considered before. Before her the plans for Phantasmagoria were staring her back in the face.
-How the hell did I miss this?-
Without quite knowing why, Ellie quickly snapped a few pictures of the blueprints before she organized the myriad of paper back the way it was when she found it. Gathering all of her gear, Ellie left the secure room and made her way back to the front desk. “Noah, Thanks for letting me have time back there. If I wanted to come back tomorrow, how much time would I have?”
Looking up from his desk and over-top of his glasses, the bald man laughed. “No time at all, as I understand it.” He paused and put down his pen where he’d been writing. “The truck is scheduled to be here at about 6am, so I have to be here early to open.” He stood up and looked down the hallway, “You made sure the door was locked? Since I have to be here so early, I would really like to get the hell out of here and get something to eat.” Taking a small chance, Noah stared hopeful at Ellie. “Care to join me? I will pay of course.”
Overcome by a sudden sneeze before she could respond, Ellie frantically dug in her bag to find a tissue when she felt a handkerchief make its way into her hand. “Th-Thank you.” She stuttered and blushed a heavy red. Taking a minute to collect herself, Ellie smiled. “Oh boy, I didn’t expect that, I apologize.” Watching as Noah tucked the hanky back in his pocket, Ellie finally answered him. “Dinner sounds lovely. I haven’t had anything but scones and tea all day, so I could use something substantial.” She laughed and winked, “I am not a dainty eater, be prepared to pay for real food my friend.”
Chuckling to himself, Noah nodded with an obvious pleased look on his distinguished face. “I will keep that in mind.” Pulling a sheet of printer paper from a small tray, He scrawled out a small map and an address and explained what was on the page. “We are here, the police and municipal complex. If you are familiar with the Martin Luther King Bridge that connects Petersburg to Colonial Heights then this will be simple.”
“I am. I got turned around on the way here and ended up by some old train station.” Elle replied.
Circling the building Ellie had just referred to, Noah tapped the pen on the paper. “Even better. That is a restaurant. It's called ‘The Station’ of all things.” He slid the paper over to Ellie. “Not a very original name, I agree. However, it does have very good food.” He looked around and half frowned, “I have a few more things to close up here, I will meet you there in say twenty minutes?”
“It might take me that long to get there, so that’s fine.” Ellie looked over the handwritten map and committed the street names to memory. “Thank you, it will be good to have a little company other than my thoughts.”
Relieved that her day had come to an end, Ellie drove herself to the restaurant with the map without any fanfare. Noting that she had roughly another five or ten minutes before meeting Noah, Ellie took a couple seconds to type out a text to her boss indicating that she was trying to follow leads concerning the trucks and water used.
-That should do it, no need to mention Tatum.-
