Chapter 10: The Real Target
Sarah read the message twice.
Then a third time.
The notebook was never the target. You were.
She handed the phone to Agent Reeves without saying a word.
He examined the screen.
"No caller ID."
Lisa Chen was already pulling a portable forensic kit from her case.
"Don't delete it."
"I'm not going to."
Lisa connected Sarah's phone to a secure analysis device.
A progress bar crept slowly across the screen.
After a minute, she frowned.
"Interesting."
Reeves looked over.
"What is it?"
"The sender routed the message through six different countries."
"Professional?"
"Very."
She tapped another window.
"But they made one mistake."
Reeves raised an eyebrow.
"They sent it only twenty-three seconds after we found the cufflink."
The implication settled over everyone.
Whoever was behind this wasn't watching the news.
They were watching them.
Reeves turned toward the campus security director.
"Lock down the building."
"No one enters."
"No one leaves without identification."
Pierce nodded immediately and spoke into his radio.
Within moments, security officers spread throughout the science complex.
Sarah stood near the laboratory window, trying to think.
"It doesn't make sense."
Dr. Hendricks joined her.
"What doesn't?"
"If someone wanted to hurt me..."
She looked around the lab.
"...today was the perfect opportunity."
"The graduation ceremony."
"They could've approached me."
"They could've followed me."
"So why steal the notebook first?"
Patricia considered the question carefully.
"Maybe..."
"They wanted you frightened."
Sarah slowly shook her head.
"No."
"They wanted me to notice."
Across campus, Marcus climbed into his own car.
He couldn't stop thinking about the mud on his father's SUV.
Instead of driving home...
He drove back to the university.
The parking lot behind the neuroscience building was still blocked by police tape.
He parked a block away and walked the rest of the distance.
As he approached, an officer stopped him.
"Sorry, sir."
"Crime scene."
Marcus held up his driver's license.
"My sister works here."
The officer hesitated.
Before he could answer, Agent Reeves noticed Marcus from across the parking lot.
"Let him through."
Marcus walked over.
"I need to ask something."
Reeves nodded.
"Go ahead."
"My father's SUV..."
He swallowed.
"...was here tonight."
Reeves didn't answer immediately.
"What makes you think that?"
"There was red campus soil on the tires."
"And he lied."
"He told us he drove straight home."
Reeves exchanged a glance with Lisa.
This changed things.
An hour later...
Richard Thompson sat alone in his home office.
The room was dark except for the desk lamp.
His phone rang.
He didn't recognize the number.
After several rings, he answered.
"Hello?"
A distorted voice replied.
"You've made a mess."
Richard stiffened.
"Who is this?"
"You've forgotten our agreement."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The voice chuckled.
"You've always been a terrible liar."
Richard's hand tightened around the phone.
"What do you want?"
"Recover the notebook."
"It doesn't matter anymore."
"It matters to us."
A long silence followed.
Then Richard whispered,
"I never touched her lab."
The voice became cold.
"Then someone else did."
The line went dead.
Richard remained frozen.
Someone else?
Back at the laboratory, Lisa finished examining Sarah's phone.
"I found something."
Everyone gathered around.
"The anonymous text wasn't the first contact."
Sarah frowned.
"What?"
Lisa pointed to a log buried deep inside the phone's system.
"Three months ago..."
"Your phone received a hidden configuration request."
"I never saw it."
"You weren't supposed to."
"It failed."
Sarah looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
Lisa answered carefully.
"Someone attempted to install surveillance software."
Sarah's face paled.
"Was it successful?"
Lisa shook her head.
"No."
"Your phone automatically rejected it."
"Why?"
Lisa smiled faintly.
"Because you never updated your operating system."
Sarah blinked.
"So..."
"...being too busy to install updates accidentally protected me?"
Lisa laughed.
"Sometimes procrastination saves lives."
Even Reeves smiled.
It was the first light moment in hours.
Meanwhile, forensic technicians finished processing the silver cufflink.
Brian Keller approached Reeves carrying the report.
"No fingerprints."
"Of course."
"But..."
He handed over another evidence bag.
"We found fibers caught beneath the clasp."
"What kind?"
"Dark blue wool."
Lisa looked toward Sarah.
Her graduation gown.
Sarah immediately shook her head.
"I've never seen that cufflink."
Reeves wasn't convinced it belonged to Richard anymore.
If someone had brushed against Sarah during graduation...
The cufflink could've been planted.
Dr. Hendricks suddenly remembered something.
"Sarah."
She looked up.
"Your notebook."
"Did anyone besides you know where you kept it?"
Sarah thought carefully.
"No."
Then she stopped.
"Actually..."
"There was one person."
Everyone looked at her.
"The cleaning supervisor."
"He once asked me why I never locked that drawer."
"What was his name?"
Sarah answered immediately.
"Thomas Ellis."
Campus security director Pierce frowned.
"Thomas?"
"He retired."
"When?"
Pierce checked his tablet.
"Two weeks ago."
Lisa looked up.
"Do you have his address?"
Pierce's expression slowly changed.
"That's strange."
"What?"
"There isn't one."
"He listed a post office box."
Reeves' instincts sharpened.
"And his employment records?"
Pierce scrolled through the file.
"Hired three years ago."
"No previous employment history."
"No emergency contact."
"No listed family."
He looked at Reeves.
"I've never noticed that before."
Reeves took a slow breath.
"A man appears out of nowhere."
"Works exactly where Sarah conducts research."
"Retires two weeks before her graduation."
"And disappears."
No one needed to say it aloud.
Thomas Ellis had just become the most important person in the investigation.
As midnight approached, Sarah and Dr. Hendricks finally left the laboratory under federal escort.
Two unmarked vehicles followed them through the quiet streets.
Sarah looked out the window.
"So much changed today."
Dr. Hendricks smiled gently.
"No."
"What changed?"
"The truth finally caught up."
Sarah leaned her head against the glass.
She wanted to believe that.
But deep inside...
She couldn't shake the feeling that today wasn't the end of anything.
It was only the beginning.
At that exact moment, Lisa Chen's computer finished enhancing one of the security camera recordings from outside the laboratory.
The image sharpened.
A man in a maintenance uniform walked calmly into the building.
His face had been hidden beneath a cap.
Now it became visible.
Lisa's eyes widened.
She immediately called Reeves.
"You need to come back."
"What happened?"
"It wasn't Thomas Ellis."
Reeves frowned.
"Then who?"
Lisa stared at the frozen frame.
She had seen the man before.
Earlier that very day.
Standing proudly beside Sarah's family during the graduation ceremony.
It was...
May you like
Richard Thompson.
End of Chapter 10
