Read Online Secrets by Jane A. Adams - Free Book Online

the stacks of boxes and shelves had looked earlier that day. He tugged at each of the locks, checking as he always did. Prentiss paced slowly behind.
    The first row and there was nothing. The second row, again, all seemed to be as he expected. Bill turned back down the row of central cages and pulled the padlock on the first enclosure. He paused. Looked inside again. Had something been moved?
    Not certain, he moved along the row, but something nagged at him that he couldn’t quite place and once he’d finished checking that block, he headed back and looked again.
    â€˜I’m not sure what it is,’ he said. ‘But I’m sure something’s been shifted about in there.’
    â€˜OK.’ Prentiss beckoned to the waiting CSI. ‘It’s as good a place to start as any.’
    Bill nodded and slowly checked the final block of cages, but the more he thought about it, the more he was certain only that particular one had been disturbed. He came back round to where the two CSI had now cut the lock and opened the door.
    â€˜It belongs to an old woman,’ he said. ‘I remember her. She came in about a year, eighteen months ago, picked up an old chair and then came back maybe six months ago and fetched a box. Just an old tin thing. I remember her because she got a taxi all the way from town and had it wait for her while she came in. It was before the day shift came on, that was what struck me, both times. She came early. I remember the fight she had with the driver of the black cab because she wanted to take the chair back in the cab and he said he didn’t carry furniture.’ Bill laughed. ‘She won that one. I got the impression she won most of her arguments, come to think of it.’
    Prentiss nodded. ‘Can you find her address?’
    â€˜I can’t, it’ll be on the computer at head office. The people who use these lockers, they have a key and a pass card. I scan the card and it comes up with their number, then I show them where the locker is. Actually, it’s not usually me. Usually the day shift. Most people don’t arrive in the middle of the night. The customer then lets themselves into the cage and they’re responsible for locking up after themselves.
    â€˜And what sort of people use the storage facility?’ Prentiss asked.
    â€˜Oh, all sorts. Mostly they leave stuff here for a month or so. The company lets them out in a three-month block, but usually it’s, like, people who are moving house and there’s a gap of some sort between the moves. The lock ups are quite small, so if you’ve got to store your furniture, it can mean hiring two or three of them, and for a three-month block even if you don’t need it. It’s not the cheapest around, but a lot of people like the fact there’s always security around and that if they need to they can come any time. We get a lot of early starts on moving days, vans turning up here just before I go off shift and that, not so many at three in the morning.’
    â€˜And that’s when the old lady arrived?’
    Bill nodded. ‘You remember that sort of thing. Not that I’d have forgotten her anyway. She was a right … character.’
    They stood and watched as the CSI moved carefully inside. Everyone seemed a bit jumpy, Bill thought, but then, in their place and after what he’d seen in that van, he’d have been a bit jumpy. Thoughts of bombs and booby traps jostled in his head and he took an involuntary step or two back, then told himself not to be a daft sod. If something blew in here, he’d need to be a lot further away than he could reasonably get. The desire to leave was suddenly overwhelming. Bill took a deep breath.
    â€˜You said you wanted me to look at the control room?’
    Prentiss nodded. ‘See anything?’ he asked the two CSI.
    â€˜Looks like a box might have been moved. The dust’s been disturbed back here.’
    Prentiss