Page 19 of Girl, Empty
‘That’s pretty offensive,’ Ripley said.‘What if it’s your time of the month?Or you’re pregnant?’
‘Not many of those in the building.Forensic accounting is a man’s world, from what I gather.’
‘What next?’asked Ella.
Riggs swiped a card at the next panel.‘Fingerprint scanner.’
The cubicle opened up to a second elevator which took them to the top floor, which then opened into another small compartment.
'And here's the last line of defense.Retinal scanner,' Riggs said as he swiped his card again.'Usually, you'd have to stare at the red dot, and it scans your retinal pattern.Can't fake it, can't force someone to use it if they're unconscious.The eye has to be focused.Rankin logged in here at 00:18.'
Ripley said, ‘This is a ridiculous level of security.It’s not like the nuclear codes are in here.’
‘There was a major theft a few years ago.Cost this place hundreds of millions, apparently, so they went full belt and braces.Anyway, Rankin’s office is up here.’
Riggs led them to the last office on the left.He scanned the panel outside the door with his keycard and it opened up, which seemed anticlimactic after the fortress they'd just navigated.
Ella stepped into Michael Rankin’s final moments.The office was an effort in luxury for sure, with a giant mahogany desk, meeting table and floor-to-ceiling windows with a bird’s eye view over Indianapolis.The body was gone but its ghost remained in the blood stains over near the window.
‘Gloves on, ladies,’ Riggs said.‘Coroner has been, but I’m still waiting on the forensics team.’
‘The place hasn’t been swept?I thought life moved fast in the city?’
‘It does, but traffic moves slow.Likewise, I still haven’t had chance to inform the family.’
‘Are you kidding?’Ripley’s voice had raised a few decibels.‘It’s been over twelve hours since he died.His wife and daughter don’t know?’
Riggs had the decency to look sheepish.‘I’m sorry.I thought you feds might have special instructions for that, you know?Or maybe you’d want to deliver the news yourself so you could do that profiling stuff.Rule them out as suspects.’
Ella gloved up and began mapping out the room.From what she could see, their theories had been right.The place might be big, but you couldn’t hide in here for very long.Likewise, the windows were intact and un-openable.A closer look at the blood spatter confirmed that Michael Rankin had been stabbed and killed where he stood.She dropped to her knees and began inspecting the floor like there might be a trap door to Narnia here.No such luck.
‘Any vents in here?’she asked.
‘Sealed system.The vents are the size of mail slots.You’d be lucky to get a hamster through.’
‘Maintenance shafts, access panels?’
On the other side of the room, Ripley was checking the panels in the walls.‘When was this place built?’
‘2007,’ said Riggs.
‘Post 9/11.Buildings like this don’t do hollow spaces.’
Ella joined Ripley in checking the wall paneling.It was solid, expensive, and disappointingly legitimate.She rapped her knuckles against different sections in the vain hope that there might be a secret passage.
‘Mia, I feel really stupid doing this.’
‘You’re telling me.We’re wasting our time.’
Ella stepped back and found herself beside Michael Rankin’s three-monitor setup.His cell phone was still on the desk beside his mouse.
'So let's get this straight.Someone managed to waltz past, what, six layers of security?A security guard, an elevator, a biometric scanner, another elevator, a retinal scanner and a security panel.Then stab the victim and leave without a trace?'
‘He had to take the same route back too.And then there’s the security cameras.Total blackout during that window.’
‘We need to see those recordings.’
‘They’re on a flash drive at the precinct.I’ll show you them when we get there.’
