The camera feeds all showed different places in the building as they were 5 seconds before the EMP blast.

  "Okay, I need you to make a list of everyone not visible on these feeds but that still work for this branch." Claire said to Julliette.

  "It will take me a bit." The security chief warned. "At least half an hour."

  "Perfect, I need a fucking break. There is a couch on the lobby with my name on it. Come get me when you're done."

  Without waiting for an answer, she left.

  The whole ordeal has lasted maybe an hour total, but the crushing weight of stress and responsibility made it feel like days. This is exactly why I dropped out. The consequences for failure where even greater than in school. Well, it's more like failure literally isn't an option.

  As she laid on the couch, she marvelled the contract had allowed her to take a break at all. She supposed "to the best of her ability" meant that her head still had to function. And for that, she needed to dose off.

  --

  "Miss Black. Miss Black!"

  Claire awoke suddenly to the sight of a large, living gargoyle in a security uniform looming above her.

  "Ah? Ouhgughh..." she replied eloquently.

  "I've made the list you requested." Julliette explained.

  Claire sat up from the couch with a groan.

  "Alright, show it here."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  There were only 6 names on that list, one of which was Charlie Howards, whom she'd already interrogated.

  "Okay, five suspects, that's manageable. Are there all here today?"

  "Yes. I should also mention that people are getting agitated from the long term detainment."

  "They can argue about it with Draxon, he's the one who gave a girl from the street ultimate authority. Alright, let's get back to the lab we took over."

  After a minute or two, one of the suspects, Amelia Pratchett, was seated in front of Claire. A plain brunette woman, she didn't have any distinguishing features.

  "Hello, miss Pratchett, I'm Claire Black, you know why we are both here. Don't lie to me, I can tell thanks to divination. Did you steal the prototype?"

  "No."

  "Did you help with the theft, for example by disabling the cameras?"

  "No."

  "Then were where you on Friday, three-fifty?"

  "I was on a smoke break, outside of the building. When I got back, the theft had already been discovered."

  "Do you know anything else, something weird happening around that time?"

  "I dont think so." Ding.

  "Well, that can't be true, because my lie detector just went off." Again with this. People just love to call my bluff, huh? Then again, I'd probably try just for the heck of it.

  "Well, I suppose something odd did happen a day earlier."

  "Go on, then."

  "I'm in charge of stocking components. Printer filament, solder, lubricant, salvaged parts from scrapped machinery. And I noticed the drawer for salvaged capacitors was gone."

  "Yes!"

  Pratchett looked at Claire with eyes wide from confusion.

  "Excuse me." Claire coughed nervously. "The capacitors were likely used to disable the cameras during the theft. Who else could have access to the storage you maintain?"

  "The whole third floor, frankly. We work on an honor system, people write down what they take when they take it, on a sticky note usually, and then I transcribe it to the ledgers. So the whole drawer going missing with no note stuck out to me. I was actually planning to talk to the rest of the team at the end of Friday work day, but then that whole mess happened."

  "Okay then, is that all?"

  "Yes, I think so."

  "Perfect, thank you, you may go."

  Another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

  Unfortunately, interrogating the other three people not present in the building at the time yielded no results. They didn't do it, didn't participate, and saw nothing useful.

  "Fuck. I guess we will have to just go back to interrogating everyone and see if anyone admits to being the thief." Claire said as the fourth "absentee" left the lab/office.