Fifteen

CHAPTER 15

SANTIAGO

Twelve hours earlier…

We sat on the porch of the facility pondering on the most situation, some part of me didn't want to believe that the facility had been under attack but at the moment I had to force myself to see thing's that way, as it seemed whoever it was had been in door most of the time.

The thought of that alone made me cold all over, turning to Martha, I realised that the cold must had been a general thing as she was shivering too… Perhaps, we were both thinking about the same thing about how we almost got mobbed or attacked while at our jobs.

We sipped latte's with neither of us saying a word to ourselves, not until the detective walked up to us.

The detective whipped out a little note book. With a pen poised over the notebook, he fixed his gaze on Martha and I as though we made the whole story up and broke the glass ourselves.

"Just for the record, you are Doctor Santiago and she is Martha. Correct?"

"That is correct," I replied. "Martha here is my colleague." I answered as he took note of what I just said in his notebook.

"Right. I know you did this over the phone, but I just want you to go over what happened once more in case I missed any details. Can you do that, Martha?"

Martha's grip on my arm tightened painfully. I winced. She shot me an apologetic look. The detective noticed her distress and smiled kindly at her.

"It's okay," he said in a soothing voice. "You are safe now. The incident is over so you can now relax." His voice came to us as soothing and some part of my mind really wanted to believe what he had just said.

Yet, I couldn't let go of some brute facts in my mind, it was a though my mind was seeking acceptance about the whole situation.

Regardless, I listened to what Martha had to say as she was speaking already.

Martha nodded. "Okay. Umm, doctor Santiago and I were working in the laboratory over there-" She pointed to the half open door of the lab. "When he heard a loud smash as though someone broke a glass."

As she spoke the trauma of the whole situation was evident in her voice and it shook, I rubbed her arms as she stalled with her word's unable to speak.

I continued, "After a moment's hesitation, we dashed outside and looked around. It was obvious that there had been a break in. The door to the store room where we keep important things relating to our work and research was half open. Someone had been there and had rifled the place. There were things strewn all over the floor. I think the person was it for a while before we heard the sound that betrayed their presence."

When I ended the long speech I sighed to myself, like it or not thinking about it did alot of things to my brain that I found unwanted at that moment.

The detective nodded several times during our talk while he wrote in his notebook.

He asked another question and this time it was about why we came back to work and who arrived first, I was careful with my statement. One part of me was careful about how much I was giving out as we had vital informations too.

When I stopped talking, he raised his head. "And you saw no one, doc?"

"No one."

"Not even the shadow of someone fleeing the scene?"

"Not at all." I replied wondering how many more questions we had to answer.

"What about you, Martha?" He turned to her and Pointed with his pen. "Did you see anything that looked suspicious?"

She shook her head as she spoke —

"I didn't see anyone. All I did was just to call the police after Santiago left to check things out."

The detective tapped his pen on his upper lip. "I see. How secure is this place?"

"I beg your pardon?" I couldn't understand why he was asking.

"I just need to know so we can discuss on the next course of action, it would hopefully help in our investigation, so how safe is the facility? " He asked again.

I shrugged looking around. "It's secured enough," I replied. "That is why I am surprised that we had no warning of any sort until the break in happened."

"Okay. I will check out the security."

A cop headed towards us, his flinty eyes darting here, there and everywhere. He stood by the detective. The detective raised his brow, silently asking him a question.

"We went over this facility from top to bottom. I'm sorry to say that we couldn't find anything that would help us in our investigation. That doesn't mean we won't eventually find something," he quickly added when he saw my worried expression. "Want to hear my opinion? I think this break in is an inside job."

"My thoughts exactly," chipped in the detective.

"Someone who knows the layout of the place did this," the cop went on. "They knew how to get in and out without being detected. Who else but an insider would know that?"

"I will need a list of the people who work here," said the detective to me. "The list should also include a list of all those who have been sacked or who have resigned in the past year."

"You can get the list from my secretary," I replied. "If you will excuse me, I think I'll head on to my office now. It's been a long day."

"Of course, doc. I'll see you and Martha if I have any other questions." With that said, the detective beckoned to the cop and they walked away.

In my office, Martha sank into a chair and closed her eyes. I looked at her concernedly.

"Are you okay?" I asked .

She opened her eyes, sighed. "I guess. Who do you think could have done this? Do you think the cop is right? Was it an inside job?"

I couldn't help thinking that as well, in that building were important informations that shouldn't be out in the public, before the police ahd arrived I had done my own check and had made sure the documents were safe.

I thought for a moment, then nodded. "I am inclined to think so. It was a smooth job... too smooth. We may know whoever this person or persons are."

Martha shivered and hugged herself. I sat beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. There's no need to be scared, okay? I was just saying that. I'm not sure. Even if it's someone we know, they are after stuff, not our lives. The police will find them. You're safe."

She took my hand away from my shoulder and gripped it tightly. "Are you sure?"

I was about to give her some more words of reassurance when she suddenly leaned in close and pressed her lips on mine. Her fingers fisted herself in my hair as she sought to deepen the kiss. Recovering from my surprise, I quickly pulled away, whipped out with my hand and wiped my lips with it.

"What did you did that for, Martha?" I demanded testily. "Get a grip on yourself. We are colleagues, nothing more. Don't do that again or else you'll ruin our working relationship."

She pouted, tried again to shift close to me. I hastily got up and took a seat on the other side of my desk.

"What about the moment we had six months ago, Santiago?" Martha asked. "Didn't that mean anything to you?"

"It been a while I had you, and all I think about is that night." She added quickly.

I sighed. "Don't add to the stress of today, okay? Whatever happened between us all those months ago-"

"Don't make it sound like it was such a long time. I remember everything as though it was yesterday. I know you do too. Please don't even try to deny it."

"It was a mistake and there is no chance of it ever happening again. The sooner you realize that, the happier we will be."

She frowned and had that stubborn look about her. I knew she was getting set to argue the point. Just then, there was a perfunctory knock on the door.

"Come in," I called, glad at the distraction.

The truth was at that moment I would take anything that would put stop to whatever was about to happen.

Frankly speaking, it was hard dealing with her.

Already, we both made the mistake of drinking too much and fucking right there on the facility floor but that was six months ago, and though the memories were still there I couldn't wait to get rid of everybit of it.

The detective walked in with a spring in his step. From the look on his face, I knew he had news. I sat up. Martha did too. The detective looked from Martha to me.

"We just found tracks," he said. "They look like they belong to the culprit."