Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,23

between the places, all with gates that could be locked up at nighttime and weeds that seemed to be heavier all along the fence line.

The problem with that was it was pretty easy to hide a cut or to bend a portion of the fence to gain access—even how somebody dug down beneath the fence in order to get under it. Something that he’d have to take note of. He pulled out his phone and deliberately took several photos of the fence line and then of the building itself, as he walked around to the front so he could go in through the reception area. He checked out the parking lot that he passed on his way. The loading docks were in the back, with a parking lot on this side, a parking lot on the far side, and then in the front was the visitor parking.

Finished with his external inspection, Johan walked back inside the front reception area. The woman at the front desk looked up at him in surprise and asked, “May I help you, sir?”

He lifted his pass, smiled, and walked right past her through the security doors behind her.

She called out, “Sorry, can I—” and, with that, he was gone.

He wasn’t sure if she would call somebody or come after him herself. But, when she didn’t come through the connecting door, he figured that was his answer. Security around here sucks.

At the first set of stairs, he headed back down to his office. Once he got there, he noted that Galen still hadn’t returned. He checked his watch, frowned, and sent him a text. You coming back anytime soon?

On my way. Just passed you outside.

Yeah. Been looking at the loading bays, the various basement levels, and access to all. Found three doors locked with no security, all full of boxes of products. One guy was in the third, which was full of drugs.

Interesting. That was all Galen said.

Yeah. Uploading a bunch of material for Levi to look at.

Johan sat down at his laptop, went to his email, and quickly checked if anybody had been through his system. It was clean. With that, he sent Levi a zip folder with all the pictures he’d taken with his phone and the notes he’d taken, including everything about the random inventory in the three locked rooms and a description of the stranger. He included a note.

Levi, zip file with pics attached. Not sure what any of this is or if it’s important, but wonder what the deal is with three locked doors without the typical keypad security or cameras. Odd collection stored. One guy hiding in the shadows in the third one that held drugs.

Then he hit Send. By the time he got through the other emails that had downloaded into his mailbox, he looked up to see Galen walking in with two coffees. Johan smiled. “You know what? I keep thinking there’s got to be a place around pretty close where we can grab good coffee, and then I forget when I’m out.”

“Got you covered,” Galen said and set one down on the desk in front of him. “So tell me what you found.”

Johan hopped up, walked over to close the door, then explained what he’d seen, occasionally referencing his photos. They brought up a blueprint to the building on his laptop. He looked at it and frowned. “Hmm. Not seeing the rooms I was in today.”

“Added afterward, you think?”

“That would make sense,” he said, “especially if you really don’t want people to know.”

“So then, were they done on purpose for this stealing event, or was somebody just taking advantage of empty space? I mean, they probably figured that because those rooms weren’t on the blueprint or that people didn’t know about them, they were safe enough for their purposes?”

“Lots of questions. Again, just no answers.”

“What was the loading bay like?” Galen asked.

“The usual stuff. You know? ‘Get out of my turf. This is my space. We’re fine without you. Take your investigation somewhere else.’ All the usual crap.”

Galen laughed. “Turf wars are normal. If you were to go to the front receptionist and say you were doing an investigation, she’d be the same way.”

“Yeah. I just flashed my card at her and kept going and thought she was gonna chase me down as it was,” Johan said cheerfully.

Then he showed Galen the photos he had taken from the inside the locked rooms.

“Very interesting,” Galen said. “But why? A lot of material is here. Seems like wasted money,