“But Frank Mitchell told me you had trouble finding workers?”
“And he probably told you why. We have about a thousand employees but we always need more. And we’ll definitely need more with the new addition coming online. Problem is hundreds of the applicants couldn’t pass a drug test. Hell, it’s like that all over the country. Kids, parents, grandparents, all hooked on crap.” He paused. “There you have it, the world of the FCs.”
“Now let’s go to the world where Frank Mitchell lost his life,” said Decker.
Ross led Decker down a set of metal steps to the main floor and then down a long concourse to where the addition was being constructed. He had to unlock a door and they stepped into a cavernous area that largely resembled the space that they had just left. Only there were no people here and no products on the towering shelves.
“Normally there would be lots of construction workers here, but the police have closed that down while they investigate. I hope they let them back in soon. I’ve already gotten calls from management. They’re not happy about the shutdown. We’re on a tight time frame to get this piece done.”
“Cops don’t care about construction schedules.”
“I know that. I was on the phone with management when you showed up. I mean, I’m sure they’re sad that Frank died. Nobody deserved what happened to him, but it’s still a business.”
“Right,” said Decker, looking around. “So where did it happen?”
“Over here.”
Ross led him to an area on one side of the addition.
There was a column of robotic arms located here, although the tall shelves they would be lifting boxes onto were not yet in place. It was only concrete walls.
And on one section of wall Decker could see bloodstains and other human matter. Around the robotic arm at this space was yellow police tape.
“We’re not supposed to go inside the tape,” said Ross. “I guess you already know that,” he added hastily.
“Have the police gone over the area?”
“They were in yesterday and early this morning. Photos and diagrams and measuring stuff and dusting surfaces.”
“Pretty routine for something like this,” noted Decker. “Has anyone checked that robotic arm to see what happened?”
“The company that installed it is sending a team in to go over it with a fine-toothed comb. We have to get this figured out. I mean, this cannot happen again. No way. When Frank was found the thing still had a hold of him. He was smashed up against that wall. The arm can move in slow motions, or it can do rapid movements with enough force to rip your head off.”
“Why was Frank here last night?”
“Part of his job was to oversee things in the addition. He would normally make rounds through here right before he left for the day. The construction workers get in at seven and knock off around five. I wasn’t here when it happened, but I got a call telling me about it.”
“Who called?”
“Marjorie Linton. She’s in operations. She and Frank worked together. She knew that he had gone to check some things out. When he didn’t return, she tried his cell phone but he didn’t answer. Then she went to look for him. And found his body.”
“And then she called you?”
“Yes. She was hysterical. I was the one who called the police after I got her to calm down so I could understand what she was saying.”
Decker looked at the murderous robotic arm. “So he would have been here inspecting the robot?”
“Sure, he could have been. Frank knew how the different robots functioned.”
“So the thing was operational?”
“Well, it was powered up but it wasn’t on. We had tested it, or the company that manufactured it had, on site about a week ago. Everything was good to go.”
“So how did it kill him?”
“That’s why the robotic company is sending a team in. We won’t know until they do their diagnostic.”
“But will they be able to tell? To give a definitive answer?”
Ross shrugged. “I don’t have the technical expertise to answer that. I hope so, because, like I said, we have to make sure this never happens again.”
Decker looked at the bloody wall. “Well, once is one time too many.”
They walked past a large table on their way back to the fulfillment center. Decker noted the unrolled sheaf of papers on it.
“What’s that?” he asked.
Ross walked over to the table. “Construction drawings for the addition. It’s pretty much the existing one just halved in size. Why?”
Decker stared down at the drawings, the mental frames flowing past in his head, until he arrived at one, and then moved on to a second one. When he put the two together in his head, it literally clicked inside his brain.
At least his memory seemed to be working okay now.
“No reason,” he said.
Chapter 36
“Decker, what are you doing?”
Decker had pulled out the construction drawings he’d seen earlier in the Mitchells’ front closet.
He had sat down at the kitchen table and was unrolling them as Jamison had come into the room.
He flattened out the drawings and looked up at her. “These are construction plans for the Maxus FC.”
Jamison sat down across from him. “So what? And why did you stay behind?”
“I wanted to see where Frank died.”
Jamison looked dumbstruck. “Why? It was an accident.”
Decker looked over her shoulder at the doorway to the kitchen.
“Where are Amber and Zoe?”
“Amber’s still out and Zoe’s taking a nap. I don’t think she slept much last night. She could barely keep her eyes open on the drive back here.”
Decker refocused on the drawings, leafing through the pages until he got to the one he wanted.
“Hang on a sec.”
He jumped up and ran out of the room.
“De—” Jamison began and then stopped, shaking her head. She glanced over the plans but had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for.
A minute later Decker returned with a folded piece of paper in his hand. He opened it on the table, smoothing it out.
“What is that?” Jamison asked as Decker rummaged in a couple of kitchen drawers until he found a pencil. He didn’t answer but sat down at the table and started making lines on the paper.
As Jamison studied him, she said, “That was the piece of graph paper we found in Toby Babbot’s trailer.”
“Yep.”
“What are you doing with the pencil?”
“Filling in the indentations on the paper. Remember, whatever he drew was done on the piece of graph paper above this one in the pad. But his marks were carried onto the paper because of the pressure he was applying.”
“Okay, I get that. Probably many a marriage has ended because a cheating spouse didn’t know that the bottom page carries impressions made on the top page. But what does that have to do with anything?”
Again, Decker didn’t answer. He kept filling in the lines and then sat back when he was finished.
Jamison looked down at the paper.
“Compare it to this page of the construction drawings for the FC,” said Decker.
Jamison looked between the two documents and her jaw dropped. “They’re the same, just on a smaller scale.” She looked at Decker. “Why would Toby Babbot have been recreating the construction drawings for the Maxus Fulfillment Center?”
“I don’t know. But I want to find out.” Decker picked up the piece of graph paper. “When I saw the plans for the addition, it jogged my memory of the plans I’d seen in the closet here.” He held up the paper. “And then it struck me that the marks on this looked very close to the marks on the drawings in that closet.”