'Hello? Mrs Summers? Tanis called, her voice echoing hollowly around the empty building, as she swung her flashlight a full 360 degrees. She turned to Steve 'Doesn't look like she's here. Doesn't look like anyone's here'. She yawned 'It's pretty late, whaddaya wanna do now?'
He sighed, checking his watch 'She said she'd meet us here, may be she's just running late'.
'The lights are off' Tanis pointed out reasonably 'I don't think anyone is coming back here tonight'.
Steve switched on his own light, allowing the beam to play over his partner's face 'I say we give her ten minutes' he said firmly.
Tanis rolled her eyes and he cocked an eyebrow at her 'And seeing as we're here' he continued lightly 'I guess we may as well take a look around her office'.
'Steve, we don't have a warrant' she reminded him 'And what if the Chief calls, asks us what we're doing?'
He grinned at her 'I won't tell if you don't, but just to make sure …' he pulled his cell out of his jacket pocket and switched it off 'now we don't have to worry about anyone calling, do we?' With that he set off along the corridor towards the elevator. As he walked, his footsteps echoed eerily in the unnatural silence and his flashlight cast strange shadows that danced across the walls.
Hesitating for just a moment Tanis sighed. Then she switched off her own phone and followed. 'We'd better not get caught' she grumbled 'The Chief is just waiting for an excuse to bust my ass'.
The elevator cables creaked and groaned, and Tanis shivered. What was it about night that made everything so different? The enveloping cloak of darkness that turned the world to monochrome had a quality all its own. Living, breathing, transforming - even familiar terrain became alien, unpredictable. Surreptitiously she edged closer to Steve. 'I've got a really bad feeling about this' she muttered darkly to herself.
As they emerged from the elevator into the half-light of the second floor landing she stifled a scream, reflexively grabbing Steve's arm. He whipped around, gun at the ready, and found himself aiming at a life size replica of an Egyptian mummy, resplendent in blue and gold head dress.
'Good going Archer' he applauded dryly 'I almost put a bullet through Tutankarmen here'.
'Sorry', she apologised stiffly, releasing her hold 'This place gives me the creeps'.
'Why Archer' Steve grinned in amusement 'I never thought you'd be afraid of the dark'.
'So sue me' she retorted, feeling her cheeks growing hot. Spinning on her heel, desperate to regain her composure, she pushed past him 'This way, let's go'.
Pausing for a moment Steve smiled to himself. He'd never seen her flustered before – it was kinda cute. Still grinning he loped after her down the hall.
When he reached her, she was standing by a door, her face illuminated by the beam from her flashlight. 'This is it' she said dryly 'so now what?'
Calmly Steve reached in his back pocket for his wallet and extracted his credit card. The metallic strip gleamed in the moonlight, as he held it up for her inspection.
'I can't believe we're doing this' she groaned, looking around nervously.
'Hey come on' Steve looked at her 'You're the one who convinced me that Natasha Summers has something to hide – I'm just following your woman's intuition'. He grinned at her and she pulled a face.
'Ten minutes Sloan and then I'm leaving' she stated firmly.
Easing the credit card down the side of the door jamb, Steve heard a satisfying click. Tentatively he turned the handle and pushed, wincing slightly as the door creaked, the sound strangely magnified in the still of the night.
'After you' he grinned, waving her through.
'Gee thanks' she said dryly.
Stepping into the office, Tanis swung her flashlight in an arc, its beam penetrating the inky blackness within. She let out a low whistle. There were books and papers everywhere, they covered the desk and spilled over onto the large armchair in the corner of the room. Manuscripts, filled with what she assumed could only be hieroglyphics, littered the floor, with seemingly no order or logic. The shelves heaved with the weight of strange artefacts, and there were framed photos of Natasha Summers, in various exotic locations, decorating the walls.
'Boy' Tanis said, directing her light at Steve 'When it comes to doing paper work, Natasha Summers is as lousy as you are'.
'Funny' he retorted with a mock smile, turning to replace a tiny replica of the sphinx on the shelf from which he'd taken it.
'So' Tanis sighed wearily 'Any suggestions as to what we're looking for or where we start?'
Steve shrugged his shoulders 'You take the desk and I'll start with the filing cabinet'.
'Okay' she replied letting out a breath 'But the words needle and haystack come to mind'.
***
'Mark, what are we doing here?' Amanda asked tiredly, slowly rotating her neck in a vain attempt to ease the kinks. 'Don't you think it's a little late for a trip to the library?'
'It's open til 1am' he replied happily, easing the sleek black BMW into a space in the library's empty parking lot 'late night opening on Thursdays, I checked before we left the house.'
She sighed 'That's not exactly what I meant'.
He hadn't heard her; he was already out of the car and heading towards the library building. Amanda shook her head, as she unclipped her safety belt. She'd seen this before. He was on to something, or at least he thought he was. If only it could wait til morning, they were both exhausted, but she knew that once Mark had an idea in his head nothing would dissuade him.
She caught up with him in the foyer. Glasses pushed to the end of his nose, he was contemplating a large notice board which displayed a list of the library holdings and a plan of the building.
'Now what did he say?' Mark muttered to himself, stroking his moustache thoughtfully, his eyes keenly scanning the board.
'What did who say?' Amanda asked in confusion.
'Nate Johnson' Mark replied absently, still concentrating on the board.
Amanda frowned 'Nate Johnson? Who's Nate Johnson?'
'That's it!' he said excitedly, jabbing his index finger at the board 'Third floor' He turned, looking around for the elevator, but Amanda grabbed his arm.
'Okay, hold it right there' she said firmly 'You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on'. She crossed her arms determinedly 'You drag me all the way out here in the middle of the night with no explanation, when we should both be in our beds. And now you're telling me we have to go to the third floor, because someone called Nate Johnson says so'. She paused for breath 'Mark what's going on?'
Mark sighed 'Nate Johnson is an archaeology grad student at UCLM' he explained. 'He told me that David Summers did some research into rituals, only he couldn't remember what type'.
'And we're here because?' she prompted
'Nate told me that a copy of David's research may be stored here at the library'. He sighed 'It's a long shot but …'
'But you think the killer is into rituals and maybe David's research will give us a clue?' Amanda finished.
Mark shrugged and smiled 'I'll understand if you wanna go home'
Amanda grinned at him 'Are you kidding, lets go!' Pushing past him she strode purposefully to the elevators and pushed the button. Shaking his head with a smile, Mark followed.
***
Thirty minutes later and Tanis was ready to admit defeat. Sitting in the hard backed chair at Natasha's desk, she closed the book she'd been scanning, doused her flashlight and wearily dropped her head into her hands. 'I read any more about the pharaohs and the ancient civilization and I swear I'm gonna be walking like an Egyptian' she groaned.
Steve had ditched the books from the armchair and was now slumped in it. He held his flashlight in one hand, his long legs were stretched out in front of him, and a large, hard backed copy was spread across his knees. He grinned sympathetically 'Not exactly my choice in bedtime reading either.'
'Anything?' she inquired hopefully.
'Nope' he sighed ruefully 'Just David Summer's Masters Thesis'. He yawned widely 'Something about ancient Egyptian revenge rituals or something' he said rolling his eyes. 'It's gripping stuff' he added dryly 'but to be honest I'm finding it hard to get beyond page one'.
Tossing the thesis aside, he looked at her tiredly 'You found anything; cause I'm ready to call it a night'.
'Nothing' she replied, stretching languorously 'and you know what; I think I hear my bed calling me'.
Steve grinned 'I hear ya, but how about I treat you to a slice of pizza on the way home? I think I owe you that much.'
She smiled 'You sure do, but d'you mind if I take a rain check?' She yawned 'It's a little late for pizza'.
'Hey!' Steve interjected with a look of mock hurt 'It's never too late for pizza'.
Before she could answer they were both startled by a sudden noise outside.
'Natasha?' Tanis whispered, suddenly alert.
'Or the Porter doing his rounds' Steve said in a hushed undertone 'You stay here and keep quiet and I'll go check it out.'
'No way' she replied 'You can't go out there without backup'.
'Tanis' he replied reasonably 'I'm just gonna check it out. If I see anything suspicious I'll come straight back, Okay?'
She hesitated, then 'Okay' she nodded tersely 'You've got ten minutes and then I'm coming after you.' She didn't like it, but on this case at least, he was the boss.
***
'Here it is!' Mark beamed triumphantly, tugging at the thick volume wedged tightly on the shelf before him.
'Shush!' Amanda silenced him 'Keep your voice down, you're disturbing the other customers'
'Opps!' Mark pressed a finger to his lips 'Sorry' he mouthed at the other inhabitants of floor 3.
None of them paid him any attention. The homeless guy, who'd come in to enjoy the warmth, continued to doze at the table across from Mark and Amanda. No doubt he would sleep peacefully until roused by the night porter and returned to the city streets. The three young people seated to their left continued their low voiced discussion – grad students, probably working on a term paper, whilst simultaneously attempting to put the world to rights. To their right, a man in his thirties poured studiously over the law chronicles, rubbing his eyes tiredly, desperate to find a loop-hole that would win him his latest case.
Hefting the hard backed thesis to a nearby table, Mark sat down and switched on the desk lamp. The lamp glowed softly orange, simultaneously illuminating his face and the book before him. He took off his glasses and polished them on his sweater before replacing them. Opening the thesis, he shrugged off his jacket and settled himself more comfortably – it could be a long night.
Placing her handbag on the floor at his feet, Amanda retrieved her purse. 'Mark, I'm gonna go get us some coffee' she said 'there's a machine right down the hall and I think we're gonna need it'.
Mark nodded absently, his mind already focused on the text before him. She sighed – it was gonna be a long night. Yawning, she walked quietly to the main door of floor 3, and passing through it, turned left and crossed to the drinks dispenser she'd noticed earlier. No doubt the coffee would be grim, but at least it would afford them the vital caffeine that might allow them to stay awake long enough to read the thesis. She yawned again, although both she and Mark were used to perusing medical research, she knew that an archaeology thesis would not be light reading. Academic texts were inevitably interspersed with jargon, almost another language designed to exclude the uninitiated. It was possible they wouldn't be able to make head nor tail of it.
She looked at the machine in front of her and fished some loose change from her purse. Black coffee oughta do the trick she thought, keying in the appropriate code. When the machine failed to respond, she gave it a swift kick and was rewarded with a thin stream of dark liquid that slowly filled the styro-foam cup. 'Works every time' she thought with a grin. 'One down and one to go'.
She was slower on her way back. Juggling two steaming cups and her purse; the door to floor three proved somewhat challenging. With her purse jammed under her arm and one cup in her hand, she was forced to grip the other with her teeth in order to have a hand free to open the door.
Successfully reaching the desk where Mark sat, still absorbed in the book, she placed a coffee before him 'You have no idea what I had to go through to get that' she joked.
'Mark?' she prompted upon receiving no response 'Mark, did you hear me? I said ...'
He looked up and she gasped 'What is it?' she asked in alarm.
***
Silently Steve slipped out of the room and edged cautiously along the corridor, gun at the ready. He didn't dare switch on his flashlight, but the moon shone in through the glass windows, illuminating everything with an eerie glow. He shivered, he didn't scare easily and unlike Jesse his imagination rarely ran away with him, but Tanis was right it was pretty creepy.
He took a deep breath 'Come on Sloan' he urged himself 'Get a grip'. The gun in his hand felt good, its weight reassuring him that should he need to, he could defend himself. So far there was nothing, but that didn't mean there wasn't someone skulking in the shadows – Natasha, the porter or someone else entirely.
Reaching the second floor elevator, he jumped out of his skin before recognising the mummy that had startled Tanis earlier. He shook his head smiling ruefully. Turning away he grinned, thinking how lucky it was that she hadn't witnessed his little indiscretion – he never would have lived it down, especially after the hard time he'd given her earlier. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't see the mummy move until it was far too late. He cried out as his head exploded with pain and then there was nothing but darkness.