Chapter 4 – Investigation
Soon the girls arrive at the Pembroke Society. The police have completed their preliminary investigation, so the place is quiet, and locked up for the night.
"I'd better call Jerry to find out what the police found!" says Sam.
"Jerry?"
"Yes, Sam."
"Do you have the preliminary police report?"
"Let me see.....Yes it was just filed! According to the report, the thief gained access through the patio door in the room next to the one holding the finalist projects. There were numerous fingerprints on the door – each a Pembroke Society member! Lars Ingstram, the Industrialist; Velma Priestly, the Scientist; Harold Spectum, the Bank President; oh.... and me, Gerald Lewis!"
Clover asks, "Ok, Jerry! When did you use the patio door?"
Jerry responds happily, "Well, Clover, I used it after we had placed the three projects in the special room. I went out to see if it posed a security threat. At the time I didn't think it did. The patio is right by the lake and the lake area is totally fenced in!"
Alex asks, "Jerry, does the Pembroke Society have a video security system?"
"Alas, no, Alex! I've been prodding the membership to install one, but no one else felt it was necessary, because we have never had a break-in in 23 years of existence! Something tells me I may be more successful at the next meeting!"
"Ok, Jerry! Thanks!" says Sam, as she signs off.
"I think we should check the fence, to see if it has been breached!" says Clover.
"I agree! Let's do it, spies!" says Sam.
The girls carefully walk around the perimeter of the fence.
"All I see is that raccoon hole over there!" says Alex.
"Maybe it isn't a raccoon hole, Alex!" says Sam.
"Let's jet boot over there!" says Clover. The girls fire up their jet boots and fly over to the hole. Sam immediately breaks out the analyzer glasses.
"See anything?" asks Alex.
"Not yet!" says Sam as she looks all around the hole. She gets down on her hands and knees and looks straight into the hole. She hears a hiss and jumps back! (Sam: "Whoaaa!") The raccoon didn't like her looking into his home!
"Well, I guess he didn't steal the projects!" says Sam. They finish the inspection of the fence, resulting in no clues.
"What now?" asks Alex.
"We need to check out the remaining three people who have fingerprints on that patio door! Clover, you take Mr. Ingstram; Alex you take Ms. Priestly; and I'll take Mr. Spectum. We can stay in touch via compowder."
"Right!" says Clover and Alex.
Sam takes her voice cycle to the home of Harold Spectum. It is a palatial estate, sitting on 100 acres of land. Sam dons her reflective jumpsuit, making her invisible to the security cameras. She finds a remote area and jet boots over the fence. Carefully she walks toward the back of the mansion. She employs the m-ray x-ray contacts and enters the first floor. She goes from room to room, employing the contacts, but comes up empty. Looking up to the second floor, she can see the Spectum family in a room at the top of the stairs.
"I'd better bungee up to the second floor and continue my search," Sam thinks, not wanting to alarm the family.
Sam does bungee to the second floor. Again she dons her contacts and begins her room-by-room search. She is able to see behind safe doors, thanks to the contacts but is still coming up empty.
She cautiously climbs the steps to the third floor, when she inadvertently sets off an electronic eye! Soon Security is combing the area!
Harold Spectum talks to the head of Security. "What tripped that electronic eye?"
"It appears to be a malfunction, sir! The video cameras don't show an intruder, and we haven't found one, either!"
"Well, that's a relief! I'd hate to think someone could get all the way to the third floor before my Security system detects them!!"
"Everything is fine, sir!"
With that, Security clears out, and Harold Spectum returns to his family.
Boy, that was close! After tripping the alarm, Sam went to a corner and stood absolutely motionless. Three times one of the Security guards came within inches of bumping into her, but luckily they just missed!
She continues her search of the third floor with no luck. There is only one place left: the basement!
Sam climbs out onto a porch on the third floor, and bungees down to the ground. She cautiously re-enters the first floor and walks down to the basement.
The basement is the command center of the Security unit. She quickly goes through the area, but again comes up empty. She decides to exit the estate and contact the others with the results of her investigation.
Alex cycles to the home of Velma Priestly. The Priestly home is a mansion sitting on 3 acres of land, not unlike Alex's, Clover's and Sam's own homes. Alex also dons her reflective jumpsuit. There is no fence to climb, so she walks up to the house carefully. She puts in her contacts and is ready to start searching. She decides it would be easier to search from the third floor down to the basement, so she bungees first to a second story porch, and then to a third story porch and enters the house. She enters through an unlocked door.
Alex carefully searches the third floor. Again, safe contents can be examined without breaking into the safe, thanks to the contacts. Alex sees nothing unusual. She slowly descends to the second floor and continues her search. Again nothing. She'll have to be careful going down the stairs to the first floor – it leads right to the family room, where Velma and her family are watching a movie on their home theater system.
As Alex slowly reaches the first floor, Princess, the family Pomeranian starts to bark.
"Princess, what's the matter with you?" asks Velma. But Princess jumps out of her arms in alarm! She smells an intruder! Quickly Princess makes a beeline toward Alex. Thinking quickly, Alex climbs on top of a suit of armor in the hall. She couldn't use her bungee belt – that would give her away!
Princess stops in front of the armor looking up and barking insistently. Velma comes out to see what the ruckus is about.
"Princess! We've had that armor for 20 years! There's nobody in it, see?" says Velma as she opens the armor visor, just missing Alex's foot. Princess is undeterred and keeps barking. Velma picks her up and carries her to the family room, closing the door. "I don't know what's gotten into you!" Velma says to Princess. Alex let's out a sigh of relief!
Alex carefully climbs down the armor and continues her search. Again, nothing unusual on the first floor, so she descends to the basement. In the second room, Alex finds Dr. Priestly's home laboratory. She carefully exams the notebook on the table, and sees notes on an experiment on fuel cells. She is excited! She quickly exits the Priestly home, and heads to her cycle. The rest of the team needs to know about this!
Clover arrives at the Ingstram home. Lars Ingstram is an eccentric billionaire who lives by himself in a forty-room mansion. His home is more like a prison than a home, as Security is exceedingly tight! There are dog patrols and security cameras everywhere.
"How do I get in?" Clover thinks.
She decides that the best route would be underground, so she programs the GPS coordinates of the house in her compowder and starts to drill an access hole with her drill boots. She stays on course underground, thanks to her compowder. Soon she is right next to the brick wall of the basement. Before drilling through she dons her reflective jumpsuit and also her contacts. She checks the other side of the wall – it is a hallway, not exactly the secluded spot she wants to drill into. So she follows the wall until it becomes the back wall of a storage room. She drills in there.
Cautiously Clover enters the hall from the storage room. Almost immediately she sees a foot patrol. She stands motionless, and the patrol passes her without noticing her. She enters the first room she sees. As it turns out, this is a conference room. Lars is talking to one of his scientists.
"You know, Nevin, anyone of those three Pembroke finalists would make a great product for Lars Industries!"
"Yes, Mr. Ingstram! To bad they were stolen!"
"True! But those projects aren't worth anything to the thief unless he can sell them! Be on the lookout for them, Nevin!"
"Yes, sir!"
"And if you come across them, BUY them!"
"No problem, Mr. Ingstram!"
So! Ingstram would gladly buy the stolen projects, if he got the chance! Clover has to tell this to her fellow spies. But Clover doesn't watch where she is going and knocks over a table of metal pans!
"Whose there?" demands Ingstram, as he hits a Security alarm button.
Clover slowly walks next to the door and stands motionless. Soon the door flies open as three security guards run in! Clover immediately walks out the door and heads toward the storage room. Soon there are two dog patrols with vicious German Shepherds in the area. The dogs can smell Clover and are baying and barking! The guards let the dogs off the leash! Clover just makes it to the storage room and closes the door. But she knows she is not out of the woods yet! If the guards search the storage room, they'll find the hole she drilled! She needs to block it with something.
She quickly enters her access hole, and she points her anti-gravity ring at a very heavy storage cabinet. She puts the storage cabinet right in front of the access hole, just as security enters the storage room! The dog run straight to the storage cabinet, but when the guards open it, they find nothing. But the dogs are still barking! So they try to move the cabinet, but cannot!
"Nothing here! The dogs must smell some mice or something!" says one of the guards as they pull their dogs out of the storage room. Clover breathes a sigh of relief and heads for her cycle.
