"Anything?"
"No, nothing yet sir."
"Let me know."
"Yes, sir."
The man walked out of the room and down the hallway, feeling professional in his suit and tie. It wasn't often he got to view the facility that he owned. He left the running of the place to his lead scientist. It was strange that the man only visited rarely, but he had other work to do.
He rapped on a door and entered without waiting for permission. "How is everything in here?"
"Good, sir. We'll be getting results in about thirty minutes."
"Let me know when you do."
"Yes, sir."
The man started making his way up the many staircases toward his office. He took his time and ignored the elevators, preferring instead to gaze out the windows as he walked. Eventually, he made his way to the door of his office and entered in the keycode absentmindedly. The door handle read his thumbprint and beeped before letting him inside.
His office was spacious, being located on the top floor of his building. It contained a couple of house plants, a desk, a couple chairs, and a laptop. He kept the surfaces neat and tidy, and the massive window behind the desk was always uncovered to let in the natural light.
He moved behind his desk and sat down in his comfy office chair, swiveling for a moment before leaning forward and opening up his laptop.
A name had intrigued him in the past few days. Normally he was quite oblivious to the workings of the outside world, but this time he was curious enough to do his own research on this particular name.
He entered in the password on his laptop, opened up a web browser, and started typing.
J. Walatson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"So, this is the beach you think she died at?"
"I know she died here, Walatson. There is a difference." Spudlock was pacing up and down the beach, combing the rocky sand for clues. They were relatively close to the pier, and the beach was fairly empty, with only a lone fisherman and a woman walking her dog in the near vicinity.
"Gosh, grumpy much?" asked Walatson, watching him pace from a safe distance.
"I didn't get any sleep last night."
"What were you doing?"
Spudlock knelt to get a closer look at the sand, then aimed his gaze further up the beach. "I was researching missing people's reports."
"And?"
"The girl isn't mentioned anywhere." Spudlock stood up and started walking towards the base of the pier without waiting to see if Walatson would follow him. "We don't know her name, but she's most likely from a wealthy family, which means that there would be a substantial reward for any information about where she went. However, the only recent missing people have been men."
He stopped at the pier and crouched to crawl under. The pier rested on top of a cement block, and underneath the pier, in the cement block, was a hole that looked like it led to a sewer of some kind. Spudlock and Walatson crouched by the entrance to the hole.
"Are you ready for an adventure, Walatson?" asked Spudlock, pulling a flashlight from out of his pocket.
"Mate, I've been ready for an adventure since you moved into my apartment." She snatched the flashlight from Spudlock and stepped into the dark.