1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,519 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcined stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,199 Let's get into it. The knocking wouldn't stop. Three hard knocks, pause, 3 00:00:13,359 --> 00:00:15,759 three hard knocks again from Unit twelve, and I keied 4 00:00:15,759 --> 00:00:17,719 the radio with one hand while the other fumbled the 5 00:00:17,719 --> 00:00:21,679 flashlight strap. Suspicion pushed against my teeth. I said the 6 00:00:21,719 --> 00:00:23,839 word allowed into the mic before I could stop myself. 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Nis Alvarez, Unit twelve, there are some one knocking inside. 8 00:00:28,079 --> 00:00:31,039 The knock answered me through the corridor, steady and exactly timed. 9 00:00:31,679 --> 00:00:35,079 I could feel suspicion altering. How I moved, every check slower, 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,600 every metal surface given a deliberate tap. I had taken 11 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:39,840 the night job because I needed rent and quiet eyes 12 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,039 to study for my licensing class. I learned rules the 13 00:00:42,079 --> 00:00:44,880 first night. Laminated paper twelve points staples through the corkboard 14 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:46,759 and the security office to sheet was thin, but the 15 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:48,920 rolls would not. I slave my thumbel on the rusted 16 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,079 keeping the keys jangled likely's teeth. Whenever I moved. I 17 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,320 checked the lock on Unit twelve, then the corridor light, 18 00:00:54,359 --> 00:00:56,000 the flick above it, then to keep it by the 19 00:00:56,039 --> 00:00:58,719 main gate. Small exact actions to prove I was careful. 20 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:01,560 Suspicion can apped me from SHRUGGI away anything that might 21 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,480 be wrong. Ethan holds your position, Mizalvarez through the tinney radio. 22 00:01:06,079 --> 00:01:08,159 Her voice carried the practice calm as someone who had 23 00:01:08,159 --> 00:01:10,959 handled lake coals for years. Do not open any unit alone, 24 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:16,840 record it, dag it, wait for back up. Rule eight. Runemmeh, 25 00:01:17,519 --> 00:01:22,040 I remember rule eight, Misalvarez. It's just it's been knocking 26 00:01:22,079 --> 00:01:25,519 for a minute. Now record it and wait. Backup is 27 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,719 on the way. Done to make a decision alone. Her 28 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,799 words landed like a command. I kept the radio pressed 29 00:01:31,799 --> 00:01:33,519 to my mouth while I crouched in the concrete and 30 00:01:33,519 --> 00:01:35,719 trained the flashlight beam milon the rippled face of Unit 31 00:01:35,719 --> 00:01:38,480 twelve roll up door. The metal showed for a scratches 32 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:41,120 near the hasp. The padlock hung on a broken chain 33 00:01:41,159 --> 00:01:43,519 of brass teeth and metal filings collected at the base, 34 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:45,480 as if some one had tried and failed to force 35 00:01:45,519 --> 00:01:48,640 it open. I tapped the padlock with my flashlight. The 36 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,640 sound run hollow and hungry. I pressed record on the 37 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,280 little body camera we used for nightly checks, the red 38 00:01:54,319 --> 00:01:57,519 dot blinking. I spoke into it because my Salvaez insisted 39 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,760 on a recorded timeline Unit twelve thirty two minutes past midnight. Knock, 40 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,760 her padlock, inspected, scatch mark's present. The knocks continued. They 41 00:02:05,799 --> 00:02:09,680 never changed for them. Three knocks, paus, three knocks. They 42 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,080 did not ask for help. They announced their presence. Someone's 43 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,840 headlets came down the lot. Marcus stepped out of his 44 00:02:15,879 --> 00:02:18,120 truck with his hands jammed in his jacket pockets. You 45 00:02:18,199 --> 00:02:20,719 called me, he said. He has the practical voice of 46 00:02:20,719 --> 00:02:23,840 someone who did not like being awakened for nonsense. Marcus, 47 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:27,120 it's Unit twelve knocking from inside. He frowned and walked 48 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,240 the corridor with long quick steps. Marcus moved like he 49 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,840 believed the momentum. If you kept moving, nothing caught you. 50 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,120 He checked the padlock, then the scratches, then the roll updoors. 51 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,439 Seen with his flashlight. Word, man, can t see anyone. 52 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,199 We checked the keearing together. The twelve tags clattered across 53 00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:46,520 my palm. One number tag was gone. I counted a 54 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,599 lot because my mouth had gone dry. One missing twelve 55 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:54,000 tags now show eleven. Tag twelve is gone, Marcus, that's 56 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,400 not possible. I checked the ring before I left. I 57 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,400 checked it again when I got here. He his name 58 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,560 in the same set entents, like reminding himself he was 59 00:03:01,599 --> 00:03:04,400 the one speaking, not the night. Where did you last 60 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,599 have it? I checked the metal teeth in the ring 61 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:08,280 with my lamp. The gap where a tag should have 62 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,400 been scraped skin into the powder of my thumb on 63 00:03:10,479 --> 00:03:13,759 the ring. I did tea lose it. The tag's gone now. 64 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:15,840 We walked to the office and pulled the scatter feed. 65 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,639 Marcus sat heavy in the swovel chair and hit lay 66 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,159 back with a practice slap. The screen showed the row 67 00:03:21,199 --> 00:03:23,759 viewed its like a lawn stain in his mouth. Time 68 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,439 stamps crawled across the bottom digital numbers. I promised a 69 00:03:26,479 --> 00:03:30,680 definitive answer two minutes before the knocking started. Everything looked normal. 70 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,520 Then thirty seconds blinked out the frame bleppt the static. 71 00:03:35,159 --> 00:03:37,680 When the picture returned, a smear moved down the corridor 72 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,560 low and blurred, like a smear of wet paint. The 73 00:03:40,599 --> 00:03:42,919 smith stopped at unit twelve and dissolved against the door 74 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,479 that stated or glitched Marcus, but his voice did not 75 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,560 have the surety of belief. He scrowled back and forward. 76 00:03:49,159 --> 00:03:52,080 The thirty second gap repeated no matter which playdock he selected, 77 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,560 reveed hiccops but not like that, I said, play it again. 78 00:03:56,159 --> 00:03:58,159 I watched the smear and then the padlock in the frame. 79 00:03:58,639 --> 00:04:00,800 The padlock looked and touched in the footage, but outside 80 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,439 the framescrotches on our actual padlock were fresh and raw. 81 00:04:04,039 --> 00:04:06,759 Lieutenant from Unit eleven, Missess Kessar, came down the lot 82 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,680 with a chemical smell of cigarette and waxed hair. She 83 00:04:09,759 --> 00:04:11,599 shoved her hand into her purse and led out a 84 00:04:11,639 --> 00:04:14,120 worry that sounded like a question. Someone's been banging on 85 00:04:14,199 --> 00:04:16,839 twell for the past few minutes. Are you going to 86 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,079 open it? That's my neighbor's unit. Missess Kesso's face was 87 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:22,639 small and lined. Her voice made a habit of clipping 88 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,079 the ends of sentences. I dropped off a boxer earlier. 89 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,480 It was empty. I swear it was empty when I left. 90 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,639 An officer arrived because of a neighbor's nine hundred eleven 91 00:04:31,639 --> 00:04:34,519 coal officer grant. He checked his badge, then his watch, 92 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,360 and then the corridor. He knocked on Unit twelve himself 93 00:04:37,399 --> 00:04:39,959 and frowned. I can hear a knocking from inside, he 94 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,639 told us. But there's no record of entry on the 95 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,040 gave lock, and the camera shows a gap. Marcus so 96 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,439 how did whatever sinder get in? Officer Grant looked at Marcus, 97 00:04:49,199 --> 00:04:51,800 That's what I'm asking. The three of them argued in 98 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:53,920 short bursts while I stood at the door with the 99 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,959 keyring heavy in my palm. Mister Varrow's voice circkled in 100 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,480 my ear, reminding me of rule it again, exactly as 101 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,959 she had said, record wait, do not open alone. The 102 00:05:03,079 --> 00:05:05,120 roll felt rigid in the concrete way of a fence, 103 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,160 but the fence was a suggestion if someone needed help, 104 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,279 Missess Kessler insisted. Ad Officer Grant tapped his pen against 105 00:05:10,319 --> 00:05:12,480 his holster and said they couldn't leave a person banning. 106 00:05:12,959 --> 00:05:14,720 We can tee just leave some one in their thiery 107 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:16,879 in trouble, Officer Grund. If it's a person, they're re 108 00:05:16,959 --> 00:05:20,480 inside and they might be injured. My instructions a mess, Alvarez, 109 00:05:20,519 --> 00:05:23,360 do not open alone. Wait for back up. Marks is 110 00:05:23,439 --> 00:05:26,199 jaw tightened. We call back up and wait ten fifteen minutes. 111 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,399 That's two hours of ten and shouting and the circuit 112 00:05:28,399 --> 00:05:31,399 board overheating. I'm not getting paid to babysit a door. 113 00:05:31,439 --> 00:05:33,759 We argued for a strain of quick lines. Ethan Dantee 114 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,240 mez Avares began, Ethan, you need to wait for Marcus 115 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,240 in me Marcus, Officer Gren how long for units to 116 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,120 be cleared? Miss Cess Kessler interrupted, I just want to 117 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,480 know if my box is there. Three people talked at once, 118 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,120 and the knox continued as if an answer. The rhythm 119 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,759 stayed the same. I felt pressure building in my throat 120 00:05:51,759 --> 00:05:55,360 and behind my sternum. That pressure translated into movement. I 121 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,360 shined the light along the scene again and felt the 122 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,199 cold of the metal through the flashlight handle. I thought 123 00:06:00,199 --> 00:06:02,120 of the tag. I thought of the missing number. Twelkis 124 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:03,720 all right? If you think ye need to open it, 125 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,560 do it with me? Mease, Avarez. If Vost said no, 126 00:06:06,639 --> 00:06:09,399 over the radio officer Grant looked at me and nodded 127 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,439 like he had permission to step aside. Missus Cassos had 128 00:06:12,439 --> 00:06:15,839 found my elbow. Dear, what's right, Ethan? If some one's 129 00:06:15,879 --> 00:06:18,920 inside open it? I had two minutes to make a decision. 130 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:25,120 Suspicion pushed, obligation pushed, Fatigue pushed. I thought of the laminae, 131 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,120 a sheet folded into my wallet with a corner bent 132 00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:29,920 and a faint coffee ring on the lower left. I 133 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:31,560 thought of Rendy's of the first month that I had 134 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:33,639 promised myself I'd never miss I thought of the knock 135 00:06:33,639 --> 00:06:35,560 and how the sound matched nothing living ad held in 136 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,240 months of rounds. I unlocked the padlock. The metal made 137 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,120 a small, precise sound. The click felt louder than it 138 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,560 had any right to be. I wrenched the hasp and 139 00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:46,800 pulled the roll up door with my shoulder. The unit 140 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,319 opened on a breath of cold air. The smell inside 141 00:06:49,399 --> 00:06:51,759 hit me first, all carved boards soaked a damp oil 142 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,959 and a metallic tan that reminded me of cut wire. 143 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:56,680 I stepped inside alone, because by the time the door 144 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:58,959 cleared and I moved my feet forward, others was still 145 00:06:58,959 --> 00:07:01,759 on the threshold. Marcus voice cut off as the corridor 146 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,240 seemed to hesitate. Officer Grant's radio static chattered. Missessquesso's sentence 147 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,079 died where it started Ethan Marcus, and then something happened 148 00:07:09,079 --> 00:07:11,600 that erased the next stretch of time. I have three 149 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,959 fixed images from inside the unit and nothing that connects 150 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,160 them in sequence. I remember the flasklight being crossing a 151 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,319 stack of boxes and catching on a shoe box with 152 00:07:19,319 --> 00:07:22,399 the dawn label. I remember reaching out and feeling paper 153 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,519 under my fingers that was warm. I remember looking up 154 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:27,279 in the roll up door, saw meing down with a 155 00:07:27,319 --> 00:07:30,040 finality that deafened me for a fraction. Then there was 156 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,959 nothing I could consciously place for several minutes. When I 157 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,240 breathed again, the unit was re arranged, boxes lay in 158 00:07:36,279 --> 00:07:38,759 new stacks. A chair was in the middle of the 159 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,199 floor that had not been there. My missing tag, tag twelve, 160 00:07:42,399 --> 00:07:44,439 was pinned to a corrugated wall with a rusted nail. 161 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,199 The nails headed a ring of dried residue around it. 162 00:07:47,839 --> 00:07:50,720 I pulled the tag free with shaking fingers. The number 163 00:07:50,759 --> 00:07:53,399 twelve was stamped on brass that still smelled faintly of 164 00:07:53,439 --> 00:07:56,519 oil marks. Cursed in a short string of words, Ethan, 165 00:07:56,639 --> 00:08:00,240 what happened? He demanded, Did you see any one? I 166 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,399 tried to answer, and my voice gousched out of me. 167 00:08:02,959 --> 00:08:05,120 My watch said twenty two minutes later than when I 168 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:09,040 had spoken to Me's Alvarez Officer Grand checked the door 169 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:11,519 and the padlock and frowned. The door is closed and 170 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,560 the padlock looks new, he said. Whoever came and left 171 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,079 no record of forced entry on the gate, and the 172 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,199 padlocks were sealed. I lifted my head and pointed at 173 00:08:20,199 --> 00:08:22,720 the wall the tag. It was pinned to the wall. 174 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:25,720 I found it inside. Missus Kessler put a hand to 175 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,199 her mouth and stepped back. That's my box. Marcus and 176 00:08:29,279 --> 00:08:33,440 Officer Grount argued fast, you had it open, Marcus, you 177 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,360 opened it alone? No ay. I tried to explain Ms Alvezmi. 178 00:08:37,399 --> 00:08:40,000 I began, but my sentence fell apart because the memory 179 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,919 did not have the parts they needed. Marcus kept pacing, 180 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,279 and Officer Grunt kept looking at the security footage, and 181 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,720 Missess Kessel kept repeating she had left the unit empty. 182 00:08:48,279 --> 00:08:51,440 We pulled the footage again. The thirty second gap remained. 183 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,879 This mirror was still there, but when the frame resolved, 184 00:08:54,919 --> 00:08:57,000 the padlock looked sealed and clean, as if nothing had 185 00:08:57,039 --> 00:09:00,879 touched it. The scratches on our physical padlock remained. The 186 00:09:00,919 --> 00:09:04,440 tag sat in my palm. Officer Grant took notes. He 187 00:09:04,519 --> 00:09:06,919 questions in a series of clip lines, who had access, 188 00:09:07,519 --> 00:09:10,600 who else was on side? Is there a maintenance record 189 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,279 for the padlock? He wrote names and times, and then 190 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,159 looked up and said, Ethan, did you enter alone? I 191 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,840 answered with the truth I had. I opened the door 192 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,000 and endered. Then I described the rearranged interior and the 193 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,759 tag on the wall. My voice lost its steady edge 194 00:09:24,799 --> 00:09:27,240 when I named the missing tag. The tag was on 195 00:09:27,279 --> 00:09:31,279 the wall. Officer grant pin nail. He nodded and said 196 00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:34,080 he would log it as an incident. Marcus kept touching 197 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,240 his keys like a nervous habit. Missus Castle kept circling 198 00:09:37,279 --> 00:09:40,600 the lot and muttering about her deliverers. Mess i' viz 199 00:09:40,639 --> 00:09:42,240 me to come in and sit down in the office 200 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:44,639 while she coordinated a technician to check the lock and 201 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:47,720 an on call supervisor to come by. She did not show, 202 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:49,320 but her voice held a line that meant I was 203 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,600 to follow. I sat and folded the laminated rules into 204 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,159 my wallet. The edge was singed, as if someone had 205 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,080 held a flame close to only one corner. The words 206 00:09:58,080 --> 00:09:59,960 on the sheet were still the same, clear, tight, sent 207 00:10:00,039 --> 00:10:02,240 and sciss about safety and liability and never open a 208 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,720 unit alone, but the coroner had been browned and crumbled. 209 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,200 I touched the charred edge with finger tips that smelled 210 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,360 faintly of the metallic tang from inside Unit twelve. Touch 211 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:12,879 made the memory of the Unich sharper the way the 212 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:14,799 nail had caught the beam. The smell of damp car 213 00:10:14,879 --> 00:10:16,799 brought against my knuckles the way the light had come 214 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,360 down in a ribbon. At some point, Marcus an Officer 215 00:10:19,399 --> 00:10:21,639 Grant argued about whether to lock the unit as closed 216 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,440 or to remove the padlock for inspection. They went back 217 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,679 and forth, three to six lines, each quick and clipped voices, 218 00:10:27,759 --> 00:10:30,720 raising and dropping like a drunk curtain. Marcus insisted the 219 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,879 padlock had been tampered with. Officer Grand insisted there was 220 00:10:33,919 --> 00:10:37,360 no proof of forced entry on the gatelock. Missus Kessler 221 00:10:37,399 --> 00:10:41,039 insisted she had been in the earlier mess Alvarez insisted 222 00:10:41,039 --> 00:10:44,279 the protocol matter more than convenience. I felt my control 223 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,480 of road in small physical ways. My hands trembled when 224 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,639 I folded the sheet my jocolate. When I duwed, swallowing air, 225 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:53,600 I replayed exact phrases in my head and mouthed them 226 00:10:53,639 --> 00:10:57,000 silently while the others spoke aloud. I moved from suspicion 227 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,279 to doubt. When mys Alvarez, finally on sight, put her 228 00:11:00,279 --> 00:11:03,120 hand on my shoulder and said, Ethan, did you follow procedure? 229 00:11:03,639 --> 00:11:07,279 You recorded the knocking? Yes, I recorded it, I said. 230 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:11,960 My voice was small. I followed the steps I reported. 231 00:11:12,639 --> 00:11:15,559 I waited, but the padlock had s crutches the tagmis 232 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:19,879 Alvaz's mouth end. She did what supervisors did. She assigned 233 00:11:19,879 --> 00:11:22,919 blame and then made contingency. We log everything and we 234 00:11:22,919 --> 00:11:26,360 submit a report. We'll call the owner. We won tea 235 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,399 make statement until the supervisor reviews footage. Her answer shifted 236 00:11:30,399 --> 00:11:34,000 my feeling from doubt to a different edge. Jame. Shame 237 00:11:34,039 --> 00:11:36,480 for not holding the line, for letting curiosity make me 238 00:11:36,519 --> 00:11:38,919 bend a rule, Shame for being the one who pulled 239 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,480 the type free. Shame that I could not explain the 240 00:11:41,519 --> 00:11:44,399 missing minutes. I did not sleep in the car that morning. 241 00:11:44,919 --> 00:11:46,600 I sat in the driver's seat with the walal out 242 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:49,120 in my lap and the laminated she folded small. The 243 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:51,600 parking lot light hummed overhead my wrist, which read five 244 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,200 hundred two. The Knox had stopped. The lot smelled of 245 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,399 wet concrete and cold oil. I turned a radio off 246 00:11:58,399 --> 00:12:01,360 and listened to my breath. I I reward my memory carefully, 247 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,559 like a technician inspecting a damage frame. My hands moved 248 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:08,120 through the same motions, checking the paddock, tapping the door, scene, 249 00:12:08,159 --> 00:12:11,559 pressing record, radioing me as Alvarez. I tracked the fault 250 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,679 lines where my actions deviated from protocol. I found the 251 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:19,039 places where responsibility and curiosity crossed. Each decision added weight. 252 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,360 The tag sat heavy in my pocket. Marcus had left 253 00:12:22,399 --> 00:12:24,080 with the tag goodbye and in order to get checked 254 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,000 out if my hands were still shaking. Officer Grant left 255 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,200 his card and told me to call if anything else happened. 256 00:12:29,879 --> 00:12:33,200 Missus Kessler hugged her box like a person and then 257 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:38,000 took it away. Misalvarez stayed long enough to say two things. One, 258 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:42,039 write what you remember in the log. TI don t 259 00:12:42,039 --> 00:12:45,000 tell tenants anything you can tea prove. I wrote the 260 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,320 log with short sentences. I described the knox, the scratches, 261 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:50,399 the gap in the footage, the tag pinned to the wall. 262 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,519 I left no interpretation, only facts. After I wrote, I 263 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:56,559 folded the sheet into my wallet again and pushed it 264 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:58,720 under my wrist watch straps so it would not slide out. 265 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,600 The corner still crumbled where the sine had blackened it. 266 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:04,720 Before I left the lot, I walked back to Unit twelve. 267 00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:08,440 The paddle cong wert belonged. There were no fresh footprints 268 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,360 in the gravel. The corridor light buzz but did not flicker. 269 00:13:11,919 --> 00:13:13,480 I pressed my ear to the metal and did not 270 00:13:13,519 --> 00:13:15,879 hear anything. I took a last look at the seam 271 00:13:15,919 --> 00:13:17,440 of the door, and then I pulled away and walked 272 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,000 to my car. I started the engine and felt the 273 00:13:20,039 --> 00:13:22,519 siak give beneath me. I slid the wallet into my pocket. 274 00:13:22,639 --> 00:13:25,480 My hand still trembled. I told myself to let the 275 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,240 record of footage speak. I told myself I would not 276 00:13:28,279 --> 00:13:31,039 open a unit again with that backup. I told myself 277 00:13:31,039 --> 00:13:34,240 to sleep. The engine turned over. I backed out of 278 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,000 the lot. As I passed the security office window, I 279 00:13:37,039 --> 00:13:40,480 sawmise Alvarus folding the row sheet and stapling a copy 280 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:42,840 to the corkpoord. She looked up at the lot and 281 00:13:42,879 --> 00:13:45,039 then down at the paper. Besides in the way of 282 00:13:45,039 --> 00:13:47,960 some one who reorders were skin to rules. I slowed 283 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,080 the truck and tapped the horn once, a small sound 284 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,720 that cut the night. She raised her hand and gave 285 00:13:52,759 --> 00:13:56,200 me a single formal nod. I gave one back. I 286 00:13:56,279 --> 00:13:58,240 drove out under the perimeter lights. The beams hot on 287 00:13:58,279 --> 00:14:01,120 the windshield. At the gate, I stopped and reached into 288 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:02,639 my pocket to feel the tag that had once been 289 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:05,320 pinned to the wall. My fingers closed on brass that 290 00:14:05,399 --> 00:14:07,480 had been stamped for twelve and worn in places where 291 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,960 I had not scratched it. I drove away with the 292 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,120 tag in my fist and the laminaded sheet folded into 293 00:14:12,159 --> 00:14:15,039 the leather of my wallet. When I parked at my apartment, 294 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:16,960 I left the tag on the kitchen table and slid 295 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,559 the wallet under a list foreboard. I could not bring 296 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,000 myself to throw the sheet away. I could not bring 297 00:14:22,039 --> 00:14:24,159 myself to tell any one how the minutes had gone missing. 298 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,759 I felt the emotion change inside me, first suspicion, then doubt, 299 00:14:27,799 --> 00:14:31,639 then shame, then a cold, steady vigilance. That vigilance made 300 00:14:31,639 --> 00:14:34,399 me promise, in small, concrete actions that I would warn. However, 301 00:14:34,399 --> 00:14:37,080 took the next night shift. I wrote an email to 302 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:39,279 the manager a list and did not send it. I 303 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,600 rehearsed the sentence I would say to any new hire, 304 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:45,399 do not open UNAR twelve alone record. I practiced saying 305 00:14:45,399 --> 00:14:47,480 the words a lot until they slid flat in my mouth. 306 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,480 I was later when the light outside my apartment began 307 00:14:50,519 --> 00:14:52,679 to thin toward morning, as soft knock sounded through my 308 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,799 phone and a look from the facility's sight sensor Unit 309 00:14:55,799 --> 00:14:58,840 twelve had lobbed a minor vibration. I sat very still, 310 00:14:58,879 --> 00:15:00,600 and the pulse at my temper thought in time with 311 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,279 the memory of the Knox. I walked to the window 312 00:15:03,279 --> 00:15:06,000 and looked at the street. There was no car, no figure, 313 00:15:06,039 --> 00:15:08,799 nothing to identify who was there. I reached down and 314 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,360 folded the laminated sheet into my wallet, where I could 315 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:13,799 feel the cinched edge under my thumb. I set the 316 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,720 wallet on the table next to the brass tag. I waited. 317 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,200 A single knock answered from my kitchen table, not from 318 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,120 the unit of the lot, but a sound against metal 319 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,480 that matched the rhythm I had heard that night. I 320 00:15:24,519 --> 00:15:27,120 did not go to the door. I put the tag pocket, 321 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,919 stood and picked up the wallet. I slid the chart 322 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:31,679 edge of the raw sheet back under the watch strap 323 00:15:31,679 --> 00:15:33,519 and left the kitchen light on. As I walked out 324 00:15:33,559 --> 00:15:35,840 of the room with the wallet against my chest, the 325 00:15:35,919 --> 00:15:38,919 Knox did not come again. Not then. I drove back 326 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,879 to the facility two nights later, wallet inside my jacket, 327 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:44,320 the tag on my kearing. I did not go in 328 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,159 until mys Alvarez met me by the entrance. She did 329 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,399 not smile. She only said, Ethan, whatever you tell them, 330 00:15:51,399 --> 00:15:54,799 tell it straight. I nodded. I knew exactly how to 331 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,000 say it now. The knox, the padlock, the missing tag, 332 00:15:58,159 --> 00:16:00,679 the thirty second gap. The rearranged box says the nail. 333 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,000 I knew the record would be the thing that kept 334 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,840 someone from repeating my mistake. I also knew I had 335 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,080 broken Rule eight. I had opened a door alone. That 336 00:16:09,279 --> 00:16:11,159 fall sat in the middle of every answer I gave. 337 00:16:11,799 --> 00:16:14,000 When mis Alvarez pinned a new laminated copy of the 338 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,679 twelve rules to the court board, she left a small 339 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,000 space beneath the stables and slid my folded sheet into 340 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,320 it like a folded note. She did not say the 341 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,039 word safety. She did not need to. The folded corner 342 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,639 showed fresh sooot where they ash had burned. I kept 343 00:16:27,639 --> 00:16:29,960 my eyes in the rules. As she stepped back. Her 344 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,919 posture did not change. She only do your round's record everything. 345 00:16:34,519 --> 00:16:37,360 If un twelve does anything, call us a weight. I 346 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,759 said nothing. I put my hand on the keeying and 347 00:16:39,759 --> 00:16:42,279 felt the tag twelve in my pocket. My mouth made 348 00:16:42,279 --> 00:16:44,559 the words before my head could stop them. I know, 349 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:49,000 I said. She nodded once and walked away outside under 350 00:16:49,039 --> 00:16:51,159 the flicker of the lot's perimeter lights. I felt the 351 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:53,240 old part of me that want to prove tens into place. 352 00:16:54,039 --> 00:16:55,840 I tacked the sequence in my head like a ledger. 353 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,360 Knox callwait. Tag returned to me. Padlocks crested thirty second gap. 354 00:17:00,879 --> 00:17:02,440 I set the facts down in a row so I 355 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,680 could check them again and again until the edge is sharpened. Then, 356 00:17:05,799 --> 00:17:07,799 as I walked back to my truck from down the corridor, 357 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,920 there came three knocks pause. Three knocks precise and identical 358 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,359 to the ones that had started everything. I stopped, my 359 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,640 throat closed, I turned slowly towards Unit twelve, and the 360 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:19,480 sound followed the seam of the doors like a meat 361 00:17:19,519 --> 00:17:22,240 of voice. My hand went to my jacket pocket and 362 00:17:22,279 --> 00:17:24,599 closed in the breast twelve then and the laminated edge 363 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,599 folded beneath my watch. I stepped toward the corridor and 364 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:29,920 the light of a Unit twelve bus once and stayed bright. 365 00:17:30,559 --> 00:17:32,599 I did not reach the door before the knock stopped. 366 00:17:33,279 --> 00:17:35,839 I did not open it. I stood at the threshold 367 00:17:35,839 --> 00:17:37,519 of choice and felt the roll under my thumb like 368 00:17:37,519 --> 00:17:39,920 a burn up at the wallet back under my watch, 369 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,920 and walked to my truck. I did not drive away fast. 370 00:17:43,599 --> 00:17:45,559 I slid in and sat with the engine idling until 371 00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:49,200 the lock managers van pulled in. Emmy's Alvarez's door opened, 372 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:50,880 and she came to the window and waved me in. 373 00:17:51,519 --> 00:17:53,279 I took off my jacket, left the keys in the 374 00:17:53,279 --> 00:17:55,400 passenger seat, and walked back to the corkboard, where the 375 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,440 laminated rolls hung and the folded copy of the sheet 376 00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,799 sat pinned with a stable. I unrolled it with the 377 00:17:59,839 --> 00:18:02,359 cake I full motion and smoothed the singed edge. The 378 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:04,079 last thing I wrote in the night's report was a 379 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:07,839 single line, do not open Unit twelve alone, record and 380 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,559 wait for back up. Then I added, with my hands 381 00:18:10,559 --> 00:18:12,759 steady for the first time since the tag, the tag 382 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,440 was found inside, pinned to the wall, I handed the 383 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,720 report to myse Alvarez and watched her slide into a 384 00:18:18,799 --> 00:18:22,440 drawer labeled incident. She did not look up her muff 385 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,400 moved into a line that meant the shift had ended. 386 00:18:25,039 --> 00:18:27,440 She closed the drawer and turned the key. The key 387 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,920 fell into the metal slot with a small, decisive clink. 388 00:18:30,559 --> 00:18:32,240 I left the office with the knowledge that I had 389 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,319 broken a rule and with the tag back on the ring. 390 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,000 I had also given no warning in concrete words and 391 00:18:37,039 --> 00:18:39,960 a written record that anyone could read. I had traded 392 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,960 my certainty for procedure. Outside the corridor lights hunt, I 393 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:46,160 stood beneath them and felt the wallet at my wrist. 394 00:18:46,839 --> 00:18:48,759 I listened for the knock until the sound faded into 395 00:18:48,799 --> 00:18:51,079 the normal noise of the lot. Then now walked to 396 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:53,480 my truck and drove into the pale morning attack, heavy 397 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,960 in my pocket and the folded rool safe under my watch. 398 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,640 The knot did not return while I was on the road, 399 00:18:58,799 --> 00:19:00,799 but when I reached the entrance and looked back, a 400 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,599 small light in unitwel's corridor blinked once more, like a 401 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,519 heartbeat measured by something that did not need permission. I 402 00:19:06,599 --> 00:19:08,559 drove home with the rule sheet folded in my wallet 403 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,160 and the tag twelve clipped to my keys. I kept 404 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,119 my hands on the wheel and my eyes on the road. 405 00:19:13,799 --> 00:19:16,319 I had the record, I had the warning, I had 406 00:19:16,319 --> 00:19:18,839 the burn corner. I had the knowledge that I had 407 00:19:18,839 --> 00:19:21,079 broken Rule eight, and that breaking I had not fixed 408 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,279 anything entirely. I also had a final sound in my mind, 409 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,559 the three Knox Paws free knocks that I could not 410 00:19:26,599 --> 00:19:30,000 translate until was beyond repeating them exactly. The sun kept 411 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,559 me awake for nights, and every time I sat on 412 00:19:32,599 --> 00:19:34,599 a niche if they found myself fingering the tag in 413 00:19:34,599 --> 00:19:36,400 the rule until the edges of the paper fit cleanly 414 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,920 into my palm. That is what I left in the lock, 415 00:19:39,599 --> 00:19:41,839 the facts, the tag, the chart edge, and the warning. 416 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:44,839 I do not know if anyone listened. But if you 417 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:46,759 ever wet nights at place with a rule sheet pinned 418 00:19:46,759 --> 00:19:49,799 to a cock board, look at the corner if it singed, 419 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:51,920 and if your keyring is missing a tag, know that 420 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,759 whatever made those scratches and pinned that brasta walls where 421 00:19:54,799 --> 00:19:57,839 the rule exists, do not open you a twelve alone, 422 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,000 record it, wait for back up, and if you hear 423 00:20:01,079 --> 00:20:03,440 three knocks, pause three knocks, canned them once, and then 424 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,359 put the radior to your mouth and say the name 425 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,319 of the manager. Those are the exact actions I learned 426 00:20:08,319 --> 00:20:11,400 to trust. The last sound I had before mez Alvarez 427 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,160 locked the drawer and the lot went quiet, was not 428 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,920 an explanation. It was a knock from the corridor, as 429 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,000 if the building itself had closed ascendants. I folded the 430 00:20:19,039 --> 00:20:21,319 rule into my wallet and left it there under my watch, 431 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:23,480 where I could not forget the weight of it. The 432 00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:25,440 roll up door to Unit twelve was a jar. When 433 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,559 I stepped under the flicker of the perimeter armp ands 434 00:20:27,599 --> 00:20:30,799 won my flashlight across a corridor. Suspision tightened my throat. 435 00:20:30,799 --> 00:20:32,599 The moment I saw the wht's mudges in the metal 436 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,440 and the dark crescent where a padlockids grate. I thund 437 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:37,640 the ring and realized one number tag was missing. Twelve 438 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,079 tags now eleven, and a laminative rule sheet in my 439 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:43,279 wallets suddenly matted again. My first radio call from the 440 00:20:43,279 --> 00:20:46,240 previous night echoed in my head. A mess Alvarez Unit twelve. 441 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,279 There's someone knocking that memories sat there like a cold fact. 442 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,039 It pushed me into motion before I thought about fear. 443 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,599 I crouched and peered into the gap. The flashlight beam 444 00:20:55,599 --> 00:20:58,559 cut a neat rectangle across the concrete floor. The light 445 00:20:58,599 --> 00:21:00,880 found a single plastic toy damp at the corner and 446 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,359 a trail of scuffs leading to the far wall. The 447 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,759 trail was spaced like some one walking slowly then dragging. 448 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:08,240 I pressed my gloved hand to the metal and felt 449 00:21:08,279 --> 00:21:10,640 recent warmth, not heat, but the recidue of human touch. 450 00:21:11,279 --> 00:21:14,559 I radioed mise Alvarez with one hand and kept the 451 00:21:14,559 --> 00:21:18,039 other on the flask white strap. Mess Alvarez Unit twelve 452 00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:21,319 stores open tag missing from my kearing, my voice stayed 453 00:21:21,319 --> 00:21:24,240 low because the lot swallowed loud sounds she answered, in 454 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:26,240 the quick procedural tones that meant she was at the 455 00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:29,119 office and a wick. Do not open it. She said, 456 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,119 follow the rules, call MARKO and wait. Heat the cameras 457 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,119 on Unit twelve, no exceptions. Her voice contained the rule 458 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,079 sheep precize clip lines had folded into my wallet. That afternoon, 459 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,839 I felt two things at once, obligation in an inch 460 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,440 of doubt. The obligation made me steady my hands. The 461 00:21:45,559 --> 00:21:48,759 doubt made the flask white hand tremble. Mako arrived within 462 00:21:48,759 --> 00:21:50,599 minutes in a pick at that scrape gravel too loud 463 00:21:50,599 --> 00:21:53,400 for the ire. He climbed down and muttered, what you 464 00:21:53,519 --> 00:21:56,240 let someone in? He kept walking fast toward the roll 465 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,799 up without waiting for an answer. I held up the 466 00:21:58,839 --> 00:22:00,279 empty tag and then the door. We goes ap to 467 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:03,119 hold him off. Marco, I said, is I'll raise us 468 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,440 to wait. My sentence cut was static from the radio. 469 00:22:06,039 --> 00:22:08,319 Marco's jaw tightened, and he said, we can tee leave 470 00:22:08,319 --> 00:22:11,359 a unit open. We lock it and log it. It's 471 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,680 someone's messing with tenants. They'll come back. He moved around 472 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,519 the corridor and tried the padlock with the prie bar. 473 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,480 He worked the lock and found only bent metal and 474 00:22:19,519 --> 00:22:23,160 wet smears in the edge. He paused and listened. The 475 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,920 corridor humbered, the building sold fluorescent ballast, and the distant, 476 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,759 low sound of the highway. Then there was a faint scraping, 477 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,640 like finger nails against corrugated metal, and Marco cursed and 478 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,680 said something ess inside. His voice changed. He had that fast, 479 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,680 brittle edge guard's get when a routine turns messy. We 480 00:22:38,759 --> 00:22:40,839 pulled up the security feed at the little alcove by 481 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,839 the office and watched the camera that covered the Unit 482 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,240 twelve doorway. The footage rode in grainy black and white. 483 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,119 At two point thirteen a m. The image went blank 484 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,000 for twenty minutes, the time Stamps skipped with a hard 485 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,599 white frame. I watched the coaster jump and felt heat 486 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,680 rise behind my eyes. Marco, that's not right, that's not right. 487 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,079 He here, Towe sh short hard. Mis Alvarez showed up 488 00:23:03,079 --> 00:23:05,240 with the personnel file for Unit twelve in one hand 489 00:23:05,279 --> 00:23:07,920 and the laminated rule sheet in the adder. She set 490 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:09,960 the file on the office desk inflict a fast eye 491 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,640 across the paper without meeting mine. There was an incident 492 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:17,839 here years ago, she said, tenant vanished file redacted. We 493 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,559 never reopened the unit after the claim why is it 494 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,359 open now? She slid her hand to the corkboard and 495 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,279 tapped the printed rules with two fingers. The touch was mechanical, careful. 496 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:29,519 Her fingers have heard U of rule A printed in 497 00:23:29,559 --> 00:23:32,839 block letters. She didn't say the rule out loud. She 498 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,079 made a short sound and then told Marco and me 499 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,359 to follow the protocol. Marco started arguing, we need to 500 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,720 go in. If it's a tenant or someone stuck. We 501 00:23:40,799 --> 00:23:43,240 have to get evidence. We can call it in later. 502 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:45,839 He kept the pride bar in his hands like a surgeon, 503 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,119 waiting for permission. Marco, the rules exist because things happened 504 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,119 before mis Alvarez. If we break, then we create messy 505 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,599 paperwork and liability. We follow procedure. Her voice narrowed. She 506 00:23:57,799 --> 00:24:01,440 used names as Anchors, Ethan Macco. Stay where I can 507 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,960 see you. I call Office Viga. We do not open 508 00:24:05,039 --> 00:24:07,200 without a warrant unless there is an immediate threat to life. 509 00:24:07,799 --> 00:24:10,640 The argument pushed me to a different place. My fingers 510 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,559 found the notch where the twelfth tack had once sat. 511 00:24:13,279 --> 00:24:16,440 The notch felt raw. The absence was physical proof that 512 00:24:16,519 --> 00:24:19,319 Rule eight had been violated. That proof moved me from 513 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,519 suspicion into a different feeling compulsion. I wanted to know 514 00:24:22,599 --> 00:24:25,359 what was inside. Compulsion tightened my jaw and I found 515 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,559 I was stepping forward despite orders. Marco saw me and said, Eden, stop, 516 00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:33,640 tante do it. His voice was a short bark. He 517 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,119 planted his boots near the edge of the gap. I 518 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,880 should have stayed back. I did not. I slid a 519 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,119 small pry bar into the seam and pulled with my shoulder. 520 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,799 The metal shrieked, the door scraped up another inch, and 521 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,960 the corridor took another shape. We saw the interior concrete 522 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,440 lined with light dust. A single child's toy half beared 523 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,559 near the far wall, scuff marks in the fall, leading 524 00:24:53,599 --> 00:24:56,480 to a patch of wall that looked recently wiped. At first, 525 00:24:56,519 --> 00:24:59,720 there was nothing else. Then a series of hard, precise 526 00:24:59,759 --> 00:25:02,559 knock started from the dark corner. Three knocks, paws, three 527 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:06,279 knocks again. My body moved before. I thought the sound 528 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,319 was identical to the memory that had made me keep 529 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,200 the radio the night before, Marco, I said, and the 530 00:25:11,279 --> 00:25:14,920 name left my mouth like a question, Marco, did you hear? 531 00:25:15,039 --> 00:25:16,759 His reply was cut off by the sound of his 532 00:25:16,839 --> 00:25:19,279 own name called from inside the unit. In his voice, 533 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,640 the tone matched in Sinkadin's same breath. Marko's shoulders dropped 534 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,160 and he took a slow step forward. The Unich called 535 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,119 his name again in his voice, but deeper hollowed. Marko 536 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,960 blinked and said, who the hell. The next beat was 537 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,759 a hand closing on his jacket, on his sleeve, as 538 00:25:34,799 --> 00:25:36,720 her fingers had come out of the dark and held him. 539 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,680 He didn't shout, he didn't have time. Something pulled him forward, 540 00:25:40,839 --> 00:25:43,960 passed the threshold, and then he was gone. I lunged, 541 00:25:44,759 --> 00:25:47,599 I growled at the jacket and felt faber tear. My 542 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,039 flushlight hit a smear on the concrete where his jacket 543 00:25:50,079 --> 00:25:52,599 had been. There was a rancid smell of burned cloth 544 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,559 and a wetness that smeared under my fingers. I keyed 545 00:25:55,559 --> 00:25:58,839 the radio with my name. Found eyes Alvarez's voice again 546 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,960 through static. Marko Mako. She shouted her voice, stood up 547 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,759 from the office and turned in Ethan. What happened? She 548 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:11,079 came running now Ethan stayed back. Officer Vigue is on 549 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,240 the way, Do not go in alone. Her orders came 550 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,079 out in a pattern I had heard from her for years. 551 00:26:16,839 --> 00:26:19,839 She was procedural and scared in the same breath. Officer 552 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:21,640 Viga pulled into the lot in a cruiser with its 553 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,000 dumb light off. He took in the scene with a single, 554 00:26:24,039 --> 00:26:27,039 flat look and asked shop useful questions. Wes Marco, He demanded, 555 00:26:27,079 --> 00:26:30,319 who are you? Mys Olverarez, identified as Ince, said he 556 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,920 slipped in something. Her sentence stopped. The officer stepped at 557 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,640 the threshold and called for back upon his radio. They 558 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,880 searched the unit and found only the childs toy and 559 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,920 scuff marks. They found no blood other than the smeyrror 560 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,960 near the doorway. Officer Viga ran a gloved hand over 561 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,640 the floor and said, no body, no sign that some 562 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,359 one has been dragged out. This looks like a fight, 563 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,759 but there's no dinner yet. He took fortgrass and lock time. 564 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,839 He the words professionals say to make chaos into a record. 565 00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,240 We have a gap in evidence in a missing person 566 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:04,319 take statements. He kept calling names for notes. Hethan you 567 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,119 were with Marco, he asked. I told him what I 568 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,799 could remember in short sentences. My hands wouldn't to stop moving. 569 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,359 I kept checking my pocket and the key ring, as 570 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,519 if acting would fix the absence. We pried the door. 571 00:27:17,279 --> 00:27:20,880 There were knocks. Something called his name. I said it 572 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,000 and heard how paper. Then it sounded in the quiet. 573 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:25,680 We pulled the Cara footage and watched it again in 574 00:27:25,759 --> 00:27:29,319 the office. The hole in the time sum remained, doubt 575 00:27:29,319 --> 00:27:31,279 of sink Soulwett returned and the monitor for a single 576 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,279 jump of frames. The figure's movement didn't t match what 577 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,640 we remembered in the footage. Marko's shadow fell on the floor, 578 00:27:37,799 --> 00:27:39,759 and then he was alone walking with me to Unit twelve. 579 00:27:39,759 --> 00:27:41,400 When I knew he had been beside me the whole time, 580 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,359 Officer Vigan nothing for a moment and then wrote time 581 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,240 stamp anomenally noted. He underlined the line with a pent mise. 582 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,160 Alvarez sat at the desk and oven the personnel viial 583 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,960 for Unit twelve, A yellowing note with a stamp red 584 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,839 bar read tenant disappeared file redacted. She tapped the redaction 585 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:59,160 with her finger nail and said, we closed that unit 586 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,039 after the insurance claim. We should tea have tenants in there. 587 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,839 Now I done tea. She stopped, folded the paper and 588 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:06,680 looked at me with her chim braced on her fist. 589 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,240 I felt the ground change under my feet. Doubt slid 590 00:28:10,279 --> 00:28:13,079 into me like cold water. Did I actually see Marco 591 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,680 step forward? Did the footage lie? My actions began to 592 00:28:16,759 --> 00:28:20,119 fracture into two accounts. One account had Marco beside me, 593 00:28:20,279 --> 00:28:22,920 pushing the pry bar, the other had him walking alone 594 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,880 in the grainy tape, I said aloud, I remember Marco 595 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,799 next to me. He was right there, But the tape 596 00:28:28,799 --> 00:28:32,480 and the room contradicted that memory. Officer Viga for written statement. 597 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:34,680 I wrote what I could and signed with the hand 598 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,400 that tremble mese. Alvarez insisted I fold the laminated roll 599 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,440 sheet and handed her. She smelled of coffee and sheep 600 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,960 hand soap. She took the sheet and opened it, as 601 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,839 if to refron that paper could still be authority. The 602 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:49,279 sheet edge was singed, a thin brown line that hadn't 603 00:28:49,319 --> 00:28:52,400 been there the day before. She looked at me and said, Ethan, 604 00:28:52,599 --> 00:28:55,160 you are sure he followed rule twelve. She named it 605 00:28:55,279 --> 00:28:57,880 in a tone that meant she suspected our breach had consequences. 606 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:00,559 I pressed my palm against my wall and thought of 607 00:29:00,599 --> 00:29:03,319 the missing tag. Felt arrived, like a physical thing that 608 00:29:03,359 --> 00:29:05,960 sat in my chest and ship my voice. I couldn't 609 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,200 he make the sentence finish without the metallic taste rising 610 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,599 in my mouth. We ran another sweep of the lot 611 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,039 with flashlights while Officer Vika coordinated a formal search. We 612 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,799 called the tenants on record. No one answered. The camera 613 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:19,839 showed nothing living in the unit beyond the toy and 614 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,200 the scratches. Each we prevealed small details, fresh scuff marks 615 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,359 with the light switch outside the unit, a faint smerror 616 00:29:26,359 --> 00:29:28,160 on the latch that looked like a child's hand, and 617 00:29:28,279 --> 00:29:30,759 a damned footprint on the interior concrete that stopped abruptly 618 00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:33,359 two feet from the wall. Marco's truck stail set where 619 00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:35,920 he'd a left it. The cabs smelled of motor oil 620 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,920 and sugar packets. I drove my hand along the seat, 621 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,720 as if that would offer proof he had been there. 622 00:29:41,359 --> 00:29:43,319 My hand came away with a gray smear of dust. 623 00:29:44,119 --> 00:29:46,559 I said, Marco would Tea have gone alone? He witty 624 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,200 offers of a girl. People do dumb things at night, Ethan. 625 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,480 I know night shifts, but this time stamp gap concerns me. 626 00:29:52,599 --> 00:29:54,599 His voice was flat and practical, the kind that shoves 627 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,519 questions into a list. Ac in the office mice Alvarez, 628 00:29:58,599 --> 00:30:01,640 an Officer Vige argued quietly but fiercely about how far 629 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,559 to escalate. Marco had been pulled into the threshold and 630 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,559 then gone. Officer Viga wanted to perimid a search and 631 00:30:07,599 --> 00:30:11,160 to contact homicide. Miss Alvarez wanted a written incident report, 632 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,880 and corporate notified quietly Marco's absence had become political and 633 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,960 that made me angry and scared Meis Alvarez, why not 634 00:30:19,079 --> 00:30:21,880 call them? I asked, why I keep this quiet? My 635 00:30:22,039 --> 00:30:25,200 question was sharp. She folded the sheet and said, because 636 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,160 when you call Cuprate you get lawyers, and when you 637 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,720 get lawyers, you get shutters on the doors. I can 638 00:30:29,799 --> 00:30:32,599 tee lose this place. She spoke like someone balancing rules 639 00:30:32,599 --> 00:30:36,440 and pyerrol. Officer Vigan interrupted, we will follow the report unseen. 640 00:30:37,079 --> 00:30:39,200 We will note a missing person and an evidence gap, 641 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:41,880 but if there's anything suspicious in the file, it'll go 642 00:30:42,039 --> 00:30:45,160 up the chain. I'm obligated to note it. He had 643 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,960 the conkidance of someone who has handled missing person paperwork 644 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,200 too many times. Miss Alvarez is draw hardened, and she said, 645 00:30:51,359 --> 00:30:54,119 do what YE must keep our tenants names out of 646 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,359 this unless you have to. The two of them move 647 00:30:56,559 --> 00:30:59,559 like two pieces, arguing about aboard. After they left to 648 00:30:59,599 --> 00:31:02,720 coordinate further searches. I sat with Marco's jacket in my lap. 649 00:31:03,279 --> 00:31:05,079 The jacket had a long smear and the sleeve and 650 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,759 a torn seem where someone had grabbed him. I ran 651 00:31:07,799 --> 00:31:09,920 my thumbs along the denim and found a single thread 652 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,599 of red cord under my finger nail. The red looked 653 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:14,839 like rust in my eye. I could not tell if 654 00:31:14,839 --> 00:31:17,400 it was rust or blood. I kept rubbing it and 655 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,759 telling myself I was doing something useful. That night alone, 656 00:31:20,799 --> 00:31:22,759 for the first time since the incident, I replayed the 657 00:31:22,799 --> 00:31:25,359 events and tried to find a pattern. The missing tag, 658 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,519 the knocks, the call, and Mocho's voice, the sudden pull. 659 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,480 Each detail was tactile. I put my palm flat on 660 00:31:30,519 --> 00:31:32,759 the corkboard in the office and traced the laminated rules 661 00:31:32,799 --> 00:31:35,400 with my finger. Roule eated a line that reef do 662 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,200 not let any one inside Genuit twelve under any circumstances 663 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,440 without signed authorization. The words were black type on white 664 00:31:41,519 --> 00:31:44,839 laminated paper. They meant something because the company had printed 665 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,759 and pinned them. I fell into two emotional shifts. Then 666 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,720 my suspicion shifted into fear when the snapping howl and 667 00:31:50,759 --> 00:31:52,799 the footage refused to a line with my body memory. 668 00:31:53,359 --> 00:31:55,640 Fear then shifted into guelp when I found myself thinking 669 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,400 of the time z id Bin lacks bout rules forgetting 670 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,079 to log a late tenant, letting someone parked save time. 671 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,960 Guilt tasted like metal. It made me check locks twice, 672 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:06,880 and this and twice. A mid chapter surprise arrived when 673 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,160 the office phone rang. It was a line from the 674 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,440 storage company corporate office. I picked up and held a clip. 675 00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:14,160 Woman say, we have a report of an incident at 676 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:18,039 Lot twelve. Keep this between management and law enforcement. Do 677 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,680 not discuss the prior closure of Unit twelve. She paused 678 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,400 and then asked Heathan Coal. Is that you my name 679 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,079 in him mouf felt like an accusation. I said yes, 680 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:28,960 and she told me to leave the site and away 681 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,400 A company investigate her. I refuse on instinct Marco's missing, 682 00:32:34,039 --> 00:32:36,799 I said, I need to be here. The woman repeated 683 00:32:36,839 --> 00:32:39,759 the instruction to leave and wait for corporate. She used 684 00:32:39,799 --> 00:32:42,559 a line about protocol and liability. Her end of the 685 00:32:42,599 --> 00:32:44,359 Coal felt like a hand pulling the scene into a 686 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:48,319 closed drawer. That was the twist. The company already knew 687 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,240 enough to demand containment. My suspicion turned into anger. I 688 00:32:52,359 --> 00:32:54,640 moved through the building and noticed details I had missed 689 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,640 in the early rush. The scorch mark in the corpoard 690 00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:59,559 corner where the rule sheet had been pinned, a faint 691 00:32:59,559 --> 00:33:01,920 smell of burned paper near the office trash, and a 692 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,079 smear of the same dark residue on the outer edge 693 00:33:04,119 --> 00:33:06,960 of the door frame. Each discovery pressed on the narrative 694 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,039 that something had been repeating here for years. I confronted 695 00:33:10,079 --> 00:33:13,359 my Salvarez, you knew this unit had a history. Why 696 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,599 didn't you tell Officer Viga, I asked, my voice held 697 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:19,039 quick edges. She looked at me and then at the 698 00:33:19,079 --> 00:33:22,000 sine paper and said, I didn't want panic. We have 699 00:33:22,079 --> 00:33:25,000 tenants who rent by the month. Paperwork scares people and 700 00:33:25,079 --> 00:33:29,440 they leave. We managed risk. Her answer was careful and practical. 701 00:33:30,119 --> 00:33:33,039 She ethan, you shouldn't have pride that door. Three short 702 00:33:33,079 --> 00:33:36,680 lines followed between us that turned into argument, Mese Alvarez, 703 00:33:36,839 --> 00:33:40,319 Marco's missing. Ethan, you broke portocoll if you had told 704 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:44,279 us earlier, Her reply had across me. If I told 705 00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:47,240 you earlier, we wouldn't have a job this week, Ethan. 706 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,920 The exchange was quick and felt like clyit's catching arm bone. 707 00:33:50,519 --> 00:33:52,480 I spent the next hour was walking the lot, searching 708 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,279 where it could without permission, and arguing intermittently with Officer 709 00:33:55,359 --> 00:33:57,960 Viga on the phone. I found a child's sticker stopped 710 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,599 to the inside of Unit twelve's far wall, stick appealing 711 00:34:00,599 --> 00:34:03,079 at the edge with the cotchin bear. I kept thinking 712 00:34:03,079 --> 00:34:05,599 of the toy on the floor. The sticker suggested some 713 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:07,480 one had been inside with the child or had brought 714 00:34:07,519 --> 00:34:10,960 in personal things recently that contradicted the company's claim of 715 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,719 an unused close unit. Then a new twist arrived. An 716 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,079 anonymous tenant came to the office and asked her retrieve 717 00:34:17,119 --> 00:34:20,000 possessions from Unit twel. She stood on the doorstep with 718 00:34:20,039 --> 00:34:22,639 a duffel bag and a voice full of tide defensive anger. 719 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:26,199 I need my stuff, she said, Unit twelve is mine. 720 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,480 I paid for that unit A mess Alvarez and I 721 00:34:29,559 --> 00:34:31,760 turned to her, and she said, I left for three nights. 722 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,719 I came back and my door was open. They me 723 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,559 it was closed. Now some one is missing. The woman 724 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:39,960 named herself as Teresa, and that name lodged in my 725 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,320 mouth like something I couldn't tea swallow. The conversation flipped 726 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,960 the direction of suspicion. Theresa she had a child and 727 00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:48,719 a job and needed her things. She produced her receipt 728 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,639 with the name that matched Unit twelve's file. Mees Alvarez 729 00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:55,480 paled and said, we had a proclaimed Teresa. They let 730 00:34:55,559 --> 00:34:58,159 someone else in. Some are may they deep in handling 731 00:34:58,199 --> 00:34:59,960 my account? She pointed at the court board and said, 732 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,159 you have a rual sheep pin there. I don't know 733 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,599 what it means. I just know I left my son's 734 00:35:05,639 --> 00:35:08,039 blanket there. Now there's a toy on the floor. Her 735 00:35:08,119 --> 00:35:10,960 hands shook when she said it. Two more motion shifts. 736 00:35:11,599 --> 00:35:14,119 My gilt shifted into protectedness towards Theresa when I saw 737 00:35:14,159 --> 00:35:17,519 the worry in her hands. Protectiveness then slid into purpose. 738 00:35:17,559 --> 00:35:19,599 When I decided to go back into Unit twelve with 739 00:35:19,639 --> 00:35:22,599 a plant to search properly, I told Officer Viga I 740 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:25,039 was stand by with him and helped coordinate a lawful entry. 741 00:35:25,679 --> 00:35:27,679 He agreed in the condition he led the entry in 742 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:30,519 that we waited for four more back up. Officer Viga 743 00:35:30,559 --> 00:35:33,199 returned with two uniformed officers and a canine that knows 744 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,079 the threshold, and then recoiled. The dog strained at the 745 00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:38,840 leash and mind not barking, as if it detected something 746 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,159 in the scent. Piager radioed for backup and for forensics. 747 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:44,480 He spoke to me in the brief phrases of a 748 00:35:44,519 --> 00:35:48,840 manishing orders, Ethan, stay here. Heap traffic controlled. Miss Alvarez, 749 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,760 you will remain on site. Theresa, you will wait in 750 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,960 the cruiser. No one touches the unit until we clear it. 751 00:35:55,599 --> 00:35:58,480 He had the authority I had wanted earlier. They opened 752 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,719 the unit properly, this time with the glove lights and 753 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,880 a flashlight that cut a cleaner edge than mine had. 754 00:36:03,559 --> 00:36:07,320 Forensics photographed everything. The dog castated at a shadow behind 755 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,800 a stack of plastic bins and then jumped back, leaving 756 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:11,719 a scrape on the concrete where its foot had tapped. 757 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,840 The searchers called names and checks spaces methodically. They found nothing. 758 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,400 In the far wall, they found a small bed mark 759 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:20,039 on the inner door frame and a child's stick, a 760 00:36:20,079 --> 00:36:22,320 stuck high enough to suggest a child had been carried. 761 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,480 Then the knocks darted again. Three sharp knocks, paused, three more. 762 00:36:27,199 --> 00:36:30,840 Everyone froze Officer Viga, who called Marco's name. He scanned 763 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,840 the group and asked, Ethan, did you call? I said no. 764 00:36:34,599 --> 00:36:37,840 Theresa covered her mouth and whispered, it sounded like Marco. 765 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,480 The dog whined and backed away. The unit's voice changed. 766 00:36:41,519 --> 00:36:45,519 Then the mimicry wasn't perfect the match Marko's cadence, but 767 00:36:45,599 --> 00:36:48,320 had a gap where brats should be. Officer Viga took 768 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:50,639 one stepped toward the corner, and the shadow in side 769 00:36:50,679 --> 00:36:53,920 the unit seemed to move in counterintuitive ways. He reached 770 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,280 the light switch near the threshold and the bulb exploded 771 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,760 in a shower of sparks. The light died entirely. The 772 00:37:00,039 --> 00:37:03,079 room became a bowl of black pole tight in that blackness, 773 00:37:03,199 --> 00:37:05,119 something grabbed at the air near the doorway, and then 774 00:37:05,159 --> 00:37:07,280 at a leg I heard the fabric of a pant 775 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:12,960 legged here. Officer Viga shouted back up, acup. We retreated instinctively. 776 00:37:13,639 --> 00:37:16,440 The caymanists nine wind and lunged, then barked once hard. 777 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:18,960 At a corner. We saw nothing except the movement of 778 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,679 a dust cloud in the flashlight beans. When the lights 779 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,199 came back, the floor had afresh with smear where a 780 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:27,119 shoe had been dragged. There was no one there. The 781 00:37:27,199 --> 00:37:29,840 forensics officer knelt and collected a sample, then looked up 782 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:31,800 at Mize Alvarez and asked for a list of anyone 783 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,440 with access. Miz Avauz produced the laminated sheet with her 784 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,840 hands pressed together. She the axis workerd shows only staff 785 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:41,760 and prayer registered tenants. Marcus signed out to Night on 786 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,440 his rounds. Her voice was low. She tapped the entry 787 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,400 with one finger. The forensics officer frowned and said the 788 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:50,199 S unit's log show tampering with camera time code. He 789 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,519 motioned to the monitor to show the jump. We have 790 00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:55,760 a twenty minute gap. We have a missing person, we 791 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,119 have a smear in a burn. We need a warrant 792 00:37:58,159 --> 00:38:02,800 to search beyond the unit statements. He disliked chicking boxes. 793 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,199 I wanted to smash the boxes. I wanted to grab 794 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,119 the laminated rules and teer them in half. Instead, I 795 00:38:09,159 --> 00:38:10,639 put my hands in the edge of the desk and 796 00:38:10,679 --> 00:38:13,320 felt them tremble. I had one last move I hadn't 797 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,639 he played yet. I walked to the cork board and 798 00:38:15,679 --> 00:38:18,840 took the folded roll sheet out of ims Alvarez's hand 799 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,360 when she wasn't he looking the edge where it had 800 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:23,960 been cined matched to new burns in the unit. The 801 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,000 sheet had a faint imprint on the back where something 802 00:38:26,079 --> 00:38:29,559 had been pressed into it and then burned away. Officer Vigamy, 803 00:38:29,679 --> 00:38:31,920 what I was doing, I said, I am in taking 804 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,400 this to evidence. It belongs with the report. He nodded. 805 00:38:36,039 --> 00:38:37,920 I slid the sheet into an envelope and stamped it 806 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,639 with my name as the witness. My hands were steady 807 00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,360 enough to write legibly. We closed the site for the night. 808 00:38:44,039 --> 00:38:47,519 Theresa left crying into her jacket. Mys Alvarez stood with 809 00:38:47,599 --> 00:38:49,800 her arms cross and refused to answer questions about the 810 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:53,320 reducted file, beyond saying Culprit would handle it. Officer Viger 811 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:55,079 drove me to the edge of the property and said 812 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:56,800 he did the right things for as long as he 813 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:58,920 did them, he heard, in a voice that tried to 814 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,360 be kind. I looked back at the dark line of 815 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,599 Unit twelve and felt my guilt titan and then loosen 816 00:39:03,639 --> 00:39:06,280 into a brittle thread. At home, I unfolded the raw 817 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,400 sheet again. The cinched edge was sharper in the kitchen light. 818 00:39:10,039 --> 00:39:12,320 On the back in a coroner I hadn't noticed. Some 819 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,159 one had scrawled a short note and then tried to 820 00:39:14,199 --> 00:39:17,079 block it out. Under the scorched paper inning were three 821 00:39:17,159 --> 00:39:20,199 letters I could still make out m R. The letters 822 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:22,719 could be the start of Marco's name. They could also 823 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,440 be an attempt to write something else. I turned the 824 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:27,280 page and found a small smear of the same Roust 825 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,079 red card in the crease. I called my Dalvarroze and 826 00:39:30,079 --> 00:39:33,599 asked for the file. She refused. I called off Sir 827 00:39:33,679 --> 00:39:36,599 Viga to ask whether the investigators had found anything further. 828 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,519 He couldn't tea share details beyond their official report. Both 829 00:39:40,559 --> 00:39:42,719 of them circled the facts like guards around a wound. 830 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,360 That made my anger find a shot point. I decided 831 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:47,920 I would not let a file at a cover note 832 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,760 be the last word for marker. The chapter closes with 833 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:54,400 a concrete movement. I folded the cinchral sheet carefully, slid 834 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:56,360 it into my wallet, and slid the wallet into my 835 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,039 back pocket. As I stood in the dark of my kitchen, 836 00:39:59,199 --> 00:40:02,119 a faint knocking ste arted against the window pane. Three knocks, paws, 837 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,480 three knocks, and then the sound cut off. I placed 838 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,159 my hand on my pocket and felt the corner of 839 00:40:07,199 --> 00:40:09,519 the folded paper press into my palm. I thought of 840 00:40:09,599 --> 00:40:11,679 rules and missing tags and a door left open, and 841 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:13,519 then I went back to sleep with a curing eny 842 00:40:13,639 --> 00:40:17,440 under my pillow. And that is the end. Thank you 843 00:40:17,519 --> 00:40:19,400 for listening, and I will see you in the next one.