Someone was calling him. Decker glanced at the number, but had no way of knowing who it was; there was no name attached to the number on the screen.
He turned back to the wall and used his knuckles to tap against the wood at various spots.
Finally he reached a spot where the sound evidenced a hollow space. This was where the boxed jersey was hanging. He kept knocking against the wall here until he had mapped out a space roughly the size of a large door.
He felt around the edges but without success. The moldingswere covering them.
He looked down at the carpet in front of this space.
It looked a bit frayed there, as though something might have been routinely rubbing against it.
He looked back up at the wall and decided to try something simple. Placing his finger against the edge of the hollow space, he pushed in.
Nothing happened. He kept pressing in other spots.Finally, near the ceiling, which he had to stretch to reach, he struck gold. There was a medallion up there and it appeared to be a bit loose. Decker tried turning it clockwise, but it wouldn’t move. Then he tried counterclockwise. It moved like a doorknob.
There was a click and the hollow part of the wall swung open. It partially caught on the carpet, which accounted for the wear.
It was a clever mechanism, Decker could see. There were three metal deadbolt shafts on the side of the door, one at the top, one in the middle, and one near the floor. Turning the medallion in the direction that he had caused all three deadbolt locks to recess into the door, allowing it to be opened.
Decker pulled the door all the way open and looked inside the revealed space.
It was about two feet deep and lined with shelves. That accounted for the two-foot-smaller footprint of the office. This space had been used to accommodate this storage closet. Whoever had put it in couldn’t simply recess the closet into the original footprint without moving the entire wall back, because of the hallway behind it. And if he had moved only this space forward, leaving therest of the wall in place, it would have looked suspicious.
On the shelves were rectangular-shaped cardboard boxes.
Decker picked one up. There had once been a label on it, but most of it had been peeled off and there was no information left on it to help him.
He looked over at a shredder set next to the desk and wondered if that had been the fate of the labels.
Probably.
He counted the number of boxes. There were twenty.
He carefully unpeeled the tape from one of the boxes and opened it. Inside was a thin layer of bubble wrap. And under the bubble wrap were a number of plastic bottles. They were all full of a white granular substance.
Thinking quickly, Decker put one bottle in his pocket, closed up the box, carefullyretaped it, and put the box back on the shelf. He swung the door closed.
He glanced down at Ross’s chair. The seat was scuffed and marked and he knew why.
Decker was six-five. Ross was about five-nine. Unlike Decker, he had to stand on the chair to reach the spot that would open the door.
After checking through the blinds to make certain the hall was clear and thenleaving them open, as they had been, Decker made his way out. Passing by the reception area, he spoke to the same woman.
“I actually couldn’t wait any longer. You don’t have to tell him I was here. I’ll catch up with him another time.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“No, thankyou. Oh, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Is there a gym here for the employees?”
“A gym? No. Why?”
“Last time I was here I saw a gym duffel in Ross’s office. I thought it might have had workout clothes inside.”
“It probably does. He works out at my gym, right after he leaves here. Like clockwork. I sometimes work out with him. Doesn’t hurt to get in good with the boss.”
“Right. Does he change here or at the gym?”
She looked puzzled. “Atthe gym. They have locker rooms and showers.”
“Well, good to know he’s keeping in shape,” said Decker.
Really good to know, he thought as he hurried out.