Case of the Poison Powder Chapter 3
Margaret Mitchell Mysteries - The cozy cousin of Carson Crime Files
The Case of the Poison Powder
(Miss Chapter 2? Find it Here)
Chapter 3
The next morning, Margaret stepped into the security office at AgroSynthetics. The room hummed with machinery, its walls lined with monitors showing frozen images from the night before. A faded OSHA poster hung crooked beside a calendar stuck on December.
Chris Webb, a man in his late forties with graying temples and the rumpled look of someone who’d started work before sunrise, stood up from behind his desk, knocking over a tower of Styrofoam cups. He made no move to pick them up.
“Ms. Mitchell,” he greeted her. “Thanks for coming in this morning.”
“I appreciate you making the time, Mr. Webb,” Margaret replied, returning his handshake. The man had a firm grip—the kind that came from actual work, not just gym sessions.
Chris gestured to an uncomfortable industrial gray chair. As Margaret sat, she noticed him reach for sunflower seeds on his desk, cracking one between his teeth and depositing the shells into an overflowing coffee mug that read “World’s Okayest Security Manager.”
The mug should have been funny, but something about it felt sad instead. Like he’d given up before he started. Margaret noticed a stack of past-due notices barely hidden under a trade magazine.
The office had a lived-in staleness. Stale coffee, old sunflower seeds, and something else Margaret couldn’t quite place. Desperation, maybe, though that might have been projection. A motivational poster about “Security Through Vigilance” hung askew behind his desk, next to a child’s crayon drawing of a stick figure labeled “MY DADDY” in uneven letters. Chris didn’t wear a wedding ring, Margaret noticed, just a pale band of skin where one used to be.
“So,” Chris said, depositing another shell into the mug, “you want to know more about our security system.”
Margaret nodded, shifting slightly in the chair. It made a rather undignified squeaking sound. “Yes, I’d like to understand how it works, especially in relation to the incident involving my client, Sade Jalloh.”
Chris leaned forward, his fingers tapping lightly on the desk. “We have a pretty robust system in place here. Every employee has a unique badge, and these badges are equipped with RFID technology.” He emphasized the acronym with pride. “Whenever a badge is swiped at any entrance or restricted area, it’s recorded in our system—time, date, location, everything. It’s all very precise.”
He turned to a monitor on his desk, bringing up a digital readout that displayed a series of time-stamped entries. The screen had a thumbprint smudge right in the middle. “For example,” he continued, cracking another sunflower seed, “this is the log for the storage room where the theft occurred. As you can see here, Sade’s badge was scanned at the door to the storage room at 11:47 PM on the night in question.”
Margaret leaned in slightly, studying the screen. The interface reminded her of the timekeeping software at her old law firm—simple columns, clean data. She’d watched the office manager use that system once, fixing an error where someone had clocked in twice.
“And these records are accurate?” she asked. “There’s no possibility of a mistake?”
Chris shook his head, reaching for another seed. “The system is reliable. We’ve never had any issues with it before. If a badge is scanned, it’s logged here.”
Margaret frowned, crossing her ankles. The chair squeaked again. “But what about the security cameras? You mentioned that they were bypassed.”
“Yes,” Chris said, his tone turning serious. He set the bag of seeds down. Apparently this warranted his full attention. “Whoever did this knew what they were doing. The cameras went down at exactly 11:30 PM, and they didn’t come back online until 1:00 AM. During that time, there’s no footage of the storage room or any of the corridors leading to it.”
“And Sade’s badge was used during that window,” Margaret murmured, more to herself than to Chris. She tapped the armrest, thinking. “The police don’t believe her alibi.”
Chris nodded, resuming his seed consumption. “That’s correct. They think it’s too convenient that the cameras went down right when her badge was used.”
Well, it is awfully convenient, Margaret admitted to herself. But convenient for whom?
She sat back in the squeaking chair, deciding to embrace it. “What can you tell me about Sade? Do you know her well?”
Chris sighed, his gaze dropping to the sunflower seed in his hands. “I didn’t know her well, but she was a good employee. Quiet, kept to herself.” He paused, something softening in his expression. “But I liked her. Always said good morning, asked about my weekend. She didn’t seem like the type to do something like this.”
“What was her role here?”
“She was the storage manager,” Chris explained. “But I can’t think of a good reason why she’d want to steal a bunch of pesticides.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Margaret nodded, her thoughts mirroring his. Outside the office, someone walked past wheeling something that squeaked worse than her chair. “And the security feed? Would Sade know how to bypass it?”
Chris hesitated, then shook his head more firmly. “I doubt it. The system is complicated, and it requires a certain level of expertise. Sade is smart, but this kind of thing… it’s not something you just pick up on the job.” He cracked another seed. “You’d need to know your way around networks, security protocols. It’s specialized knowledge.”
Margaret leaned forward again, feeling a small spark of possibility. “So if Sade didn’t do it, that leaves the possibility that someone else used her badge. Is that possible?”
“It’s possible,” Chris admitted, meeting her eyes. “With the cameras down, someone could have used her badge without being caught on video. But how they got it…” He spread his hands.
The heater kicked on with a rattle that made Margaret glance at the vent. “Who else had access to the storage room?”
“There are only three people. Sade, myself, and Nick Liu, the director of Research and Development.”
“And where was Nick on the night of the theft?” Margaret asked, keeping her tone casual but curious.
Chris frowned slightly, picking up a pen and clicking it. “Nick wasn’t in the office that night. In fact, he’s not in today either.” He shrugged. “But he’s not the type to get his hands dirty. He’s more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy.”
Margaret made a mental note to look into Nick Liu further. “And you? Where were you that night?”
Chris’s expression didn’t change, though the pen-clicking stopped. “I was at home. I’ve already given the police my alibi, and they’ve verified it. I’m cooperating fully with the investigation.”
Margaret smiled sweetly. “Just for my own understanding. What time did you leave work that evening?”
“Five-thirty, like usual,” Chris said without hesitation. “Went straight home, had Chinese delivered around seven. The police verified all of it.”
“I appreciate that.” Margaret made a note, though something nagged at her. Chinese delivery verified he was home at seven. But the theft happened at 11:47 PM. Four and a half hours later. Alone in his house. With no one to confirm he stayed there. She’d seen weaker alibis held up in court before. Barely, but they’d held.
She shifted forward slightly. “Now, you mentioned the security system requires specialized knowledge—networks, protocols, that sort of thing. Who here at the facility would have that expertise?”
Chris clicked the pen once. “Well, I do. It’s part of my job to know the system inside and out.” He paused, considering. “Nick and his team designed the system when they installed it three years ago, so he’d certainly know his way around it. And most of my security personnel would have at least some working knowledge. Not all of it, but enough to potentially cause problems if they wanted to.”
Margaret filed that away. “And when was the last time Sade used her badge before the night in question? Do your records show that?”
Chris turned back to his monitor, pulling up another screen. “Let’s see... yes, here. She clocked out at 5:15 PM that day, swiped her badge at the main entrance. That’s the last use we have on record before...” he scrolled down, “11:35 PM, main entrance, then 11:47 PM at the storage room door.”
So someone had gotten hold of her badge sometime between 5:15 PM and 11:47 PM. Six and a half hours. Margaret made a mental note of that window. “Do you know if Sade’s badge has been accounted for since the theft?”
Chris shook his head, reaching for his seeds one more time. “As far as know, the police have it.”
“One last thing, Mr. Webb. This director, Nick Liu—you said he wasn’t in the office the night of the theft and he’s not in today either. Is that typical for him? And do you know where I might find him?”
Chris frowned. “Nick keeps his own hours, I’ll say that much. He’s more of a night owl, comes in late, stays late. But missing work entirely?” He shrugged. “I honestly couldn’t tell you if that’s normal for him or not. We see each other in passing, maybe exchange a few words at the quarterly meetings, but that’s about it.”
“Do you have his contact information? An address, perhaps?”
“I can get you his office number and email from HR,” Chris offered. “As for his home address, you’d have to go through official channels for that. Privacy policy and all.”
Margaret stood, the chair giving one final squeak of protest, and extended her hand. “Thank you, Mr. Webb. You’ve been a tremendous help.”
Chris stood as well, wiping sunflower seed salt on his pants before taking her hand firmly. “Of course. And listen—” he paused, looking almost uncomfortable. “I hope you can help her. Sade, I mean. She seems like a decent person.”
“I’ll do my very best,” Margaret said warmly, meaning it. “That’s a promise.”
As Margaret left the security office, her low heels clicked through the sterile hallways. The pieces were forming a picture, though not a complete one. Someone with technical knowledge had taken Sade’s badge between 5:15 PM and 11:35 PM, bypassed the security cameras but left the badge logging system intact. And Nick Liu, who designed the system and had full access to the storage room, was conveniently absent.
Margaret had learned long ago not to believe in coincidences.
She needed to find Nick Liu. And she needed to talk to Sade about what happened to her badge.
Stay tuned for Chapter 4, next week!
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