Mystery by the Sea

by David Sal

  “Okay, look. They’re ready to go in,” Edgar said to Lorenzo. “Remember, don’t say anything to anyone. You’re mute,” he reiterated without getting any answer or reaction.

  Lorenzo got out of the car to meet up with the strangers. While he was crossing the street he reviewed the instructions laid out by Edgar. He could not deny that, at first glance, it was a very simple, albeit risky, plan. He had to enter the building as part of this group, contracted to perform cleaning services in the complex’s offices and bathrooms. They would, as usual, report to the guard, who would provide them with the private office keys so that they could enter to sweep, mop, and empty the garbage cans. Lorenzo would work with them until they arrived at Irma’s office, which they would open for him. While Edgar’s program was doing its job, Lorenzo would clean the office. Once he was done with his tasks, Lorenzo would leave the building with the group and no one would ever be the wiser. Additionally, Edgar had given him a cellphone with wireless headphones so that he could give him instructions on how to perform the operation and to offer him moral support. Lorenzo was to communicate with him as soon as he gained access to Irma’s office.

  “Good evening,” greeted Lorenzo, trying to smile at the group. No one responded to his greeting. Instead, they shoved a hat and a pair of work overalls into his hands, which were identical to the ones they were wearing. Lorenzo pulled on the overalls and sunk his head into the hat. One of the men closed the van and headed toward the main entrance.

  Lorenzo felt a cold tingling on his cheeks when he saw the security guard leave his booth and head toward the gate. He realized it was a bead of sweat but told himself that it was from the hot overalls and hat. It was already a hot and humid night to begin with. He rejected the idea that it could be from nerves. At least, not so soon. He breathed a sigh of relief when the guard opened the gate without asking questions and greeted the workers with just a nod of his head. He imitated the greeting without looking at the guard’s face. Then they were directed to the main door where another guard, with the last name García, was sitting in his chair waiting for them. When he saw them he stood up and took out a key ring, using one of the keys to open the door for them. As soon as they entered the lobby, the guard greeted them with jokes and smiles. Lorenzo could see that he knew them well. He even called them by name.

  “Tell me, Carlos, who’s this guy?” the guard asked the oldest man in the group, pointing to Lorenzo, while they walked toward the reception desk, which was toward the back, in front of the elevators.

  “He’s new. We brought him to see if he makes the cut,” answered Carlos in a joking tone. Lorenzo pretended to be distracted looking at the floor.

  The guard sat down in front of the desk and opened one of the drawers. On top of the desk was a monitor that showed the signal from the security cameras throughout the office complex. The monitor showed an image of six different cameras simultaneously, which rotated to show the twenty-four cameras that made up the complete system. Out of the corner of his eye, Lorenzo tried to see if any of the cameras showed the inside of an office. From what he could see, only the hallways, common areas, and the building exterior were covered by the security cameras. Good news.

  Lorenzo lowered his head again with his hands shoved in his pockets. The guard gave Carlos the office keys. Then he said something unexpected.

  “Tonight you can only clean the second and third floor.”

  “What about the fourth floor?” asked Carlos with a big gulp.

  “Don’t touch it. The daytime staff are taking over the cleaning,” elaborated the guard.

  “I don’t understand. Why? We have a contract,” said Carlos, trying to get the guard to let them enter the floor where Irma’s office was located.

  “Orders. No one can have access to the fourth floor outside of business hours. That’s the way things are now since Pedroza passed away. Didn’t you hear about that? But don’t you guys worry. They’ll pay you the same for less work,” stated García to the bewildered quartet. Bad news.

  Lorenzo felt as if a stream of cold water were pouring down his forehead. His clothes inside the overalls stuck to his body, soaked in the sweat being exuded by every part of his body in industrial quantities. As soon as Carlos received the keys he pushed the elevator button, which opened its doors practically upon contact. The four entered, with Lorenzo being the last to do so with two very difficult steps. When the elevator closed its doors, the gazes of the three accomplices became riveted on Lorenzo. Carlos pulled out one of the keys from the ring and extended it toward Lorenzo, who stared at it intently.

  “Here’s the key you need. But you have to go up alone. Do you want to?” Carlos asked, waiting for a definitive answer from Lorenzo.

  Lorenzo did not answer; he could not answer. For one second he analyzed if he should carry out his mission, under circumstances very different from what he had expected, with so much at stake. All of this in spite of the rush of adrenaline that was flooding his system at that moment.

  The elevator door opened to the second floor. Everyone but Lorenzo stepped out. Carlos shot him one last glance that told him he had only a second to decide.

  “Give it to me,” said Lorenzo on reflex, almost just for the sheer curiosity of seeing what would happen if he risked it.

  Carlos tossed the key in the air and it sailed between the doors just as they were closing. Lorenzo caught it without a problem, held it tightly, and dialed a number on the cellphone that Edgar had given him.

  “Edgar? I’m in the elevator headed up to the fourth floor. But I’m going alone because they’re not allowed to clean there,” announced Lorenzo, shaking from nerves.

  Edgar opened his eyes and jumped in his seat, almost hitting his head on the roof.

  “What? Wait, don’t leave the elevator!” Edgar shouted into the phone. But it was already too late; Lorenzo was outside the elevator, standing in the middle of the dark hallway.

  “I’m already out, why?”

  “The cameras! They can see you on the cameras! Quick, go in the first door to your left,” begged Edgar.

  Lorenzo jumped like a spring, pushing the door with his shoulder and colliding with the wall inside. Completely unaware, all of Lorenzo’s maneuvers were in plain sight on one of the security monitor’s screens in the reception area. The guard sat down in his seat at precisely the moment that Lorenzo disappeared through the door. He did not see him.

  Lorenzo looked around in the almost darkness.

  “Edgar, this is the women’s bathroom,” Lorenzo informed him, worried.

  “I don’t think you’ll have any problems with that at this hour,” joked Edgar while turning on his laptop. “Okay, I’ll have to help you here. Wait.”

  “But how? You don’t even know if they saw me.”

  “As long as you don’t hear alarms and sirens, we’re okay. Don’t worry. All’s not lost,” said Edgar while nimbly typing away at the keyboard, his eyes dancing from side to side in front of the bright screen. “I’m going to try something I created a while ago, to see if it works. Remember, when you leave, don’t take the elevator. Use the stairs.”

  Sweat rolled down Lorenzo’s face and he had to open his mouth to get enough oxygen to his lungs.

  “Edgar, what do I do? I feel like I’m suffocating,” asked Lorenzo while touching his neck.

  An ear-to-ear smile broke out on Edgar’s face.

  “I’ve got it. It worked,” Edgar informed him, pleased.

  “What?” asked Lorenzo quietly.

  “I connected to the security camera’s video signal. I’m looking at what they’re looking at. They can only see six cameras at a time, perfect. When your area turns off, it’s time to get a move-on. Wait for my signal,” Edgar instructed.

  “But how the heck did you do that?” asked Lorenzo in disbelief.

  “Don’t ask,” Edgar answered elusively. “Okay, listen up. When I tell you to, take off running. Okay? Run for your life because you won’t have much time.”

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sp; “How much time?”

  “Just enough. You have to run toward the hallway, take the first left, then the second right, and right again toward the back, right door. Got it?”

  “Umm…I think so…did you say the second…?”

  “Now, run!” cut in Edgar, shouting.

  Lorenzo shot from the bathroom and turned at the first left he found, running smack into the wall since the polished floors caused him to slip. He kept going in the half-light between the cubicles in the office’s main area. He took the second right and then the next right until he reached a door at the back, which he tried to open unsuccessfully.

  “Did you get in yet? They’re about to change. Move or they’re going to see you,” warned Edgar with his eyes locked on the screen.

  Lorenzo desperately searched his pockets until he found the key. His hands were shaking so much that it took him until the third attempt to get the key in the lock and let himself in. At the moment he stumbled into the office and closed the door, the camera that passed directly over that area turned on. Edgar breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Just in time. We’re okay. You scared me, man,” said Edgar, gasping for breath.

  “I scared you?” asked Lorenzo dryly. “Okay, I’m going to the computer.”

  Lorenzo pulled out the chair and sat down at the desk. He pressed the necessary buttons on the computer tower and monitor to turn them on. Oddly enough, that simple and familiar step gave Lorenzo a moment of relaxation. Relaxation that lasted just that long, one moment.

  Below, in the main entrance, a woman knocked repeatedly on the door’s glass windowpane. García, the guard, smiled when he heard the expected drumming. As if he had been seated in his chair for decades, he strained to get up and headed slowly toward the door. Once he opened it, he greeted the woman and handed her the money as she passed him three plastic bags filled with food.

  “Enjoy and have a good evening,” said the woman, waving goodbye. The guard returned the wave and went back to the reception desk in better spirits, where he grabbed a walkie-talkie.

  “Colón, the food’s here,” he reported into the radio, smiling. “Come down before it gets cold.”

  “I’m on my way. I’ve just got the fourth floor left,” answered Colón, who was making his round on the third floor.

  “Come down now and finish later,” insisted the guard at the reception.

  “No, amigo, that’s what you want. I’m not going up again. It’s your turn next round,” answered Colón while shining his flashlight around the inside of an office with glass windows and the curtains drawn.

  When he heard the second guard on the monitor, Edgar felt as if he had been injected with a frozen fluid.

  “Oh, no,” Edgar muttered to himself but loudly enough for Lorenzo to hear.

  “What happened?” asked Lorenzo immediately.

  “An additional guard making his round. He’s on the third floor. Calm down,” explained Edgar, forcing himself to remain calm.

  “I am calm. The only thing I feel is overheated and my heart beating too quickly,” responded Lorenzo.

  “Oh, good, then I’m calm, too,” said Edgar without taking his eyes off the screen.

  On Irma’s computer monitor a window popped up with a message that horrified Lorenzo.

  “Edgar, we have a problem. It’s asking for a password,” Lorenzo notified him, alarmed.

  “Geez, finally. That’s not a problem, I was expecting that. Put the USB in now,” instructed Edgar.

  Lorenzo followed the instruction and watched the screen without blinking. There was no change in the message. Actually, nothing happened.

  “Okay, now what do I do?” asked Lorenzo impatiently.

  “Nothing, absolutely nothing. Just wait,” said Edgar, trusting in his program.

  But nothing was happening. The idea that it had all been for nothing and that Edgar’s “invention” would not give them the hoped-for result started to seep into Lorenzo’s mind. Just then, he saw that the window that had asked for the password was replaced by one that simply said: “Searching.” The message was accompanied by a bar that indicated the percentage of the operation’s progress completed by the program.

  “Okay, now. It finally got in. It’s working. I can’t believe it,” said Lorenzo, letting out a sigh of relief.

  “Perfect, my little friend is working. Don’t touch anything,” warned Edgar. That should have been a moment of calm, but the fact that Edgar saw the guard on patrol coming out of the elevator on the fourth floor would not allow it.

  Powerless, he watched how the guard stopped in front of the bathroom door that Lorenzo had left half-open when he took off running just moments earlier. Colón grabbed his radio to report it.

  “García, did you leave the bathroom door open?” he grumbled.

  “I didn’t go into the fourth floor bathrooms,” replied García with his mouth full of food.

  “You did the first round,” Colón reminded him.

  “It was closed,” insisted García, annoyed.

  Colón turned on the light inside the bathroom and gave a quick look around. After verifying that everything was in order, he turned it off and shut the door. “Now it’s closed,” he said to himself.

  As soon as Colón resumed his patrolling, entering into the cubicle and office area, Edgar decided to alert Lorenzo.

  “Warning, I think you may have company,” he said, trying not to alarm him.

  “The guard?” asked Lorenzo, jumping up from the chair and peeking out of a slit in the curtain that covered the window. He could not see anything in the darkness.

  “He should be passing by in a few moments,” estimated Edgar.

  Unlike his colleague who was nonchalantly eating in the reception area, Colón was meticulous at his job. Night after night was uneventful, but that should not make you careless. He walked slowly, deliberately, shining his flashlight into every corner, illuminating what, from the darkness, could not be seen by the naked eye.

  Edgar saw on his screen what looked to him like the glow of a light emanating from below Irma’s office door. The guard drew closer to that door.

  “Lorenzo, do you have the office light on? Turn it off!” ordered Edgar.

  “Of course not, why?”

  “I see a light coming out from under the door.”

  “It must be the monitor. I’ll cover it,” said Lorenzo, moving away from the window and scanning the office with his eyes. He was looking for something he could use to cover the light coming from the monitor. He found a sign announcing a seminar, folded it in half, and hung it on the front of the monitor screen. It effectively shut out the light that was escaping through the crack under the door.

  Outside, Colón walked in front of the office door. Lorenzo stopped in his tracks behind the door, not breathing. He did not want to chance it with such an insignificant detail as breathing. Colón stopped right in front of the door, which was the only thing separating him from Lorenzo. Why doesn’t he leave? Lorenzo wondered, exasperated. Seconds felt like minutes.

  With a crackle that made Lorenzo shudder, Colón’s radio transmitted García’s voice.

  “Will you be much longer?”

  “No. I’m finishing up,” reported Colón.

  “Come on, already. I’ve got a job for you.”

  “It’s just that I’m in front of an office and I could have sworn that the computer or monitor was on. I can feel it. You know, that sound that you can’t hear but you can feel,” Colón explained to his partner.

  “No, I don’t know. That’s only for people like you who have super powers,” said García jokingly.

  “I’m going in,” Colón informed him while searching for his key-ring. Lorenzo froze.

  “Let it be, man! If they left it turned on, they probably did it for a reason. Don’t snoop. That’s an order,” said García, annoyed.

  “Okay, fine,” responded Colón, hanging the key-ring back on his belt. “What were you going to send me to do?”

  �
�Go to the second floor, please, and ask the cleaning staff if they’d like a coffee or something to eat. They brought us extra,” requested García.

  “How many of them are there?”

  “Four.”

  “Okay. I’m going down now.”

  Lorenzo listened to García’s instructions with terror. If he did not hurry up, he would be absent for the head-count. As soon as the guard moved far enough away, he pulled off the sign covering the monitor to examine the progress bar.

  “Edgar, how much of this is left,” asked Lorenzo restlessly.

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  “The bar shows 83%,” reported Lorenzo.

  “A few minutes longer,” said Edgar while watching on the screen as Colón abandoned the floor. “Look, good news, the guard’s gone,” announced Edgar calmly.

  “Bad news. He left because he’s headed to the second floor to see the cleaning group,” explained Lorenzo, triggering another panic attack in Edgar.

  The elevator opened its doors at the second floor, allowing Colón to exit. At first glance, he did not see anyone in the hallway. The brightness on this floor, which was completely lit up, momentarily hurt his eyes. He continued moving through the hallway until he found one of the employees in overalls mopping the floor between the cubicles. When she saw him, she gave him a friendly smile.

  “Marta, where’s Carlos?” asked Colón.

  “I don’t know. He’s probably working in one of the offices,” she responded without stopping her work.

  “How many of you are there?” probed the guard.

  “Today there’s four of us. They brought a new guy,” answered Marta without taking her eyes off her mopping.

  “Mm hmm…what’s his name?”

  “I don’t know. He just started today,” answered Marta with indifference.

  “Do you want coffee?” offered Colón, receiving an instant yes from Marta.

  The bar changed to 98%. Lorenzo was afraid he was going to dig a hole in the floor from pacing back and forth so much. Edgar asked every ten seconds, without fail, how much was left to process, which Lorenzo was convinced he was doing while watching the clock.