thefictionvixens Chapter 61 Caspian
Chapter 61 Caspian
After Edmund left the room, Smith immediately brought Caspian back in.
At the same time, something was placed in front of Luo Qiu.
A thick notebook with the words "Alarm and Anomaly Record Book" written in large characters on its blue cover; this is the daily work record of the control room.
Opening the book, one finds over twenty pages filled with content. Written in red and blue ink, the handwriting varies between pages. Several pages also have specks of coffee stains.
Luo Qiu flipped to the records from the evening of April 26th:
[22:15, Showcase No. 3 in Exhibition Hall (cat triggered), handlers: Edmund, Derek, result: no anomalies.]
[22:52, at the exterior window of the exhibition hall (suspected to be caused by wind), handled by: Derek and Edmund, result: no abnormality.]
[23:22, Display case #5 in exhibition hall (suspected of being blown away by wind), handled by: Edmund and Derek, result: no abnormalities.]
……
The alarm was triggered 15 times in one night, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., which is about once every half hour.
Luo Qiu had always known that audible alarms had this problem; due to their mostly mechanical structure and complex design parts, they had a relatively high failure rate. However, this alarm frequency was clearly abnormal. A review of the previous records showed that initially, such alarms only occurred once every hour or so.
Undoubtedly, the abnormal parts are related to the gem replacement operation. And these abnormal parts...
Starting from the 16th, the fifth day of the exhibition's opening, the number of police calls suddenly jumped from an average of five to eight.
However, an operation was planned from the fifth day of the exhibition, but was not launched until the last day.
Luo Qiu couldn't figure out the logic behind it for the time being, so he set it aside and focused on exploring other parts, which soon yielded some other gains.
The number of calls made before 1 a.m. last night matched Edmund's account, which was six. There were also four more calls made after 4 a.m., with Edmund and Caspian listed as the handlers.
The recording after 5:30 was interrupted by Derek's death.
In addition, one of these fifteen records was written in red ink:
[1:08, Showroom 1 (sound), Personnel: Derek, Caspian, Result: No abnormality.]
Display case number one is where the rubies are stored. Any disturbance here is marked with a red pen. Judging from the records, this anomaly was likely handled by Derek, as his name is written first in the record. This might be a recording method used by the control room operators after learning that a colleague was conducting a solo inspection.
Of course, this information still needs to be confirmed with the control room staff.
……
After reading the record, Luo Qiu looked up and shifted his attention to Caspian.
Caspian was a burly man, weighing over 80 kilograms, a size larger than both Derek and Edmund. He wore an ill-fitting uniform that looked rather tight.
Unlike Edmund, Caspian sat down casually upon entering the room and said directly:
"Agent Smith, Agent Rowling, feel free to ask me anything. As for the patrol... you two should have heard about it. It was Derek and Edmund's idea, and of course, I didn't object."
Luo Qiu didn't put pressure on this kind of person. After listening to him finish speaking, she naturally continued the conversation by asking:
"From what you're saying, Derek and Edmund are on good terms?"
"They really are close. Edmund always brings snacks to work. He never shares those with me; Derek usually eats them with him. Of course, I don't like those things either. I read the newspaper, and neither Derek nor Edmund can read the words."
"Understood. So, from 10 PM last night to 1 AM this morning..."
"I was sleeping. This was arranged. I fell asleep and was not woken up by Edmund until 1:4. I have no idea what happened in between."
Luo Qiu nodded: "Then tell me about what happened after you woke up."
"When I woke up, Edmund was already lying in bed. Derek's eyes were a little red, but he said he wasn't tired, so I didn't think much of it. Just then, the alarm went off, and I was about to go out when Derek got up and stopped me, saying that he would handle any alarms before 2:30 a.m., and I would take care of the rest."
"Derrick made a similar request a few days ago. At that time, I noticed he wasn't in a good state; he probably hadn't rested well and wanted to finish his patrol duties while he was still sober, so I didn't pay much attention."
"I stayed in the lounge reading magazines until 2:30 a.m., during which time Derek went out three times. The second and third times were almost consecutive. He had just come back when the alarm went off again. He was still a little out of breath, and I asked him if he could handle it. He said he didn't need any help."
"Later, after 2:30 a.m., I started waiting to go on patrol. Around 2:50 a.m., I went out once, and there was no movement in the exhibition hall. I came back around 3 a.m. At that time, I saw Derek put a large cup of coffee on the table."
"Around 3:40, the alarm went off again. I went out to check and came back at 3:55."
"I remember the situation very clearly because I was just about to go to the restroom and had planned to ask Derek for a few minutes. But when I came back, only Edmund was sleeping in the lounge, and Derek was gone along with his mug; he must have gone to the coffee machine."
"I waited in the lounge for three minutes, but Derek still hadn't returned. I figured I only had two minutes left, and if the alarm kept going off, Edmund would get up to deal with it too, so I went out first."
"After leaving the lounge, I walked towards the restrooms. The coffee machine was around the corner, so I couldn't see it, but I heard people talking. One voice was Derek's, and the other was probably the supervisor's, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. And after they heard my footsteps, they fell silent."
"Afterwards, when I returned from the washroom, Edmund had already gone on his patrol. I saw that Derek was very excited and didn't rest, so I thought he had gotten some information from talking to Mr. Carter. I asked him if Mr. Carter still had this kind of work. But Derek didn't say anything."
"After 4:30, I went on patrol again. At 5:10, Edmund went on patrol, and that's when Derek finished his coffee. I was reading a story in a magazine at the time and didn't pay close attention to Derek's condition. I just heard him say that he was a little sleepy and wanted to rest, so he lay down on the bed."
"Around 5:40, I went on patrol. After walking around, I was a bit sleepy. Since Edmund was on the next patrol, I took my mug and went to the coffee machine. When I came back, Edmund was leaning against the bed. He quickly got up when he saw me come in. I don't know what he was doing at the time, but as I walked past him, his arm bumped into me, and a few drops of coffee spilled on Derek..."