Chapter 80: I Rest My Case

Bjorn, Jessie and Kate kept completely quiet as the logic behind Jamahl’s line of reasoning was beginning to sink in. They then all turned their heads in unison as they waited for this young Sherlock Holmes to elucidate them on this ‘BUT’ he had just added.

Jamahl looked back at all three then added, “ ... BUT ... but they didn’t use a ladder, did they! They used ... they used one of these dumpsters over there! Here look at this.”

Jamahl walked over to the middle of the vehicle access way then looked down at the ground. The others followed suit and looked down at the ground were Jamahl was standing.

“I had just jacked off for the second time standing right here. My semen landing splat on the ground right by your foot, Kate.”

Kate retracted her foot immediately but not before seeing the three large scratch marks gouged in and along the concrete concourse.

Jamahl pointed at those marks then at a series of other similar gouges that only became visible if you really looked. Those other marks lead in a slightly wavy fashion from one of those high windows and straight back to the nearest dumpster bin on the other side of the access way.

“I reckon ... I reckon...” went on Jamahl, “that someone forgot to bring the step-ladder and had to resort to some of the strong guys in the group lugging, bumping and dragging this thing over to there. I also reckon it would have been empty a week ago making it just that much easier to move. If you give it a good hit with your shoulder, Bjorn, I think you could move it a bit even now. Go on ... have a go.”

Bjorn didn’t look to sure about this but did it anyway. He gave the dumpster a good jolt with his shoulder making the thing wobble and creak about on its metal feet.

“See” said Jamahl. “If Bjorn can make it do that when the bin is a good quarter full then I reckon five or six strong men could easily lug the thing over to that window. I also believe that the window would have been left unlocked and gone unnoticed by the security team doing the lock up after the wedding function.

Jessie Harper was giving all this some serious thought before she added, “Well, I guess that would explain that sudden metallic bump we all heard and ignored. But what about the internal alarm system? No alarms were set off and there is no record of anyone with security clearance shutting off the alarms once we had all left. Wouldn’t someone climbing in that window and others coming in through that door set something off in the hall were all the mess was?”

“And that” said Jamahl, “is probably the one piece of the puzzle I can’t prove as yet. But ... but again ... my guess is that the hall is only alarmed at those new security doors down the end there. As for motion sensors ... I reckon you will find that there are only one or two sensors in the entrance way coming up to the room and none in the function room itself. Going in and out through that ‘secret door’ and keeping well away from the foyer area of the room would in all probability set nothing off at all. Once they had all done their damage the group could close that little window tight again then exit through the ‘secret door’ then push it shut ... job done until ... until the cleaners turned up!”

All four in that little group just stared at each other in silence until they all heard that distinctive sound of an approaching vehicle. Jesse Harper ran softly to the corner of the building and peered around into the car park.