7:15 AM sitting in the parking lot waiting to make my way into the lab to get the day started. Typically at this time I have had some breakfast and I have my coffee, ready to get the day started. Today is different though, I had hardly slept this weekend because I was trying to formulate a plan about what to do about LeDrito. Each night I sat up awake wondering if I should just call the cops and let them deal with this mess. Honestly, as a rational man, that is what I would do in any other situation where I had thought my boss, friend and mentor had been a victim of some violent crime. There is something about this that still doesn't make sense and I worry the cops would think I were going crazy if I told them everything I had seen and read on that Friday night. I don't have to tell them everything, I suppose. The journal entries from Anthony can just stay in my possession and I could tell them I saw what I thought was a bullet hole in the back window of the LeDrito residence. That same gut feeling I had the other day continuously resurfaced, I had to keep following it. Greg typically hears me out and gives solid advice so I am going to speak with him when I get a chance today. I can't tell him everything either but I can hint at some strangeness and hopefully he doesn't pry too hard. I'll need to limit my interactions with Mattis today. He really has been on my ass since Dr. LeDrito has been MIA. After 10 minutes of silence and coffee chugging it was time to make my way into the large, blocky sterile building that is our lab and begin my work day.
There is one thing that still continues to shake me to my core... the bullet hole. It really looked like it was fired from within the house. I panicked and ran back to my car so I can't be sure. I will need to head back there tonight to prove this to myself. All I need to do is get right underneath the window and see if there is some glass at the ground. If there is then that means something must've happened within the LeDrito residence. From what I can see, there was no forced entry. Maybe that is why I can't get myself to get the authorities involved. I hope I am wrong.
The workday dragged on forever it seemed. I am just going through the motions so no one questions me at this point. To be honest, I feel like I have never been more efficient. I didn't want anyone to notice that something was up so I continued working as best I could. Every task that was assigned to me, I completed without question. It was to the point that I think all my colleges were looking at me as a model employee. Everyone but Mattis, that is.
"Looks like you finally dropped this LeDrito nonsense, huh?" Mattis inquired.
"Yes sir! I just need to get back to work at this point. Nothing I can do about a man taking leave, right?" I replied as nonchalant as I could.
"Yes, that's exactly right. Glad to hear you finally came to your senses."
"Alright, I have a lot of work to catch up on. Gotta get to it." This is perfect. Mattis may think he is the smartest one in the lab but I have him wrapped around my finger at this point.
"One more thing..."
Dammit.
"You haven't worked this hard since your first week on the job." Mattis said with a probing tone. "Almost like you have been snooping around and don't want anyone asking questions."
I sat there dumbfounded for a moment. There's no way Mattis is actually on my case right now. Unless he had been following me last night. Wait a minute... no way. Mattis was the last one in the lab on Friday night and there were no headlights in sight when I got to LeDrito's house that night. This has to be a test.
"You think you are the only one that has access to LeDrito's files?" Mattis was laughing in my face at this point.
"What are you even talking about at this point? We have all been working on the same project for over a year at this point." His droopy face stared blankly at me almost expecting me to slip up in my explanation.
"Is there something specific you would like to bring up or are you just trying to pick a fight with me at this point?" I laid it all out now. "Because I have a lot of work to catch up on with LeDrito being out and all."
Mattis sat there for a moment almost looking defeated. "That's a good point..." He responded after an uncomfortable 30 seconds. "I'll leave you to it. Good work today." Mattis said this with an eerily wide smile with not a single emotion in his eyes. As he stepped out of LeDrito's corner office, which I have claimed as my own in his absence, he paused for a moment. "By the way..." Mattis said as the smile faded from his face. "Anthony is a little shit starter... wild imagination on that boy. He always has a couple screws loose."
He clocked the shocked look on my face as he closed the door, the smile returning to his poorly aging face. This time with an actual twinkle in his eye. From behind the closed door I heard him grumble, "With that little diary out of LeDrito's office, maybe you can get some real work done."
My whole body ran hot for a moment. Did Mattis really find the papers that LeDrito had found in Anthony's room? How could I get to the bottom of this without the breadcrumbs that had been left for me?
I opened the top right drawer where I had found the diary. It was still there. Thank God. I noticed the bottom drawer was still slightly cracked open. I slid it open and saw there were manila folders aggressively ripped out of place and there was one more photocopy of the diary sitting at the bottom of the drawer. The page was ripped and all I could make out was one sentence.
"I know my dad has been taking his work home with him and he is testing out his now vaccine on Aunt Ruby."
Mattis may be as smart as they come. But I am grateful he didn't have the same spare set of keys the LeDrito had entrusted me with. I am moving this diary to my apartment ASAP.
5:00 PM. Good enough for government work. It's time to head back to LeDrito's and take a look at what I had potentially missed on the previous Friday night.