Screaming into the Void

"And do you think that Mr. Jenkins reciprocated those feelings?" Sara Chekov flinched at the question. "It was nothing more than a crush, Sinje wouldn't put a marriage at risk." 

Cole fiddled with one of the knobs on the small rectangle in his hands. Sara was in Alyx's office being questioned, and it was Cole's job to make sure that she did not send any messages to Sinje. The device in his hands acted as a sort of jammer, but it was essential to continually shift its frequency, to make sure that nothing slipped through the cracks.

As a bonus, the device also allowed Cole to hear the conversation happening in the closed room. Alyx had thought that it would be better if she talked to Sara on her own; she felt that the questioning might damage the friendliness that Cole had cultivated with Sara.

"Did Sinje ever talk to you about Jake Jenkins?" Alyx's voice was uncharacteristically sharp. "No, so I could be wrong about all of this. Yeah I am probably making this up, this is a waste of your time." 

"You don't believe that, Sara." Cole imagined that Alyx had added the extra intensity to her voice because she thought that it was necessary to get Sara to answer. Alyx's usual bored voice would not elicit the same panic in Sara as her pointed growl.

"Fine. I am good at noticing Sinje's feelings, and there was definitely more than feelings of respect between her and Jake." Sara blurted out.

"Ok. Now explain why Sinje reacted so badly to Mr. Jenkins' death, if her feelings were lost to the void, with no hopes of being satisfied?" Cole wondered if Alyx's eyes were sharp and focused, like he had seen her that night on the roofs.

"Love is not rational." Sara protested. "Maybe she was content that he was happy, and his death ruined that feeling. Are you saying that it isn't sad that a man died?"

"It's love now. I thought it was only a crush." Cole could hear the smirk in Alyx's voice. "Why didn't you have such a visceral reaction to his death? Ms. Hopkins' report on the department outing only mentions how shaken Sinje appeared."

"Yes, Mr. Jenkins meant more to her than to me, but that doesn't mean that Sinje would act on her feelings. Sometimes it is nice to have a fantasy to chase, a void to shout into that will devour your words and keep them from the rest of the world." Cole felt there was some sense in Sara's words, but apparently Alyx didn't agree.

"Ok,,, I understand your opinion now. You can go, I have more leads to explore." Alyx sighed. "You can tell Sinje about this conversation if you want."

"Can you just leave Sinje alone? You should be able to tell that she wouldn't kill Jake." Sara stood up, and from her words, Cole could tell she wouldn't tell Sinje. If she had managed to keep it a secret that she knew Sinje's feelings for Jake Jenkins, then Sara was not about to spill now. Even after Alyx's firm questioning.

"Hmmm." Alyx harumphed dismissively, making it easy for Cole to realize that she was not done with the thread. From her interrogation, Cole had begun to doubt Sinje. Maybe the woman had killed Mr. Jenkins in a fit of rage, because he was someone she could never have. That line would fit with her display of grief. Was that the moment she realized what she did? The moment that her guilt caught up to her?

Cole sat quietly in his office as he heard Sara making her way to the elevator. Due to the way that the elevators in the company worked, there was no worry that Sara could make her way back to their floor. Still, it would not be a good idea for Cole to reveal that he had been listening.

A few minutes later, Alyx pushed open the door, without knocking. "You should go back to Resource Management. It's not time to confront Sinje, but someone else might know something."

Cole wasn't sure that Alyx was right, Sara was very perceptive and the others did not seem to care about their coworkers enough to notice. 'Maybe Jam.' He thought to himself, walking towards the elevator.

Jam was not very helpful. Cole decided not to be direct with his questions because he didn't want to spread rumors. He had hoped that Jam would instantly bring up Sinje, or there might be a hint in the man's eyes. Yet when asked about office romance, Jam squinted at Cole as if he was an idiot.

There was still a chance that Jam knew something, and was protecting Sinje, but from their conversation, Cole was more inclined to believe that Jam never noticed. While the man was incredibly friendly and easy to talk to, Jam was not the most attentive. Almost like he was not completely present in conversation.

Cole frowned as he left Jam's office. Had he misjudged Jam? 'One person can't fix every problem.' Cole shook his head, trying to figure out his next course of action.

"Hey Cole." A voice called out to him, and Cole noticed Jan crouched down near an opening in the wall. "Please wait there for a second. Can't have you spooking them." 

Cole stopped, wondering what Jan was doing. Jan reached into a bag on the ground, and put on a large brown glove. Jan tapped the glove a few times, causing it to shift to better fit his hand. Once it had settled, Jan reached into the hole in the wall. 

Cole waited patiently as Jan pursed his lips moving his arm in the wall. A few seconds later Jan pulled his arm out of the wall. Cole blinked in surprise as he saw a fat rat in Jan's grip.

The creature struggled and squeaked, but could not break free before Jan threw it into a canister. He swiftly flicked the side of the tube and the rat suddenly became quiet. Cole took a closer look at the canister, realizing that it was an apparatus that converted matter into energy.

As Cole took in the machinery, Jan reached into the wall a few more times, pulling out rats of different sizes, and tossing them into the canister. His face was expressionless as he finally took the glove off, and looked up at Cole.

"Can't let an infestation take hold. Rats can make a mess out of a building in no time." After Jan packed away the canister, his usual smile returned. "How can I help you today?"

Cole quickly forgot about the rats as Jan reminded him of his task. Maybe the cleaner could help him. "Do you remember who went into each other's offices in the past month or so?" Jan was often in the hallways, so Cole hoped that he might have noticed if SInje spent a lot of time in Mr. Jenkins' office.

"I am not sure I would remember, but come with me. I might have some records." Jan took an oblong device out of his bag, waving it over the hole in the wall. After a few seconds, a fresh patch of wall crumpled into existence. It had the same tired wallpaper, but looked a little cleaner than the rest of the wall. Jan put the device away, lifting his bag onto one shoulder as he led Cole to his room. After his bag was thrown onto a crowded shelf, Jan walked to his desk, sat down, and blinked his eyes.

Cole waited silently, Jan's glassy eyes indicated that he was looking at something on his screen. After a few minutes, Jan's eyes regained their sparkle and he spoke. "Security is technically another part of my job. Not that it is necessary, but that means that I can check door logs to see if they are opened at unusual times. I can't say that I often look at them though, so don't get me in trouble with higher ups."

Cole smiled, the company had so many measures in place that security did not seem like something that was necessary. Well, discounting the murder that had occurred.

"There, I sent you a list of some logs that seemed a bit off to me." Jan grabbed Cole's hand. Cole was about to thank Jan, but as he did a quick scan of the information that was sent, he froze.

He had not had high hopes that the cleaner would help with his investigation into Sinje, but the logs flashing before his eyes painted a clear picture. Hidden among the heaps of data, there were an abnormal amount of times where Mr. Jenkins and Sinje's door logs matched up. Sinje would open her door, and a few minutes later Mr. Jenkins' door would open.

Cole's mind flashed as he considered the meaning of the logs. It was almost certain that Sinje was having an affair with Mr. Jenkins. There was no other good explanation as to why the two would meet so frequently. Sinje did not hold a high enough position to have so many meetings with the assistant supervisor.

Cole frowned as he thought of the shaken Mara, who had no idea of her husband's infidelity. Cole expression worsened, his stellar image of Mr. Jenkins was shattered with the discovery.

"Thank you Jan. I have to go now." Cole rushed out of the room, he was excited to see what Alyx would do with the information. He still wasn't sure if the existence of the affair was enough motive to pin Sinje as a killer, but one thing was for certain, she was not screaming into any void.