If Vance was right, and they just "found a way around the security," then how did they get into two separate locked rooms before sunrise?
I needed to see the lab again. I needed to see if they left anything behind.
I closed my locker and followed the green trail back the way I came. The school was quiet, everyone locked in their first-period classes. I reached the door to the AP Biology lab. It was closed now, the rubber wedge removed.
I peered through the narrow wire-mesh window in the door. The room was empty. The janitorial staff hadn’t arrived to clean it up yet. The shattered glass was still on the floor. The massive puddle of green paint was still spreading across the tiles.
I pushed the handle. To my surprise, it clicked open. The lock hadn't engaged.
I slipped inside, closing the door softly behind me. The smell was overpowering. I walked carefully around the edges of the room, avoiding the slime. I walked over to the desk where Zoe had fallen. I scanned the floor, looking for a dropped phone, a receipt, anything. Nothing.
I moved to the center of the room, where Chloe had landed. The paint was thickest here. As I looked closer, I noticed a shape partially submerged in the green sludge.
I grabbed a wooden ruler from the nearest desk and reached into the puddle, using the ruler to fish the object out. I dragged it across the floor until it was clear of the main puddle.
It was a black lanyard attached to a hard plastic badge.
I knelt down and wiped the green slime off the face of the badge with my paper towel.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
It was an Oakridge Academy master keycard. The kind that granted access to every door in the building, including the maintenance closet and the science labs.
But it wasn't a generic staff card.
Printed clearly on the plastic, right below a small magnetic strip, was a name.
Arthur Vance. Principal.
I stared at the name, the pieces of the puzzle violently snapping together in my mind.
Vance hadn’t just been patrolling the halls. He hadn’t just stumbled upon the fight. He had given Chloe the keycard. He had authorized this. He had helped her set up the trap to destroy my presentation.
And when he saw me walking out of the office, he knew I was leaving. He knew the evidence was still sitting in the puddle.
I slipped the keycard into my skirt pocket just as I heard the heavy, distinct sound of dress shoes echoing down the hallway, heading straight for the lab.
CHAPTER 3
The footsteps were moving fast.
I scrambled to my feet, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. There was nowhere to hide in the brightly lit lab, and only one door leading to the hallway. I bolted toward the back of the room, throwing myself into the narrow gap between the heavy steel supply cabinets and the emergency eye-wash station. I held my breath, pressing my back against the cold wall.
The door handle clicked loudly.
The door swung open, hitting the rubber stop on the wall.