Chapter Nine: The Missing Corpse

For three long seconds, no one moved.

The white sheet fluttered gently across the concrete floor, stirred by the cold air rushing through the underground ventilation system.

But the body beneath it...

Was gone.

"What do you mean, gone?" Inspector Mara Voss demanded.

One of the forensic officers looked ready to faint.

"I—I only turned around to retrieve the evidence case."

"The body was here," another officer insisted. "No one crossed the perimeter."

Voss's sharp eyes swept across the garage.

"Seal every exit!"

"We already have!"

"Then lock them again!"

Officers scattered in every direction. Heavy security doors slammed shut around the underground parking level, trapping everyone inside.

I stared at the empty sheet.

A dead man couldn't simply disappear.

Unless...

"He wasn't dead," I murmured.

Ronan heard me.

"No."

I looked at him.

"You don't agree?"

"He was dead."

"How can you be certain?"

"I checked."

"You checked his pulse?"

"I checked his eyes."

I frowned.

"What about them?"

"They were fixed."

A chill crept down my spine.

"Then who moved him?"

"Someone who reached him before we noticed."

Inspector Voss was already examining the crime scene herself.

She knelt beside the abandoned sheet, studying the concrete floor with remarkable patience.

Then she pointed.

"Stop."

Everyone froze.

She traced a faint trail with her flashlight.

Not blood.

Water.

Tiny droplets stretched away from the body toward the service corridor.

She stood.

"Follow it."

The officers immediately formed two search teams.

One headed toward the elevators.

The other disappeared into the dimly lit maintenance hallway.

Marcus swallowed nervously.

"Someone carried him?"

"No," Ronan replied quietly.

"He was dragged."

"How can you tell?"

"The water trail breaks every two meters."

I looked more closely.

He was right.

The droplets weren't continuous.

They appeared at regular intervals, almost like something had been dripping from fabric.

Or clothing.

My attention shifted back to the empty sheet.

"Elias was wearing a tailored suit."

Ronan nodded.

"Wool."

"It wouldn't leave water."

"No."

We looked at each other.

"The person moving him would."

Before either of us could continue, an officer shouted from the maintenance corridor.

"Inspector!"

Everyone rushed toward the voice.

The corridor ended at a heavy steel security door.

Beyond it lay the building's engineering level.

The officer pointed toward the electronic lock.

"It was opened less than three minutes ago."

Voss examined the access panel.

"By whom?"

The security technician connected a portable scanner.

His fingers danced across the keyboard.

"I can recover the entry log."

The screen flickered.

Then a single name appeared.

AUTHORIZED ACCESS

Chairman Adrian Vale

Silence settled over the corridor.

Marcus looked at me in disbelief.

"That's impossible."

Inspector Voss slowly turned.

"Is it?"

"My access card was already beneath the body."

"The system says otherwise."

"It can't."

The technician frowned.

"The access wasn't made using a physical card."

"What?"

"It was made remotely."

Ronan stepped forward.

"Explain."

The technician swallowed.

"Executive cards have emergency wireless authentication."

I felt my stomach tighten.

"Someone cloned my credentials."

"That's what it looks like."

Voss didn't seem convinced.

"Or the chairman is lying."

Ronan folded his arms.

"If Adrian intended to steal a corpse, why would he use his own credentials?"

No one answered.

Because there wasn't a good answer.

The inspector looked annoyed.

"I dislike criminals who make themselves look innocent."

"And I dislike investigators who mistake convenience for evidence," Ronan replied.

Before Voss could respond, another officer hurried toward us.

"Inspector!"

"What?"

"We found something in the ventilation room."

Everyone moved at once.

The engineering level smelled of oil and hot machinery.

Massive pipes ran across the ceiling.

Generators hummed behind steel cages.

Near the far wall, an emergency stretcher lay abandoned.

The wheels were still wet.

Voss crouched beside it.

"No body."

The officer nodded.

"But..."

He handed her a clear evidence bag.

Inside was a broken medical syringe.

Not an ordinary syringe.

Silver.

My breath caught.

It matched the injector used for my suppressants.

Ronan took one look and immediately frowned.

"This isn't Adrian's."

"How do you know?" Voss asked.

"The dosage markings."

He pointed through the plastic.

"This injector wasn't made for an Omega."

My heartbeat stopped.

He had said it aloud.

Several nearby officers looked confused.

Inspector Voss didn't.

She looked directly at Ronan.

"Why would you know that?"

The question lingered in the room.

Ronan didn't hesitate.

"My company manufactures pharmaceutical equipment."

"A convenient answer."

"It's the correct one."

She studied him for another moment before returning her attention to the syringe.

The technician scanned the barcode.

His expression changed instantly.

"Inspector..."

"What now?"

"This medication was manufactured by Helix."

My pulse quickened.

"What's inside it?"

He connected another analyzer.

The machine processed the residue for several seconds.

Then it emitted a sharp warning tone.

The technician stared at the results.

"I've... never seen this formula before."

Ronan stepped closer.

"What is it?"

The technician looked genuinely unsettled.

"It isn't a suppressant."

"What is it?"

He swallowed.

"It's designed to permanently alter secondary gender pheromone production."

The room fell silent.

Even the machinery seemed quieter.

Inspector Voss frowned.

"Meaning?"

The technician looked toward me without realizing what he was doing.

"If injected..."

He hesitated.

"...an Alpha could begin producing Omega pheromones."

Every instinct inside me screamed.

Someone hadn't wanted to expose my secret.

Someone had wanted to create confusion.

To make everyone question what was real.

Ronan slowly took the evidence bag from the technician.

His pale blue eyes remained fixed on the syringe.

Then he whispered something so quietly that only I heard it.

"They've started human trials."

Before I could ask what he meant, every light in the engineering level suddenly went dark.

The generators stopped humming.

Complete silence swallowed the room.

Then, somewhere in the darkness...

A man began clapping.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

A calm voice echoed through the blackness.

"Congratulations."

The voice wasn't familiar.

"But it knew us.

"You've discovered the first piece of Project Genesis."

The emergency lights flickered to life.

The corridor was empty.

Except for a single black envelope lying on the floor.

Across its front, written in silver ink, were three words.

For Adrian Vale.