"Certainly. I would welcome the company. Shall we check out the people's lodgings to see what can be discovered there?"
"Hrm...I think we should try the sites of the thefts first. If any of the missing were staying with their family or friends I don't think they'd appreciate us poking around, at least given the general attitude around here."
Alright, you two head to the theft sites with the Sheriff. We'll recruit a deputy and hit up the homes of those taken. We ran down our other leads yesterday and found, essentially, nothing. Here's hoping we're luckier today.
Phineus, the deputies on duty seem somewhat displeased when it comes to going with you, but are willing to go without much prodding. They play rock-paper-scissors and the loser grabs his heavy coat to take you out.
Quinton and Marcus, you grab the keys to the Sheriff's truck and are easily able to load up.
I believe that I am driving the sheriff's car.
That leaves Kaylee and I to head out to the homes. We'll report in around lunch unless we find something earlier.
He heads out with the sheriff's deputy and directs them to the first home of a missing person on the list.
The deputy, Miguel Santano grumbles a bit but grabs his coat and goes with you. The closest home, in physical proximity, is that of Li Zau. Miguel drives you there and notes that he was a part of the investigation when it started. He claims that it was well searched already and seems a bit bored when he pulls up and lets you through the Sheriff's seal on the door.
Once inside the small home looks normal - it seems as if everything was set normally for someone leaving - dishes are put away, beds are made, etc.
When you all arrive you are greeted by Mariah St. James, the woman in charge of the construction yard. She isn't sure when the theft first occurred, given that she isn't at the site every day, but she can confirm that it was later than the break in at the General Store. While you are poking around she checks her records and notices that another spool of cable and some additional steel bars have gone missing since she reported the original theft. She notes, however, that this time she's had a video camera installed and offers to show you the footage.
From the footage (you have sufficient Plot Points to get all information) you see the following:
The theft happened only a week ago. The video catches a truck pulling up in the middle of the night when no one would be around. The chain around the gate is cut. The people involved are wearing heavy coats with hoods pulled up so they cannot be identified. Mariah notes that the truck appears to be the same one that was stolen from the motor pool.
As the gate is being opened, two of the four enter the office for the storage yard, which is located just outside the gate by a couple minutes. When they return, they climb back into the truck and head into the yard.
The truck is seen leaving less than 30 minutes later. As they close the gate, it appears they replace the cut chain and lock. The padlock is biometric and Mariah quickly checks a cabinet and announces that a lock is missing from her spares.
The movements of the thieves seem odd, as though they have a limp of some sort. Three of the four exhibit the limp. The only one who seems normal also appears to be a reluctant participant, who is always being watched by another of the four. He is one of the pair that enters the office.
Marcus goes about getting the details on the missing equipment from the woman, confirming whatever they already knew and noting anything they didn't:
"What do ya figure is the capacity of that elevator if they were to set it up?" he asks "And these biometric locks: do they need to be set up at a terminal or something or do they come ready to go out of the box?"
"Also, do you recognize that truck?"
"You'd need to set the locks up if you wanted to key in specific individuals. But hang on," she says, moving over to a record terminal. "Looks like someone accessed the inventory from a public account. They searched for all of the items that went missing."
"As for the size of the elevator...who knows. Depends on the dimensions and the depth. It is hard to tell how much raw material it would take to construct something without knowing more information. The truck though looks like it matches the one stolen from Presidia's motor pool."
"Could we get a list of everything that was searched for? It could be that they took something that people don't currently know is missing."
"Hrm...maybe we can at least figure out which terminal they used to access the network." Marcus starts slowly typing away at the unfamiliar machine as Quinton continues the interview.
Marcus, you are able to very easily find the terminal and it is here in the office. As noted it is a public terminal that is generally used for the checking of inventory and logging in deliveries.
Quinton, Mariah nods and punches in a few buttons. She gets up and walks over to a printer and hands you a print out. As suggested, it matches the list of items stolen. While they did not search for specific quantities, they did search for the storage locations of each item taken.
"What's it take to set up one of these biometric locks? Would they need anything besides the lock itself to do it?"
Mariah shrugs a bit. "Some basic technical knowledge and at least a wristcomp to program it. The locks aren't anything special, just intended to provide a little security and track who accesses restricted areas."
"Well I appreciate the cooperation Ma'am. I think that's all we'll need less you got something else you'd like to tell us. I'm sure the Sheriff'll be along later to get an official report on the new theft." Marcus tries to be as sincere as possible considering the somewhat poor reputation they have among the populace so far.
With very little questioning, Mariah tells you the location of the motor pool, which is actually back on the edge of the town proper. She notes that the Sheriff has been by for the initial theft, but that she's glad to be of help if he comes back for the more recent and previously unnoticed incident.
"I think we should head to the motor pool and update the others in route."
The GPS in the truck fairly easily navigates to the town motor pool. There you are greeted by a young man with ruddy skin that clearly is used to manual labor named Christian. He confirms that a single 5-ton flatbed was stolen sometime between sunset and sunrise on the night of the theft Mariah noted.
The trucks are not locked up, but the keys to all of them are stored in a cabinet that anyone with a license to access them can open. Most of the townspeople have a license, but the cabinet was forced open on the night of the theft.
Marcus talks to Christian, trying to get a better understanding of the situation. "So how exactly did they get into the cabinet? Did they bust it open with a tool or pick the lock or something else?"
You check through the logs of maintenance which are made available to you, albeit it grudgingly. The logs seem normal and it seems that the truck was in good operating condition. It was not the closest truck to the entrance of the yard, but Christian confirms that it was, on the night of the theft, the closest flatbed of in its size class to the entrance.
"I'm not a detective. But you are welcome to take a look at the cabinet yourselves. Right this way," he says, showing you to the cabinet. It is fairly easy to see that it was forced open rather than having the lock picked. And with a small amount of investigation, it appears to have been forced open by something similar to a crowbar. It doesn't look like a job that was intended to be concealed and whoever broke in just seems to have wanted to get into the cabinet without thought to covering it up afterward.
"Looks like they were in a hurry then, would I be correct in guessing that his facility has no camera system that would have recorded this theft?'
"Indeed. I think they needed an equipment truck, and they took the first one that met their requirements."
Christian shrugs, "Most of the townspeople have a license for these vehicles, so we've never had a need for a camera system. So far only the one truck was taken and that's why I'm here. We started having people keep watch just in case."
Looking around makes it fairly easy to verify those claims. The area seems designed mostly to discourage a casual theft, but clearly wasn't terribly well fortified against a determined thief. Notably, no other vehicles are moved or vandalized, it seems like they got what they wanted and just left.