Open Case File · DAILY-OZONE-HOUR
Empty
The municipal water treatment plant in Milkcreek, a small town in the American Midwest, shuts down its ozone system every night for inspection, then brings it back up before morning water demand rises. One October night, Elmer Bascom, who'd worked twenty years at this plant handling water quality and records, walked out of the ozone generator room on his own two feet and sat down on the office wing couch. He coughed, said he was fine, then by dawn his breathing grew labored and he was taken to the hospital, where he didn't make it through the day. Five people were on the plant grounds that night. Trace where the single word 'empty' came from and how far it traveled.
Scene
Operating municipal water treatment plant ozone contact chamber, generator room, and night control room · October, after the first frost
5 suspects
Warren CallahanPlant night operations supervisorStates the time first, then what happened. Never raises his voice, cuts his sentences short.
Della StantonPlant night water quality analystDeliberately separates what she saw from what she heard, and pushes the uncertain side back.
Brett NolanPlant night rounds inspectorSpeaks briefly, and when asked what he did, looks for the paper first.
Margo PritchardMunicipal water plant operations managerDoesn't hide dissatisfaction. Shakes or nods her head before the other person finishes speaking, signaling the answer in advance.
Curtis HolbrookPlant equipment maintenance technicianAfter a question, the answer comes much later. Doesn't smile, sharply divides what he knows from what he doesn't.
Exhibits
That night's handoff sheet and four months' worth bundled
A single-sheet paper kept clipped to a wall-mounted board. Twelve boxes in a row list room and passage names, with spaces in each box for condition, signature, and time. That night's paper has 'Empty' and a signature in the generator room box.
Generator room door records and that night's operations log
The generator room door opens with a card, and openings and closings are logged with timestamps. That night this door opened and closed once around midnight, and the next opening was at dawn.
His desk in the office wing
A flashlight and camera sit on top of a file folder. The folder is two years of night records compiled by date, with only 'Night Records' written on the cover.
Ozone pipe fitting and maintenance records
A temporary clamp is fastened to one pipe fitting in the inner passage behind the generator. From that passage to the door requires walking around the machinery. The maintenance records show this fitting item repeated over several months.
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Field Guide
One question = one turn. Examine the clues, shake statements with confrontations, question everyone, then accuse — there is no undo.
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