Superposition by David Walton Page B

that Kelley was at the scene at the time the murder took place.”
    â€œWhat evidence is that?”
    â€œA pair of size twelve New Balance athletic shoes left footprints in the victim’s blood. Bloody tracks from those shoes were found in a clear path leaving the bunker, then traveling up the stairs of a maintenance exit leading to the forest.”
    â€œAnd were these shoes identified?” Haviland asked.
    â€œYes. Jacob Kelley was still wearing them several hours later, when he was apprehended by police.”
    Haviland shuffled his notes to let this revelation sink in before continuing. “One more question, Officer. Did you examine the door that led to this secret underground bunker?”
    â€œYes, sir,” Lin said.
    â€œCan you tell us your findings?”
    â€œThe door had been fitted with a fingerprint recognition lock.”
    â€œCould you explain to the jury what a fingerprint recognition lock is meant to do?”
    Lin faced the jury and shrugged in a way that communicated that of course they all knew what it was already. “It’s meant to permit entry only to certain, designated people, based on their fingerprints.”
    â€œJust entry? Does that mean anyone could lock it?”
    â€œNo, I’m sorry. The lock is an electromagnetic bolt that can only be activated or deactivated by the designated person. To be locked, the door must be closed, and the lock can only be engaged by a person whose fingerprints are recognized.”
    â€œIt can’t be locked by an approved person when the door is opened, and then closed by someone else?”
    â€œNo. The mechanism can only be activated when the door is closed.”
    â€œSo the person who locked and closed the door must have been one of the people whose fingerprints were programmed into the locking mechanism.”
    â€œCorrect.”
    â€œHad the lock been reprogrammed since Mr. Vanderhall’s death?”
    â€œNo. The internal computer logs clearly showed the lock programming had not been changed in years.”
    â€œHow many people was this lock programmed to allow to enter the room or lock it?”
    â€œTwo.”
    â€œWho was the first?”
    â€œThe deceased, Mr. Brian Vanderhall.”
    â€œAnd the second?”
    She nodded toward me. “The accused, Mr. Jacob Kelley.”

CHAPTER 9
    UP-SPIN
    He was dead. Brian was dead. I felt for a pulse, though there could hardly be any doubt. His skin was cold. There was a lot of blood on the floor. I realized it was on my shoes and backed hastily away.
    A Glock 46 lay tossed on the floor in a corner. I was pretty sure it was Brian’s gun, the same one he had fired at Elena.
    Marek had his phone out, but he shook his head. “No reception.” There were call stations every mile along the tunnel, so we would have to drive to one of those to call the police.
    My hands were shaking. I was trying to look anywhere but at the body. A pair of microscopes on a central table drew my attention. It occurred to me that whatever Brian had been studying was probably what got him killed. I peered into one of them. I couldn’t see anything.
    â€œShouldn’t we go?” Marek asked.
    â€œWe can’t help him now,” I said. “And there’s something here he wanted me to see. I just want to take a look, before the police come and trample everything.”
    I searched for an electrical box, found it under the table among the snaking cables, and switched it on. Equipment hummed as it came to life and cooling fans spun up. I fitted my eye back into the microscope’s eyepiece and adjusted the focus. A digital readout told me the magnification and scale. The object in the scope was a tiny piezoelectric resonator, barely more than a micrometer in length, but gigantic compared to the size of an electron or any other particle in the quantum world. It took me a little tinkering to figure out the setup, but once I did I was able to send