Sophia Sullivan pushed open the laboratory door.
The sight before her made her pause mid-step.
The lab was in complete disarray.
Equipment lay toppled over.
Documents were scattered across the floor.
A group of employees huddled together, whispering.
When they noticed Sophia enter, they immediately surrounded her.
"Ms. Sullivan, something terrible has happened!"
"The lab was broken into last night!"
Sophia scanned the room.
Several perfume display cabinets had been pried open.
The expensive perfumes were gone without a trace.
A few precision instruments showed clear signs of tampering.
"When was this discovered?"
"We found it like this when we arrived for work this morning."
"Has an inventory been taken? What's missing?"
A bespectacled female employee handed her a list.
"Three limited-edition perfumes are missing—all posthumous works of the late master perfumer."
"Several rare base fragrance ingredients are also gone."
"The worst part is the instruments. Their internal programs were sabotaged."
Sophia walked over to inspect the equipment.
They appeared intact on the surface.
But when powered on, they emitted an abnormal humming noise.
Caleb Vance stepped forward from the crowd.
"Ms. Sullivan, this is suspicious."
"The lab's security is airtight. No outsider could have gotten in."
"And the thief clearly knew what they were doing—they only took the most valuable perfumes."
The other employees nodded in agreement.
"An ordinary thief wouldn't recognize the worth of these perfumes."
"It had to be someone on the inside."
Sophia turned to the security supervisor.
"Pull up the surveillance footage."
The supervisor paled.
"The cameras... the cameras malfunctioned last night."
Just then, Ethan Sullivan strode into the lab.
"The cameras malfunctioned?"
His voice was icy.
The supervisor trembled.
"Mr. Sullivan, we truly don't know what happened..."
Ethan's gaze sharpened.
"How convenient that they failed exactly when this happened."
Sophia gently tugged his sleeve.
A silent signal to remain calm.
She had anticipated this move.
Now was the perfect opportunity to see who else was involved.
Caleb feigned deep thought.
"Lab access requires both fingerprint and facial recognition."
"The last person to leave last night was Ms. Sullivan."
"Before that, it was Mr. Sullivan."
The employees exchanged glances.
Someone muttered under their breath.
"Ms. Sullivan has been spending a lot of time alone in the lab recently."
"She wouldn't let any of us near her work."
Caleb sighed dramatically.
"Ms. Sullivan, I heard you've been having financial difficulties."
"But no matter how much you love perfume, stealing company property is unacceptable."
A few employees chimed in.
"This is illegal."
"After everything Mr. Sullivan has done for you, how could you?"
Sophia listened in silence.
Her expression remained unreadable.
Encouraged by her lack of response, Caleb grew bolder.
"With no surveillance, there's no way to prove what happened."
"Ms. Sullivan, you should confess now."