He was mildly disappointed to hear the two scientists talking in hushed voices from the other room -- he'd been hoping to be able to gather some information before he left for the night and was already on a tight schedule. He grabbed his cleaning supplies and slipped unseen into the lobby where he planned to begin his lurking until they left.

Jade: "…really like pepperoni. What if we did half and half?"
Glass: "Or two pizzas so we can have leftovers, like I've been saying all along."
Jade: "Fine, but you're paying for it."
Glass: "You're getting tomorrow's dinner."

Jacob's mind began to wander as he wiped down the counter in front of him and moved on to the mundane task of emptying out wastebaskets in the main lab. He registered the movement of a third individual as he reached a discarded dirty coffee mug at one of the far workstations and instantly recognized a face he'd seen many times in the local paper.

Jade: "Mr. Stone! How was your vacation?"
Andy: "Wonderfully dull. I'm glad I caught the two of you before you left for the night."
Glass: "Jade wasn't about to let us leave until we'd seen you."
Andy: "Is that so?"

Jade: "Well it's just that it's been so long since we've had a chance to touch base with one another, that's all."
Andy: "So the project is continuing to go well, I assume?"
Glass: "Quite well indeed. We've started work on the third phase of testing which will take us through the end of May."
Jade: "Things are looking really fantastic at this point."

Andy: "Wonderful. It's nice to get good news for a change. Maybe the three of us could meet for lunch some time next week and go over some of the details."
Glass: "I'm afraid I'll be attending a conference starting this Sunday so I won't be able to join you."
Andy: "That's right, we'd talked about that a few weeks ago hadn't we. The one down in Los Angeles?"
Glass: "Yes, that's the one. You don't have to reschedule on account of me, I'm sure Jadey can bring you up to date just fine on her own."

Andy: "Excellent. How does Monday sound? I'll have a car come by and pick you up from the lab."
Jade: "Monday is good for me."
Andy: "Great! Now if you both will excuse me, I was on my way home for the evening. I think you should both do the same thing. I don't need you two over-working yourselves."
Glass: "I was just about to order us a pizza before we headed out."
Andy: "Great. Miss Akira, I'll see you Monday. Mr. Akira, I hope your conference goes well."

Jacob paused when he realized Andrew Stone was staring straight at him.

Andy: "The place looks nice -- I don't think it's ever been this tidy. I'll put in a good word for you with your agency."

Jacob nodded once, remaining expressionless as Stone approached him. He only wanted everyone to go home, not sit and chitchat with him all night.

Andy: "What's your name?"
Jacob: "Jacob Towans."
Andy: "You're a man of few words."
Jacob: "Yes."
Andy: "Smart boy."

Stone smiled openly before turning and heading back out the doors of the lab.

In less than ten minutes, Jacob found himself finally alone. He wasted no time disabling the security cameras before settling in at one of the computers. The files weren't even encrypted, though they were far above an average person's understanding.

It took only a few minutes for Jacob to fully understand just what was going on inside Stone Laboratories, and it didn't have anything to do with looking for a cure for cancer. It was only mildly interesting to him -- his curiosities lay in what, if anything, the lab had to do with Emily Laine's experience earlier in the year.

He very quickly found his answer buried in one of many subdirectories.

He'd been right, of course. She'd been given a sedative laced with chemicals found in the datura plant, which he'd seen several varieties of in an adjacent greenhouse. It didn't take much imagination to figure out how they'd hidden the drug from the lab scans after coming across a few sheets of handwritten notes. Only a few short years ago he'd have thought the idea of real magic completely absurd, but then he'd also thought vampires were nothing more than a Romani myth updated and romanticized in modern pop culture.

He began printing pages of documents to study at home, making a mental note to fill Emily in on what he'd found the next time they saw one another. When he'd finished exploring the files on the computer, he quickly and thoroughly covered all his tracks. He was by no means done with exploring what mysteries the lab had to offer -- the last thing he wanted was to get caught.