I asked him about the change we had seen in him. He had a simple explanation and it shocked me.
“I am ready to fly again.”
He explained that he had been shaken by what had happened to Ron when the biker gang or whoever had fired at Ron’s plane and it had to make a forced landing. He realized that had he not fallen apart he could have, would have been called upon to make a rescue, and he was not ready to do that.
“I looked up from the bottom of the hole I had dug for myself and realized it was time to climb out.”
He said that he had first started to feel a stir to get back in the air when we had visited Rhinebeck Field. He had seen that old Blackhawk and it was calling to him. When we began the flight schools at Kendall he found a helicopter that could be used, but it needed to have some work. He was almost finished getting it flyable.
“I have been making regular trips down there to get it up and running. I wanted to surprise everyone and just fly in one afternoon.”
So that was where he had been when we just thought he was off on a cloud. It was also why he could not prove where he was when Alyssa was killed.
I took a break after the interview and had lunch. I think that many of the clan saw the stress that this chase was having on me and most left me alone but Margo and Anne stuck with me. They were there, having lunch with me, keeping my mind from diving too deep into the case to the exclusion of all other things. I appreciated that effort.
It kind of reminded me that sometimes when we get too focused on something that we actually miss things and right now I was focused on who killed Alyssa and more importantly I was seeing everything pointing to John. I had taken all the rumors, my inner voice, and his behavior on certain things as saying that he was the killer. But it just did not make sense why now, if he had been a serial killer why did he not strike before. And why didn’t anyone mention similar deaths at Hinsdale before we joined up. Maybe I am looking too hard.
After lunch it was time to sit down with John. I knew he was the guy, the killer and I was going to get him to admit it. I have all the questions and the ideas scripted out in my mind and I was ready to go. We sat down and I started with the first question which I asked of all the people I had interviewed.
“Who do you think killed Alyssa?”
I hoped that he would be overcome by guilt and simply say that he had done it. But that was not the way it went.
“I have no idea.”
He couldn’t think a reason that any of us to have done it. She was a stranger and had no connections or reasons to have any of us kill her. He had a point. I continued that there were those who had suggested that he was the killer.
He said, “Yeah, I expected that, Grace probably, for years there were those who had been making his life miserable with rumors and innuendos about me and my alleged relationships with my students.”
He pointed out that there was never any proof found and that the files had been closed. At that particular point I really would have liked to have had the chance to see those files, but that was not going to happen.
I tried every trick I could think of to get him to give it up. I tried to minimize the crime painting Alyssa as an evil character who had brought this onto herself, and that even though this had been a murder it was probably justified. The sad reality was what would the punishment be, banishment from the group?
But he would not crack. He defended Alyssa as an innocent young girl. As we talked further, he tried to point the blame at one of the biker group suggesting that this was a very good opportunity for one of them to settle some unknown issue that had been going on with them.
He offered the idea that she might have known who the original conspirators in the assassinations of Marisa and Lauren were and that there had been one more member that had not been killed or revealed. That person may have been under the idea that she was going to dime them out to us. That was a possible motive for the death, he had a point.
We ended the interview and I was frustrated. I had failed. I was sure that he was the killer; actually I still think that he very likely was the killer. But I had nothing, nothing to tie him to it. For that matter I had nothing to tie anyone to it. I definitely had my Grumpy hat on for dinner and it was a quiet one. Even Anne and Margo decided that perhaps it was a good night to have dinner with Cyril and Arcelia.
August 6th
It’s a new morning and I’m tired, and edgy for a lack of sleep. I spent a good deal of time going over the interviews in my mind, still nothing. As I was sitting and having my coffee Lance came over. I was not really listening to what he was saying until the words ‘cameras moved’ registered in my mind.
I perked up. “Repeat that, about the cameras.”
“Some time overnight two of the cameras on the west side of the compound were moved, realigned from their original angle. It makes a blind spot in our surveillance coverage.”
“Let’s take a walk,” as I got up pushing back my chair.
We started by reviewing the videos to see if we could see anything to show the when or who had moved the cameras. We didn’t rush out to the cameras to avoid giving away the idea that we knew they had been played with.
“What were they trying to hide?” I thought out loud.
After about an hour of watching the playbacks we had discovered the moves took place about 2 AM and that they were done by a human, but he could not tell much more than that. It was someone that was all in dark clothing, almost ninja like in their movements and approach.
We took a walk out to where the camera coverage was supposed to be and you could see an indication that there was someone who had used the point to visit or leave our camp. This was not a regular path and the fencing that we had put up seemed to be intact.
We headed back and had a talk with The Three and told them what we had found. Our thought was to leave the cameras alone to see if we get another visit. But we also would add a camera to allow us to watch the area the moved cameras had been watching. I thought about what Billy had said about “The Ghost”.
I wondered if it was possible that a solo operator could survive in the woods without anyone knowing. I remembered all the little campsites and tent cities that existed within the city limits of say Manchester back in the day, it seems possible. Many of those sites were undetected.
After the meeting with The Three we decided that it was best to keep the discovery of the moved cameras quiet. If the movement had been caused by someone inside the camp, we did not want to let them know that we had discovered it. And if it was from outside, well we did not want to get our people alarmed. They were still skittish enough with the murder, to think that it could be someone from outside would only make everyone more jumpy.
That afternoon I visited Nick. He is still pretty much in a state of shock from the loss of Lauren and had been keeping to himself pretty much. A little check up from the neck up seemed in order. We talked about things, life in general, I think it helped.
August 7th
I have been very focused on this killing thing and have not been seeing as much of what has been happening around the complex as I perhaps should have. In many ways things are normal and everyone is adjusting to the new digs. There are a few things that are rather inconvenient as result of the move.
For example, Henry has to spend about a half hour each way driving out to Peru to work on harvesting the crops. He has to take a couple people with him as a protective guard. But the crops are coming in and that is good. The protection crew has found that there are some Zoms that show up during the harvesting but they are usually only a couple or three and are quickly dispatched.
We have also had “patrols” out in the area around the compound keeping an eye on Zoms who are out wandering about. They have been taking down a few, but so far we have not seen many. The patrols have also been learning the territory. It has been a chance for our group to learn the animal trails, and intricacies of the area while foraging for food.
One of the things
that had been happening since the murder is that we never walk alone. I think that it has a lot to do with the murder, but it also has to do with the Zoms. A person can easily get lost in thought or become inattentive which could result in walking into a situation that could be fatal.
Anne’s folks are slowing down. It is almost painful to watch because there is nothing we can do about it. Arcelia is now using a cane regularly and has a lot of knee pain. Cyril, well, he is really getting up there in age and at almost ninety cannot really be expected to get around that well. But he still always has a story for us.
Unfortunately the stories are generally re-runs. Although he actually had one that after hearing it I was interested in. Biter has been hanging around with him. They are almost inseparable except when Biter is on a mission with a scout party. The dog usually sleeps at the end of the bed. Cyril was telling me that a couple of days ago the dog was awake and whiny during the night but when pressed for details he could not tell me the time or specifically which day it was. He said that he did not let the dog out because he was concerned that there might be a Zom wandering the camp.
I think that if he had we probably would have at least chased off the individual who had moved the camera. But then again, it is possible that whomever it was may have killed the dog, especially if it was the same person who had killed Alyssa.
August 8th
Teckla and Charlene have been in contact with Tanya and the biker group. Both sides realize that for survival purposes it is still in the bikers’ best interest to join us. I think we have been sold on that idea also but there is still that level of mistrust because of the murder.
Steven asked me for a ride down Blueberry Hill. He had finished the work on the helicopter and was going to try to fire it up and maybe try a little test flight today. I went along thinking that the diversion would be a good idea. Mark and Michelle followed us down as an added support crew.
He has done a great job of getting the little chopper up and ready. It is not a big bird, big enough for a crew of four if necessary. The rest of flights of late have been pretty much suspended but as we are getting back to some level of normalcy hopefully that will change.
Steven was able to fire up the little helo, but in doing some testing he had a hydraulic line spring a leak. When we looked at it more closely, we discovered that a number of the lines were dry rotted and had to be replaced. Mark and Michelle are going to stay there with him while he tries to scavenge or rebuild.
On my drive back I was really just letting my mind drift with the facts and information that had come up in the course of my investigation. Nothing came floating to the surface. But it was there, I know the answer is right in front of me.
When I got back, Nick was just coming out a meeting with The Three. He had done a recent inventory of some of the food supplies and it appears that some of the canned goods were missing. It was not a lot of food, but still, it appears that we may have a barracks thief as one of my old bosses used to call them.
I checked with Lance to see if there had been any activity on the new hidden camera that he had set up. There was not. While I was at it I checked with Cyril to see if Biter had been acting up at night and all was quiet there.
Beyond that there is not much else to write about today. Everyone is going about their usual business. The mundane daily chores of laundry, harvesting and preparing for winter are all going on.
August 9th
Henry brought in another load of corn today. We are getting to be in fairly good shape for eating over the winter. I wonder how the winter will be. I know that the past few have been varied and we have a couple of new factors in the equation. The first might be the nuclear blasts. How have they impacted the weather?
But then what is the counter balance of that with regards to the lack of automobiles and carbon emissions but realistically it may be too soon to have an impact. If nothing else it would have been a great experiment for the climate change models on the computer.
Ron has recovered from his gunshot wounds and made his first flight today. The planes are all up and running and the new landing strip on the other side of the lake is working out well. The only down side there is that we have to work on fuel transport and will eventually have to find more fuel.
Frank and I took the motorcycles out to the biker’s camp today. We have found that overall things are pretty cool with them. They are still a little untrusting after the murder of Alyssa but I am thinking that they are also a little shaken by the actions of Maggie and Paul in killing Marissa and Lauren.
This was my first visit to their camp and a camp was the best way to describe it. It was a bunch of tents and very primitive compared to what we have. I can easily see that their chances for surviving the winter are bleak if they stay where they were. I think that they realize that fact and as a result were pushing to join up with us. The other option would be for them to take up digs at the Hinsdale or even our old Peru location but uniting the two groups seems to be the best idea.
I had made the run because I wanted to see if there was anything else I could get on Alyssa that might help me understand her better. I was also curious about the “ghost” that Billy had told me about. They had also believed that they had a barracks thief and that Paul was the leading suspect. I was curious if the thefts had continued after Paul was killed.
I talked to Billy and Tanya about how they were holding up and although things were going okay one could sense the concern for the future. They had been increasingly visited by undead to the tune of about five per day. They were low on ammunition so they relied on impact weapons to deal with them. Tanya said that they were okay for now in the food and fuel department and were trying to build up supplies for the winter, but it would be hard to do.
We talked about Alyssa but there was not a lot that was known about her. She had been a “find” by the group and although her life was not ideal she seemed to be hanging in with the group. Billy mentioned that she would often go on walks out into the forest for hours, it was her escape. At one point he thought that she might be sneaking out there to meet up with one of the group members and that there was some sort of relationship going on. But no one else from the group seemed to be missing. Billy would have made a good cop, he saw things, made note of things and was in touch with what was going on.
As it got to be later in the afternoon, it looked like a storm might be rolling in so Frank and I started back. I always enjoyed riding the motorcycle because I was like a dog with my noise out the window catching the smells of the trees or flowers or an occasional road kill along the way. I was kind of lost in those smells and thinking about what I had just learned. It was not much, but I also thought about the desperate nature of the biker’s situation. I had to talk to The Three and we had to get them into our camp or somewhere better very soon. They would not survive the winter and I would, we would really be at fault for that.
We got back just before the storm broke, and it was a bad one. I would not have been surprised to see a tornado.
August 10th
I talked with The Three this morning and made a pitch for the bikers joining us. They agree that it should be done and that it would be. But they kind of dumped it back on me that there is still a lot of fear that one of them is the killer and our group is concerned that we might be bringing the wolf into the fold. Unfortunately I had nothing to come back with. I am no closer to solving the situation than I was three days ago. I have no forensic capabilities, no real evidence and really, only one suspect who was in that role only based upon rumor. I am frustrated.
It was fortunate that we moved the aircraft when we moved in to Camp Romaca. There was a tornado or microburst or something that went through our old airport. It destroyed most of the buildings and remaining aircraft that was at the field.
Steven had headed down there this morning with Mark and Michelle and discovered the wreckage. The helicopter that he was working on had suffered some damage, but he said it was more cosmetic than struc
tural. Still, it was a big blow to him.
August 11th
Henry discovered that Peru had also taken a hit by the storm. It blew through some of the fields and destroyed part of our corn crop. He also found, and this may sound funny, that it rained Zoms. Apparently the tornado had picked up a bunch of the undead and deposited them along its path. The upside is that they were so torn up they did not offer a threat of moving, or biting. The downside is that we have to be very careful and check our water sources. It is possible that the falling dead could contaminate them.
The Three have decided that killer or not, we need to get the bikers in with us and we need to do it sooner than later. The plan is to open up about 5 of the empty cabins to them so they can start moving stuff over. They could start the move the day after tomorrow.
Lance still has nothing on video and Biter has been very quiet at night. It appears we have no one sneaking into or around the compound. On a side note; perhaps because of the storm we have seen a drop off in our usual five or so Zom visits.
The Event Trilogy (Book 1): Life After the Meteor Page 26
