Them and Us by Paul Schueller - HTML preview

Chapter 12

The day after John had been in the office Kevin and Joe were back to work. They sometimes shared a large workspace that also served as the drone control center. Kevin entered the room where Joe was sitting. There was no greeting between the two and not even an acknowledgment of each other’s existence. About 15 minutes later Joe spoke first. He had been replaying the video of the meeting with John. “This doesn’t add up. There’s something wrong here I can feel it. Didn’t you see the way his dad reacted?”

Kevin didn’t look up and he still wasn’t coming close to making eye contact with Joe. “Figured something like this is why you’re in here so early. I know you don’t like it much out here. Too much fresh air for you right?”

“Maybe, but that didn’t have anything to do with the question I just asked you.” Joe said.

“He’s a dad that lost his son. Does he have to react a certain way? Without a body and with all you threw at him how is he supposed to react?”

“He looked upset. I know that he fathered the kid but it’s not like he died. Plus he gets a bunch of money.”

“Listen dude, not everyone is built like you. Some people actually care about other people.”

Joe looked uninspired. “That seems to be such a waste of time and energy. Also, did you notice he didn’t ask about the money? Playing it cool I thought.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Maybe the money isn’t important to him.” Kevin said.

“I can tell you I’m not signing off on a work related death. Between his life years and the life credit, that’s over $7 million.”

“Oh, so this is about the money, isn’t it. Don’t you get a 10% reward for any money you save the city? Looks like you’re just doing it for yourself.”

“That’s not it. It’s the principle of the thing.” Joe rationalized.

“So now you’re a man of principle? How do you sleep at night knowing you work for Dr. Canard on his little projects? Don’t give me your principles bullshit.”

“What is that all about?”

“Please, give me a break. I figured it out. The good doctor wants to find infiltrate the free-range folks and Sam was his ticket to do it.”

“How do you know about that?”

I didn’t for sure, but now I do.”

Joe grew irritated having been played. “You need to take it easy, do you know how miserable I can make your life? In fact, I plan to do that starting in the morning. You need to take me out to the open range. I need to investigate the site of Sam’s alleged death.”

Kevin sighed and turned to the door without saying another word.

The next morning was bright and the air had some intensity to it. Kevin looked at Joe as he approached and flashed him a condescending smile and asked, “You ready for the trip?”

“Of course I am. Why do you ask?”

“You look more like you’re heading out to dinner. This is no picnic.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. All I need is some photos and my measuring equipment.”

“What do you need that for?” Kevin asked.

“You’ll see.”

The two sat in silence through the long drive over rough terrain and service roads. When they arrived at the accident site Joe immediately started scanning the rock formations and taking measurements of the cliff height, and the distance from the cliff edge to where the body was found among others and plugged it all into his handheld computer. As a program kicked out information, he tilted his head slightly and said, “That’s interesting.”

“All right, I’ll bite, what’s interesting?” Kevin asked.

“My previous measurements and calculation indicate the man that died was 2 inches shorter and about 15 pounds lighter than Sam and now the field data seems to indicate that to jump from that cliff to the spot where the body was found would have taken a running start.”

“Seems to indicate?” Is all Kevin said, acting though he wasn’t concerned.

Well, it’s not an exact science. Rocks and debris could’ve moved in the storm, the pictures from the original drone were a bit distorted and I don’t have entirely accurate data. Still, it would indicate that there’s a at least a 10% chance that it’s not Sam.

“So you’re saying there’s a 90% chance that it is him?”

“Exactly.”

“There’s nothing exactly about that and it sounds useless to me. Also, I’m assuming that your little calculation tool there never gets to a 100% certain about anything.”

“True.”

“So, why don’t you just pay up and move on? I’m taking you back now, this isn’t going anywhere.”