The room buzzed as if he’d been caught misspeaking. But it was the truth. Frankie and his friends only learned recently about the tests and what they were called.
“Senator Quincy.” It was Senator Delanor who spoke now. “We know the facts of these tests. None of the dates are in question. We also know Mr. Sadowski’s service record.”
Frankie thought Senator Delanor looked tired. Even the carefully applied makeup couldn’t hide the swelling under her eyes.
She continued, “We gave Dr. Hess plenty of uninterrupted time to speak yesterday. Surely we can afford the same courtesy to Mr. Sadowski. Can we please hear his story? He’s been waiting a long time to share it with us. And I, for one, am very interested in hearing it.”
“Very well,” Senator Quincy said.
Frankie hesitated, but then he told them. He talked about what he remembered of the jet flying overhead. Of the problem he’d had breathing almost immediately. He told them about the reunion and all the ailments, the surgeries, the cancers, and about Gus. And before he finished he decided to tell them about his own cancer.
50.
Haywood County, North Carolina
O’Dell looked at Creed, but she could tell from the pained look in his eyes that he wouldn’t or couldn’t tell her. She looked at Logan.
“This has nothing to do with you,” Logan told her. “Can we please get to work? Note that I’m using ‘please,’ and I’m not a man who uses that word.”
Logan stomped off, yanking his cell phone from a jacket pocket.
When she looked at Creed he was tightening straps on Bolo’s vest and finishing his preparations. He didn’t glance up when he said, “It’s not mine to tell.”
“Right. It’s classified.” She was getting tired of the secrecy. Ben hadn’t had anything to tell her, either.
“I didn’t say it was classified.” He snapped the leash on and stood. “Why are you here?”
The question surprised her. Maybe even more so because she didn’t have a clear answer.
“I’m beginning to wonder that myself.”
He stared at her, waiting for a better explanation. When he realized he wouldn’t get one, he turned away. The gesture felt like he had slammed a door in her face.
She had talked to Assistant Director Kunze before they left the gymnasium, filling him in on what Dr. Gunther had discovered and what she had said. Then she waited for his response and instructions. In the past her boss had no qualms about sending her into dangerous situations, once even sending her literally into a hurricane. But that morning he had sounded concerned.
She was used to politics coloring his judgment. He tended to be swayed easily by certain administration officials and several senators, Senator Ellie Delanor being one of them. Usually he was willing to protect those in powerful positions, so she was surprised when AD Kunze said, “I don’t like this. Those congressional hearings are going on right now.”
That’s what she was thinking, too, but neither of them would say it out loud over a phone. Someone wanted to control the investigation of these murders. Was Ben a part of that or was he being used, too?
Kunze told her to watch her back. Said he’d ask some questions of his own and let her know what he found out.
In the meantime she wasn’t sure whom she could trust. She told Logan about the gunshot wound that she and Dr. Gunther had discovered last night. Mostly she wanted to watch his response and hopefully learn something from it. He seemed more upset about them breaking into the temporary morgue than he was about the condition of the body.
“Protecting those bodies is my responsibility. You two had no business being there without me.”
“How did you intend for Dr. Gunther to do her job if you didn’t give her access to the victims?”
“She should have waited until someone with authority could be there with her.”
“I was there with her,” O’Dell had told him.
He didn’t say a word, but the look he gave her told her what she and Kunze suspected. Ben had asked her to go down and take a look because they needed someone discreet whom they could trust. But what they really wanted was someone who would keep all of this quiet, at least until the hearings were finished.
Seems the only ones down here she could trust were Ryder Creed and his dogs.
O’Dell noticed that Bolo’s nose was already working as soon as Creed led the big dog off the ledge and onto what looked like an empty riverbed. An empty riverbed that had been cut and carved out by the violent rush of floodwaters. It was still slick with patches of water. Creed was keeping the leash short and tight, letting Bolo lead him while trying to guide the dog around the debris. She imagined the dog would leap and rush if left on his own.