“It’s cold as hell out here,” Priss griped.
“I think hell is supposed to be hot,” Logan retorted.
“Whatever, it’s too cold to be doing this. The snow’s covered everything up anyway.”
Logan did not say anything, but he agreed. Despite wearing heavy boots and thick gloves, his toes and fingers were numb.
“Did you two find anything?” he asked.
Liam shook his head. “If there’s anything out here at all, the snow is covering it up.”
“That’s what I said,” Priss grumbled.
“One thing we’ve not considered, brother. If the perps took the time to hide and burn the bodies, they probably took the time to clean up after themselves,” Liam surmised. “I bet when the snow thaws, we won’t even find a single cartridge lying around.”
Logan nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right. It also tells us a little something more about them.”
“Like what?” Priss asked.
“Anyone who would take the time to clean up the crime scene, you know, like pick up the cartridge casings or wash down any blood, wants it hidden because they’re somehow associated with the community. Marauders would not have cared.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense. Alright, so who do you think did it?” she asked.
Logan exchanged a glance with Liam. Liam started to speak, but Logan interrupted him.
“We don’t have anything solid yet, so it would be premature to name anyone specifically,” he said.
“But you two have an idea, don’t you?” she pressed.
Logan saw the gentle nudge his brother gave Priss before speaking.
“No ideas yet,” Liam said.
Priss nodded. She knew she’d get it out of him later during pillow talk. Logan knew his brother would tell her everything. Hopefully, she’d keep her mouth shut.
“Alright, let’s get out of here,” he said.
Logan swapped with his brother and sat in the driver’s seat. Grinding the gears, the truck lurched forward, and they were on their way back to Mount Weather.
Chapter 7 – Bringing Home the Pres part 2
As a result of the endless pestering by Priss, when sundown came, they did not stop for the night and instead pushed on. It was risky. There was a slew of traffic hazards that were enhanced by the limited visibility, not to mention the headlights could be seen by anyone, friend or foe. Surprisingly, they had not spotted a single zed their entire trip.
They made it to the front gate at twenty-one hundred hours. After checking in, they parked the truck in the fenced in area by the motor pool and headed directly to the cafeteria. No surprise, one of Gil’s cronies was waiting and escorted them directly to the small conference room where Gil and a few others were waiting.
“Gentlemen, and ma’am, please give us an update,” he said as soon as they had seated themselves.
“The bodies are in the back of the deuce-and-a-half,” Logan said. “The cold will preserve them until you’re ready for the funeral.”
Gil nodded somberly, as did a few others. The brothers waited in silence. Priss was not so patient.
“Is that all you wanted?” she asked and cast a glance at her father.
He responded with a sour expression before speaking. “We are expecting an update to the investigation.”
Liam cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, we did not discover anything new, nor did we locate the missing trailer. Our hypothesis has not changed though; we still believe they knew who the suspects were.”
“Like Gunderson,” Gil said.
Liam shook his head. “The president, your wife, did not like Zach. Therefore, her entourage would not like Zach either, especially that big gal, Zelida. It stands to reason if Zach or anyone who would be considered friends with Zach had encountered them on the road that day, they would have been suspicious and on guard. Especially Zelida, she was the fighter of the group, right? At the first hint of trouble, there would have been a firefight. Like we said earlier, we found no evidence of that. The evidence indicates they were caught off guard.”
“What about Fred McCoy?” William Rhinehart asked. “Did you go question him?”
“Yes, we did,” Logan said. “He stated he was not involved in any way. He also stated he has not seen Zach since he left.”
Logan waited for one of them, any of them, to ask why they had not been harder with Fred. He had an answer prepared that assuredly would not have gone over well. When nobody said anything, he continued.
“Oh, and Priss searched their house. She did not find any evidence of any member of the Gunderson family staying there.”
Rhinehart focused on his daughter, who nodded in agreement. “That tractor-trailer of Zach’s was not there either,” she added. “In fact, we did not see it anywhere, and I was looking close for it.”
Gil peered closely. “Are you saying you’d be able to single out that particular tractor-trailer from others that are abandoned along the roadways?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Priss said. She left out the part where she and her brother had once gotten caught by Zach breaking into the trailer a few years back. Zach did not take kindly to it. She involuntarily squirmed in her seat as the memory came back of Zach taking a switch to her backside.
“I still believe Gunderson and his family are close. Somebody is hiding them,” Gil surmised. “What about that sister of his?”
“Lisandra,” Priss said. “I doubt she’s hiding them. They don’t get along that well.”
“Doesn’t she live nearby?” he asked.
“Yes, she does. Zach put them up in a house a few miles from here over by the Shenandoah River. I think presently there are five or six people living there.”
“Alright, Miss Rhinehart, since you seem to be familiar with her, I want you to organize a team and pay them a visit.”
“You got it,” Priss said.
She got the impression the new president believed she and Zach were adversaries. In fact, over the years they had become good friends. Priss had once even made a pass at Zach, but to her chagrin she learned he was steadfastly faithful to his wife. She
