“I honestly don’t think I did,” he said.
“I can’t say I did either,” Riley said.
Trader Joe turned back to the O’Malleys. “If it was a significant amount of smoke, I believe one of us would have seen it.”
“What would you guys have done if you had?” Liam asked.
“Well, there isn’t supposed to be anybody living in that area, so if it wasn’t too far away, I suppose we would’ve investigated,” Trader Joe replied. Little Joe nodded in agreement with his father.
Liam nodded as well. “Yeah, that’s what my brother said you would have done, and I agree. So, you guys did not see or encounter any other live humans during that trip?”
“Not a one,” Little Joe answered, perhaps a little too quickly than his father would have liked.
“Was there anyone else travelling that day?” Trader Joe asked.
“No one from here or from Weather,” Liam answered. “We’ve sent out a broadcast to the other communities, but so far there’s been nothing.”
“Maybe it was marauders,” Riley suggested.
“It’s possible, but there haven’t been any other reports,” Liam said.
“None at all,” Logan added.
He’d been observing the Fitzgeralds closely, hoping to detect any signs of deception, but he did not see any. They were either telling the truth or they had rehearsed this scenario. If they had, it suggested this has not been the first time they’ve done something like this. He decided to throw in a zinger and see how they responded.
“Oh, just one other thing,” he said. “You guys took three hours longer than normal before you arrived back at Hook.”
“Yeah, we never let an opportunity to do some scavenging go to waste,” Trader Joe said with another easy grin.
“Yeah, we’re the same way,” Liam said. “Did you find anything good?”
Trader Joe shrugged. “Not much. I think the most valuable thing was a bag full of yarn and knitting needles. Riley said she’s going to try her hand with them.” Trader Joe leaned back in his chair and stretched. “The kids are going to watch tonight’s movie, but I think I’m heading back to the room. If you have any other questions, that’s where I’ll be.”
They all said to goodbye to one another and the Fitzgeralds left. The four men watched them walk out before speaking to each other.
“Any thoughts, gentlemen?” Roscoe asked.
Logan sipped his water before speaking. “They’re the only people we know of who were out on the road the day the president was killed.”
“Are you men certain this was not an attack by some rogue marauders they happened to have encountered on the road?”
Logan quickly shook his head and explained their reasoning.
“So, you believe they were targeted,” Roscoe surmised.
“That’s what we believe,” Liam said. “Otherwise, why go through the trouble of disposing of the bodies?”
“Perhaps they wanted to disguise their activity so travel would not be curtailed, and they would not be hunted,” Roscoe surmised.
Logan cleared his throat. “Let’s say that a group of marauders have moved into the area and they hid the bodies in the belief that they would disguise their activities in order to make a few more attacks before moving on.”
“I have a feeling you’re about to rebuff this theory,” Roscoe said with a slight grin.
“Remember the big gal, Zelda?” Logan asked.
“Zelida,” Roscoe corrected.
“Yeah, Zelida. She had a military assault weapon, correct?” Logan asked.
“Actually, she had a Taurus 357 revolver,” Johnny G said. “But her daughter was carrying an M4. I issued it to her myself.”
“Yeah, my mistake.”
“I told you, brother,” Liam said, although he had said no such thing. Logan intentionally mixed up the weapons to see if they were being told the truth. They’d already gotten the lineup on who had what weapons from Gil.
“Very true,” Logan replied. “So, Zelida, you two seem to have known her well enough. Would she have tried to shoot back?”
“Yes, she would have,” Roscoe said.
“Absolutely. If she perceived a threat, she would not have hesitated,” Roscoe agreed. “She was a fighter.”
“Curious,” Logan mused.
“Why is that?” Roscoe asked.
“It confirms what my brother and I have been thinking.”
“What’s that?” Roscoe asked.
“This was not an attack by marauders,” Logan answered. “First, there was an attempt to hide the bodies. A lot of work was expended by doing so. Second, we searched everywhere and did not find any expended cartridge casings on or near the roadway.”
“Most people call ‘em shell casings,” Liam said.
“That they do, brother,” Logan agreed. “No shell casings lying around anywhere. Oh, we found some old casings in the neighborhood, but they’d been there a while.”
“So, the shooters hid the van and bodies, and picked up all the expended cartridge casings,” Johnny G said.
“Yes,” Logan said.
“And their trailer is missing,” Roscoe added.
“Yes again,” Logan said. “Getting back to our scenarios. There is no collision damage to the van, that alone eliminates any scenario where someone rammed them or somehow disabled their vehicle.”
“What about the tires? Were they damaged by something like caltrops?” Roscoe asked.
“Good question. The answer is, we cannot tell. The tires were obliterated by the fire, but we found no kind of skid marks on the asphalt.”
“Between us, it was hard to tell due to the ice and snow,” Liam said. “But, if that scenario had happened, we believe Xena…”
“Zelida,” Logan corrected.
“Yeah, we believe Zelida would have immediately opened fire,” Liam said. “Right now, our prevailing theory is they stopped of their own accord, which means they knew the people they encountered. And, more importantly, it was not people they would have cause to be cautious of.”
“Cautious? I would have used wary,” Logan said.
“How about distrustful? Or maybe even circumspect?” Liam asked.
“You’ve been reading Roget again, haven’t you?”
“Alright, I get what you’re saying,” Roscoe said, interrupting their litany of synonyms. “So, it definitely would not have been someone like Zach or Fred. Zelida would have been wary.”
“Exactly, or any stranger either,” Logan said. “At this time, our most prevailing theory is they stopped of their own accord. If they had a flat tire, Zelida
