“Shayla, brother. Her name was Shayla.”
“Yes, like I said, Shayla. Let’s say they had a tire blowout. Someone is going to change the tire while the other two women stood guard. Zelida would have made sure of that. If all tires were blown out, she would have instantly known they were being ambushed.”
“They knew their assailants,” Liam said.
“Would that make the Fitzgeralds your prime suspects?” Roscoe asked.
“The short answer is, yes, they could be considered suspects,” Liam said. “It’s purely circumstantial evidence, but it cannot be ignored or discounted.”
Roscoe considered this and nodded in understanding. “So, the trailer is still missing?”
“Yes,” Liam said. “I assume that means you haven’t seen it?”
“No, we haven’t, and when they put out the broadcast, we sent teams out to search for it,” Roscoe said.
Logan nodded thoughtfully and then focused on Johnny G. “You haven’t had a lot to say, Johnny.”
Johnny G gazed at the man, wondering if the man knew more than he was letting on. He set his drink down before responding.
“Personally, I don’t care who killed that woman. If she had lived, she would’ve ruined everything.”
“Now, now,” Roscoe admonished. “We shouldn’t talk ill of the dead.”
Johnny G grunted but did not reply. There was a lot more that Johnny G was not saying, but these weren’t the men to say it to. At least, not now.
The men had been speaking quietly throughout the conversation, but now Roscoe lowered his voice to almost a whisper.
“However, my compadre here has a point. There are more than a few people here who have the same sentiment.”
“Same at Mount Weather,” Logan said. “But not enough to re-elect Stark, apparently.”
“Yes, it’s rather odd how she won,” Roscoe said and leaned a little closer to Liam. “Now Gil is the president, and I’m not so sure it’ll be any better.”
“How so?” Logan asked.
“Gil is a nice enough fellow. When he lived here, he got along with everyone and was a hard worker. But he’s not presidential material. He’s in over his head.”
“The Peter Principal,” Johnny G remarked. “He has risen to a point where he is incompetent.”
Roscoe nodded. “Indeed. Stark was many things, but he knew how to be a president. We had a secret communication network in place with President Stark and a couple of others. It facilitated a lot of things and was important to the revitalization of our nation.”
“Now that Stark is out of office and Zach is gone, that line of communication has been disrupted,” Johnny G said. “What do you two think of that?”
The brothers glanced at each other. Logan shrugged.
“We’re not sure what to think,” he said. “We’re just a couple of dumb cops.”
“But we are certainly committed to doing what is best for this nation, such that it is,” Liam added.
Roscoe nodded solemnly. “How long are you two staying here?”
“If the weather holds, we’ll head out tomorrow. We’d like some diesel too, if possible; we have a lot of riding around to do,” Logan said.
“No problem,” Johnny G said. He shifted in his seat. “If I may ask, what do you two think of our new president?”
Logan scratched at his beard. “He seems likeable enough, but I can see what you mean about that Peter Principal stuff.”
“Yeah,” Logan agreed. “I don’t think he has a plan or anything. And he seems pretty convinced Zach is the prime suspect. Fixated might be a good word to describe it.” He paused and glanced at his brother.
“Preoccupied,” Liam quipped.
“Yeah. One would think that as the new president, he’d have more important matters. One might even say it’s abnormal.”
Liam chuckled. “Abnormal. I like it. Speaking of abnormal, our new president strongly suggested we start performing hard-handed interrogations, starting with none other than Fred McCoy.”
“Did you?” Roscoe asked.
“Yeah, well, we stopped by his place and chatted with him,” Liam said.
Johnny G grunted. “Since you’re still alive, you two must have caught him in a good mood.”
“I think he likes us, maybe,” Liam said.
“Getting back to Gil, you men be careful. If you go along, before you know it, you two will be working as his personal henchmen. Stark tried that same tactic with Zach and Fred.”
“Yeah, that’s what Fred said, but it’s not going to happen,” Liam said. “It might cost us a place to live, but it’s not going to happen.”
“If it does happen, you two are always welcome here,” Roscoe said. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. By the time spring rolls around, we’ll be self-supporting as far as food goes, and we’ve got our corridor into the city secured. Once the snow melts off, we’re ramping up scavenging runs and we’re going to need some good people.”
Logan cleared his throat. “We appreciate that. So, speaking of Zach, we have to ask. Have you men seen him around lately, or maybe you know how to get in touch with him?”
“We got a message from him a short time before he went off grid. He only said that he’d be in touch when the time was right,” Roscoe said. “Oh, and we don’t know where he is, but we wouldn’t tell you if we did. No offense.”
“None taken,” Liam said.
“Don’t worry about him though. He knows what he’s doing. He’s smarter than most. Most of the positive things that were accomplished at Mount Weather was by Zach’s hand,” Roscoe said. Johnny G nodded in agreement.
“Now there’s nobody filling his shoes,” Johnny G said. “You men mark my words; things are going to get bad at Mount Weather. If a significant event occurs, VanAllen won’t know what to do. He doesn’t have Zach to advise him and he doesn’t listen to people like Stark and Duckworth. It could be a disaster.”
“He was that smart?” Logan asked.
Roscoe chuckled. “He lacks worldly experience, but his raw intelligence is amazing. He also has what
