Gil saw this going bad quickly and held up his hands. “Here now, everyone needs to take a breath and calm down.”
Liam ignored him and walked over to D-Day. He then unceremoniously snatched the shotgun from his hands and unloaded it before turning to Gil.
“Mister President-Elect, if you want us as police officers, we’re going to enforce the law, and we aren’t going to let some Willie Nelson looking reject threaten a United States Senator with a loaded shotgun.”
Gil’s expression toward Liam was that of anger, but only for a microsecond. He then turned toward his bodyguard.
“D, you should know better. You two are here to protect me from violence, not hyperbole.”
D-Day glanced at his boss in confusion, but after the mandatory tough guy scowl at Logan, he lowered his head. “Sorry, boss,” he muttered.
“Gentlemen, please put away your weapons as well,” Gil said to the brothers.
They warily holstered their weapons and Logan placed the shotgun on the table in front of Gil. Gil waited for everyone to return to their seats before speaking.
“What is next in the investigation?” he asked.
“If the weather permits, we’ll go retrieve the bodies first thing in the morning and look around the area. Maybe we’ll find something. And, as soon as possible, we are going to travel to Marcus Hook and talk to people. In the meantime, I believe we are finished with our briefing. We’d like to go eat before they close down the kitchen for the night,” Logan said.
Logan started to stand but Gil held up a finger. “There is one other item of business before you leave. You two did not exactly express your thoughts about Mister Gunderson being the culprit in this crime.”
The brothers exchanged another glance. They knew this was coming as well. Logan took a breath and adjusted himself in his chair.
“At the present time, there is no evidence to indicate he was involved in the murder,” he said. “I’m not saying he didn’t do it, but right now we have nothing to indicate he did. That may change as the investigation develops. We are going to take it one step at a time.”
“He needs to be brought in for questioning. At the minimum, he needs to be charged with grand larceny,” Gil said.
Liam cleared his throat. “Mister Vice President, or Mister President, I’m not sure exactly how to address you so please forgive me, but first, nobody seems to know where Zach is currently, and second, what are you alleging he stole?”
“He drove out of here with a semi-truck pulling a trailer full of property, along with a pickup truck.”
Bob interrupted. “If I may, as far as anyone has been able to determine, everything he left with was personal property belonging to the Gundersons. It is possible that there is an item or two that might be considered property of Mount Weather, but it’s not like we have not stocked people with provisions when they have decided to leave Mount Weather. Zach and his family should not be treated any differently.”
Gil was not swayed. “I will reiterate, Gunderson is to be arrested for the assassination of the President of the United States as soon as possible.”
He leaned forward in his chair.
“I want him found and brought in, gentlemen.”
“I bet that McCoy fella knows where he’s at,” D-Day said. “In fact, I bet that’s where he’s hiding out.”
Gil slapped the arm of his chair. “There you go, gentlemen. D-Day has given you two a starting point for locating Zachariah Gunderson.”
It took another ten minutes before Liam and Logan got out of the meeting and headed to the cafeteria. Grace, Bob, and Priss joined them. The only food left was mashed potatoes and chicken casserole with only a sparse amount of chicken in it. They were hungry though, so it didn’t matter.
“I’ll give D-Day credit, that was a clever trick he pulled when he mentioned Fred. I didn’t think he was that smart,” Bob said.
“Yeah. I’d rather French kiss a rattlesnake than tangle with the likes of Fred McCoy,” Liam said. Logan agreed.
Priss scoffed. “I thought you two were badass Pittsburgh cops.”
Liam chuckled. “We’re tough when we have to be, but Fred is a horse of a different color.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone better with a firearm than him,” Logan added. “And he has an uncanny sixth sense. And you can’t kill him. He took a kill shot through the chest a few years back and that old cuss survived without any medical assistance.”
Liam swallowed some food and wiped his mouth. “He’s tough as nails, he’s hell on wheels with those pistols, and he’s got ice running through his veins. Nobody in their right mind would ever mess with Fred McCoy.”
“You got that right, brother,” Logan said.
Bob drummed his fingers on the table. “Knowing all that, some people would think he might’ve had a hand in killing the president.”
The two brothers looked at each other. Liam gave Logan a tacit nod.
“Let me ask all of you a hypothetical question; if Fred killed those women, or if his best friend Zach killed them, do you think he would have told anyone where the bodies were?”
Bob stared at Logan inquisitively. “Fred told you guys where the bodies were?”
Logan nodded. The three of them sat in rapt silence while he explained.
“We don’t think Fred would play any kind of game where he was simply trying to throw suspicion off himself. He’s not that kind of man.”
“No, he’s not,” Bob agreed.
“He wouldn’t play around,” Liam said. “He would’ve killed us today and hid our bodies too. Nobody would’ve ever found us.”
“Wait, I’m confused,” Priss said. “He was with you guys today?”
“Yep. We were travelling on I-70 and stopped the car to use the restroom. He was right there,” Logan said. “He could’ve killed us right then and there, but he didn’t.”
“So, you believe that since he didn’t kill you two, that means he didn’t
