The previous evening, on the drive home from Justin’s, past Patrick on his right and the blackness of the ocean on his left, Greg replayed the evening, searching for any indication that he shouldn’t flat-out pursue a relationship with Justin Harris. He couldn’t find one. Justin shared his enthusiasm for fishing, reading, travel, and classic rock. Greg didn’t know much about another of Justin’s passions—sci-fi literature and TV shows—but he could certainly learn.
Once home, he hit the remote and eased the truck into the left bay of the two-car garage, then lowered the door and entered his house. It was cool, dark and quiet, the humming of air-conditioning and fridge the only sounds.
It would be wonderful to have someone waiting when he came home.
With that thought, he collided with the same issue that Ryan had presented. It was problematic to be comfortably out in this community, much less out and openly partnered.
But they’d figure something out.
When his alarm sounded the next morning, he bounced out of bed, feeling invigorated. He went for a long run, then showered, gobbled a bowl of cereal, and drove to work. Short-term goal: solve the Roy Shaw case.
He got to the office at 7:45. His phone message light was on; he punched the playback buttons as he booted his computer, and listened.
“Agent Marcotte, this is Officer Derrick Rose, Florida Fish and Wildlife. We received a report from one of our licensed trappers about the shooting of an alligator in the Banana River Lagoon on Saturday. He named you as the perpetrator. Please call me to discuss this matter.”
Greg said, “For fuck’s sake. Perpetrator?” just as Ward Vernon entered his office.
Vernon raised an eyebrow. “Problem?”
“Yes, sir.” Greg replayed the message.
Vernon huffed an exasperated breath, reached for Greg’s phone, and placed the call. “Officer Rose, this is Col. Ward Vernon, 45th Space Wing, Patrick Air Force Base. I’m Special Agent Greg Marcotte’s commanding officer, and he shot the alligator in question on my authority. No, the animal was on US Air Force property, not in the water, and its death was necessary to recovering human remains.” He listened for a moment. “No, Officer Rose, here’s what’s going to happen. My commanding officer, Brigadier General Loren Watson, will call your commanding officer, whoever that may be, and they will determine the outcome of this incident. No, I will not allow you to speak to Special Agent Marcotte. I’d recommend that you inform your superior. Goodbye.”
Greg grinned. “Thank you, sir.”
“Absurd. How many damn alligators are there in this state, anyway?” Vernon rapped the top of Greg’s desk with his knuckles. “I’m going to speak to General Watson right now.” He strode from the room, nearly bowling over Mindy as she came in. “Excuse me, Agent Leonard.”
“Yes, sir.” Mindy watched Vernon march down the hall. “What’s on his mind?”
“A Fish and Wildlife officer called me this morning. Vernon returned the call.”
“Damn, wish I’d been here for that.” Mindy turned on her computer. “Any news?”
“Nope. No one’s called me back yet. Shouldn’t we have autopsy results today?”
“Yes, but what’s that gonna tell us?”
“You never know with autopsies. Sometimes there’s a surprise.” Greg opened his email. “Hey, here’s the ballistics report.”
“Anything?”
“The murder weapon isn’t in NIBIN.” The national ballistics database managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“Huh. Guess that’s not surprising. Our shooter probably never committed a gun-related crime before.”
Zach arrived, stuck his head in the door to say hello, then went to his desk.
Greg scanned his email; it contained nothing useful. “You know what our problem is, Mindy?”
“We don’t have enough evidence?”
“Yup. We’re gonna need a break to solve this. Someone needs to panic and do something stupid.”
Mindy laughed. “Shouldn’t be a long wait. What’s your instinct telling you?”
Greg counted on his fingers. “One: the killer had to be someone with access to the base for the launch. Chances are it’s someone from either Skyose or Ideodax.”
“Unless Shaw had a NASA or Air Force connection that we don’t know about.”
“Nothing’s turned up in his background so far. Two: it had to be someone that Shaw would agree to meet with, which makes me believe that the killer is either Shaw’s near-equal or superior in one of those companies.”
“That narrows it down. We’re looking at either our Ideodax guys, or Cabo Barnes or the other executive staff at Skyose.”
“Of which there are…” Greg checked Tom’s org chart. “Five. Chief financial officer, chief information officer, chief R&D officer, chief compliance officer, chief engineering officer. Were they all here for the launch?”
“I’m sure they were. I’ll find out.” Mindy picked up her phone and dialed. “Hi, Sharon, this is Agent Mindy Leonard with AFOSI. I’m great, how are you? Nice! That’s cool. Listen, do you have a list of all the Skyose and Ideodax personnel that were in town for the launch? Awesome. Sure, that makes sense. Could you scan and email a copy of that to me? Super. Thanks, Sharon. You bet.” She hung up.
Greg said, “Who’s Sharon?”
“The receptionist at the Skyose building. She had to make hotel reservations for all the executives, other than Cabo Barnes, who owns a condo on the beach. So she has the list.” Mindy grinned. “Always endear yourself to the underlings, Greg. They’re the ones who know shit.”
Ward Vernon strode into the office with as much determination as he’d stridden out. “Alligator problem will be dealt with, Agent Marcotte.”
“Thanks, sir.”
“You’re welcome. Skype conference with the medical examiner in fifteen.”
Greg and Mindy said in unison, “Yes, sir.”
The medical examiner appeared on the screen in the conference room, larger than life. “We confirmed that the victim is Roy Shaw. Nothing unexpected on the autopsy. Two of the three shots to the chest would have been instantly fatal. One transected the aorta and the other took out the left ventricle. Did you receive the ballistics report?”
Vernon said, “Yes. It’s an unknown weapon.”
The ME grunted in sympathy. “Sorry that I can’t be of more help. Mr. Shaw’s murder occurred exactly as it appeared to have.”
“Thanks, Doctor.”
“No problem.” The ME signed off.
Mindy’s phone dinged with an email notification. “Here’s the list of Skyose and Ideodax personnel who were in town for the launch.”
“Outstanding. Bring them in for questioning. If they’ve left already, track them down.”
“Yes, sir.”
Greg heard his office phone ringing and ran across the hall to grab it. “Special Agent Marcotte.”
“Special Agent Marcotte, this is Sam Boone with Ideodax. I understand you’ve been trying to reach me.”
“Yes, Mr. Boone. We have questions about your relationship with Roy Shaw of Skyose. Are you still in Florida?”
“No, I’m back in California. I don’t know what I can tell you about Roy. I did hear that he was missing.”
Did you, now. Greg said, “We’d like to interview you on Skype, if possible.”
“Of course. Is it possible to do so now? I have meetings for the rest of the day.”
“Yes, it is. What’s your username?”
“Sam Boone Ideodax.”
“All right. We’ll be in contact shortly.” Greg said goodbye and hurried back to the conference room. “We have Sam Boone. He’s in California but I have his Skype information.”
Vernon said, “Perfect. Get him on the screen.”
Greg made the connection. Boone was a pleasantly nerdy-looking guy with glasses and dark hair. “Hello, Agent Marcotte.”
“Mr. Boone.” Greg introduced the other agents. “When did you arrive in Florida?”
“Last Wednesday evening.”
“Who did you travel with?”
“My co-worker, Glenn Pietras.”
“Who else from Ideodax attended the launch?”
“We were the only ones.”
That was odd. Mindy asked the question. “Why didn’t the CEO or any of the other executives come?”
“The only other executives besides Glenn and myself are Alan Moroney and Preston Brickman, the company founders. Alan had an emergency appendectomy on Thursday night and wasn’t cleared to travel, and Preston had a family emergency that required him to be in Seattle.”
Easy enough to check, Greg thought, and yet the answers sounded rehearsed to him. He said, “Tell us about your relationship with Roy Shaw.”
“Roy is our liaison with Skyose. All of our communications with that company pass through him.”
Tom asked, “Why did you choose Skyose for your first launch? Why not SpaceX, or another company with a proven rocket?”
“Obviously, in retrospect, we wish we had. At the time, we wanted to be supportive of another company on their maiden voyage. And Skyose’s requirements were far more favorable than those of other companies.”
Zach asked, “When was the last time you saw Mr. Shaw?”
“Glenn and I had dinner with Roy, Cabo Barnes, and Lyle Briggs on Thursday evening.”
“How did his demeanor seem to you?”
Boone shrugged. “Quiet, tired, jet-lagged. I believe he’d only arrived from New Mexico that afternoon. He certainly didn’t say anything that would indicate any intention on his part to disappear.”
Greg asked, “How long have you known Mr. Shaw?”
“About a year. But we only met in person three times.”
Greg decided to lead Shaw down the missing person path. “Is there anything you know or suspect about Mr. Shaw’s personal life that would explain a disappearance?”
Boone shook his head. “I didn’t know him that well. We never discussed anything other than business.”
Mindy asked, “Where do you think Mr. Shaw is?”
That seemed to throw Boone. Greg thought, He didn’t plan for that question.
“Er…I have no idea. I’d assume that someone at Skyose could answer that question.”
Vernon said, “Mr. Boone, how did you hear that Mr. Shaw was missing?”
“I saw it myself. He was missing from the observation room at launch. I hadn’t heard that he’d been located, so I assumed he was still missing.”
The agents exchanged glances. Greg said, “All right, Mr. Boone. Thanks for your cooperation. When you see Mr. Pietras, please ask him to contact us.”
“I will.”
Tom broke the connection. Vernon said, “Thoughts?”
Zach said, “Sounded rehearsed to me.”
Greg said, “Me, too. And the appendectomy and family emergency stories were awfully convenient in terms of timing.”
Vernon agreed. “Check on the details of those.”
All four agents said, “Yes, sir.”
Tom emailed Alan Moroney and Preston Brickman, the Ideodax founders whose emergencies precluded their attendance at the launch. Moroney responded promptly, assuring Tom that yes, he had suffered an emergency appendectomy, and attached his hospital discharge instructions. Brickman didn’t answer.
Mindy determined that the only Skyose execs in town were Cabo Barnes and Lyle Briggs. She called and left voicemails, and then she and Zach went out to locate them. Greg, tired of playing cat-and-mouse with corporate executives, placed a call to the AFOSI detachment at Holloman AFB in New Mexico.
The voice on the other end of the line stated, “Special Agent McCarthy. How can I help you?”
“Hi, Special Agent McCarthy, this is Special Agent Greg Marcotte at Patrick.”
The no-nonsense tone of the other agent’s voice warmed considerably. “Hi there, Special Agent Greg. This is Russell McCarthy. What can I do for you?”
Greg explained. “So we’d deeply appreciate it if y’all could visit Skyose for us and see if they’ll allow you to search Mr. Shaw’s office, and also ask whoever’s there if they know where Mr. Shaw might be. If they act squirrely about that, lean on ‘em.”
“You mean, if they act like they might know exactly where he is?”
Greg laughed. “Exactly.”
“You bet. Sounds fun. Maybe they thought they could hide from AFOSI in New Mexico, huh?”
“Ha! Show ‘em different, Special Agent McCarthy.”
“With pleasure. I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.” Greg signed off, then considered. There wasn’t much else he could do until Zach and Mindy returned or he heard from Russell McCarthy.
Time for lunch. He smiled to himself and called Justin.