Transparency: Bio-Tech Cavern Secrets Untold by D.K. Matthews Page B

raised his hands. “I mentioned that you previously worked for the federal government. That’s all. Were you with the DOD?”
    “No. Why did you find it necessary to provide him with my bio?”
    “It’s a small town, Halliday. People are curious. Folks around here, Redwood Bluff included, don’t trust outsiders. It’s always been like that. When Genevive Labs arrived, nobody trusted them either. I mean they’ve been good for the county, with the economy.”
    “You sound like you know Redwood Bluff pretty well. Why is it you didn’t recall Lamar Festus’s name out in the forest? He’s known by everyone in Redwood Bluff.”
    “You’re accusing me of lying? I haven’t been to Redwood Bluff in five years. Yeah, maybe the name Festus rang a bell. It didn’t mean anything.”
    If Gladstone had any brains at all he wouldn’t forget an uncommon name like Lamar Festus. Halliday leaned toward the young lad. In a calm steady voice he said, “Don’t ever try to undermine an investigation of mine. I promise I’ll come down hard on you.”
    “Okay, Detective Halliday,” Gladstone said, flapping the folder on his thigh at the speed of shuffling cards. “Can we get on with the business at hand?”
    The young detective had deflected his inflammatory remark like a riot policeman holding up one of those shields.
    “What did you find out yesterday?”
    “I met with the Fresno chief of police. We took a look at the body of the missing person.”
    Gladstone’s shoulders slumped. “It was horrible what they did to him.”
    “They?”
    “He? They? It? I don’t know. Fresno PD couldn’t make an ID or locate the perp. None of the local vagrants knew the victim.”
    “Where did they find him?”
    “A group of hikers stumbled on him near the sierra foothills. The media picked up on it like flies on shit. Fresno PD released a statement that the MP had been mauled by a black bear.”
    He saw disbelief in the young man’s face. “But you don’t believe it.”
    “I’m no expert. It seems to me that bears maul, they don’t mutilate. Before I left, the Fresno chief read me the riot act. They’re not revealing any details about the body to the press.”
    Halliday couldn’t help thinking how much Festus resembled a vagrant. Hopefully, Festus had gone into hiding.
    Gladstone gave him a grave look. “I’ve got more.”
    “What?”
    “Another missing vagrant, this one reported in Visalia within the last seventy-two hours.”
    The vagrants troubled Halliday. He was aware that the skid row population got preyed on, sometimes for weird reasons. “What’s the physical description of the Fresno vagrant?”
    “Middle-aged black male. Five-ten, a buck sixty.”
    “I don’t believe Festus should be included on the MP list.”
    “Well, he’s already on it. Visalia Chief Daley showed me the county report. Besides the two MP’s I mentioned, there’s Festus and a Merced vagrant. A Merced farmer found the vagrant wandering around in his corn field. The vagrant claimed he had been abducted by aliens. A detective at Merced PD said the vagrant keeps babbling unintelligible words.”
    Halliday grunted.
    “I’m telling you, Halliday. It’s ‘absence of reality.’”
    Gladstone stole another sip of coffee. He squinted and said, “What do you think we should do?”
    “I suspect you’ve already discussed this with the chief.”
    “He caught me in the hallway yesterday evening. But we didn’t discuss any path forward. He said Festus is in our jurisdiction so we should concentrate on finding him while keeping the other MPs on our radar.”
    Halliday wondered if the Fresno chief had come to the same conclusion he had. Could be, they had a serial killer running around. “In the meantime, visit Merced PD. Talk to the vagrant. See what you can get out of him.”
    Gladstone’s light bulb illuminated. “Halliday, are you thinking serial killer?”
    He wouldn’t go there yet. “No, I’m thinking we should perform our due