Hoot
Copyright© 2007 by Zaffen
Chapter 7: Epilogue
A little after midnight the Colonel was far into Louisiana and still headed south, passing within a few miles of where John Farmer was sleeping dreamlessly, resting from his honest labors.
The autopsy report on Bill Mackenzie confirmed what Pate had surmised, suffocation; fibers found in his windpipe were a match for his own pillow.
Pate's job settled into the normal routine, with a lot less excitement, which did not make him mad at all.
The State Crime Lab's report stated that they had found several prints on the back of the vehicle as if someone had been pushing it but no match found as, yet.
Officially, both Mackenzie's and Mona's deaths were still classified as Homicides by person or persons unknown, but Pate had a feeling it had something to do with the Colonel and his bunch. He just had no way to prove it.
There was still no sign of Tommy Daniels, his vehicle found abandoned, and, hidden in deep brush. There was not anything in it to give a clue to who else was involved or why.
Rafe Blander's Mother had mentioned to someone that, "The last she heard from him was when he had called to request that she send his savings to him some place in Louisiana about the time the first body was found."
Nobody had any explanation for the holes in the road on County Road 125 or the twisted hunks of metal that had once been vehicles. The crime lab did find traces of Semtex but not much else since it seemed the explosive devices wired into the fuel tanks as well.
The building at the compound had burned to the ground along with the Red SUV, because whatever the Colonel had been doing at that location or whatever was stored there had been extremely volatile and burned with a white-hot flame turning everything to dust or slag.
There had not, been anything left to provide any clues as to what had been going on, who the Colonel really was or who else had been involved.