Chapter 6: Roger's strikeout

Kristy informed me we would be acquiring three square miles of land, on the north side of our property, for our nature preserve. As we were talking, she informed me there was someone at the gate. I looked at the monitor and saw a cop car, so I headed out the door and walked to the gate.

"Morning officer, how can I help you?" I asked.

"We're looking for a missing girl. She was reported in the area by a local shopkeeper; we were wondering if you might have seen her," he said, showing me her picture.

"Oh shit," I said.

"Sir, do you know this woman?" he asked.

"Yes, well no, but I have seen her. Please come up to the house; there are few of us you need to talk to," I said and opened the gate. When I got to the house I invited him into the living room, and called for everyone else to join us.

"Ladies this officer is here looking for a missing girl, this is her picture," I said holding it out.

"Oh my god that's the girl that was with Melissa and Jack," Pat said.

"Who are Melissa and Jack?" the cop asked.

We went into the story about how Patricia and I were together, why she left Melissa, and why Rebecca was here watching them. He called into the station and ran Melissa and Jack through the computer. After getting their information, he called for a detective.

"I called in the detective in charge of the case, I hope you don't mind if we're around for a while?" he asked.

"Nope, I like company. We will even provide refreshments and whatever else you need."

He thanked me and then asked to use the phone, which I handed him. It was about an hour later when another car arrived; I buzzed them in. We went through the same story with the detectives; Rebecca told them what she had observed so far, that as far as we could tell, the missing girl had never left the camper. However she had not being watched all the time, up until recently. The detectives decided to take us seriously and called a judge and had a warrant delivered to the house.

When the additional units arrived they drove up to the Roger's camper and then knocked on the door. We had a visual on what happened. Jack came out and talked for a minute with the officers, then Melissa came out and did the same. At that point the officers escorted them away from the camper and the detectives searched inside. They were inside for about thirty minutes when they came out holding a purse and appeared to be asking the Rogers about it. We all assumed the purse belonged to the missing girl, but apparently she was not in the trailer.

"Kristy is there any way to scan the area around the camper for the missing girl?"

"Scanning the area has determined one possible life sign, it is coming from one meter below the surface at these coordinates. The area is on the monitor now," she said, displaying the area.

"Rebecca take Jessica with you. Ask the police what is going on and lead them here. Tell them you saw him at this location doing something. HURRY!" I said.

They ran out of the house and jumped in Rebecca's car. A few minutes later we saw them arrive and talk to the detectives, pointing towards the woods; then they all took off in that direction. We followed them on the monitor to a small clearing. I called Rebecca on her cell phone and gave her the exact location and they both started digging in the fresh dirt. They were down a few feet when they hit a cement pad of some kind; I recognized it as the top to a septic tank. The detectives jumped in the hole and lifted the lid out. Jessica didn't even hesitate. She jumped in the hole to check it out; inside she found the missing girl, tied up and gagged. I could tell there was some yelling and we intercepted the call for an ambulance, also one for a coroner. Rebecca called a few minutes later and let us know the girl was going to be ok, but there was also two bodies in the tank with her. She said Jessica was still in the hole with her treating her wounds.

"Rebecca says the girl will be ok, but that there are two bodies in the hole as well," I said shaking my head. "I'll bet Rebecca found her missing person."

I could tell from the picture Rebecca was on the phone again, I'm sure it was to her office telling them the news.

"Gloria, why don't you make up some snacks and sandwiches for the guys up there, they're going to be at it for a while. I'm sure they would appreciate it if you could take them some food and drinks, we can fend for ourselves." I said. Gloria and Jenny both went to the kitchen to get the food ready. They left in her car a while later. I turned off the TV, started some music, lit the fireplace, and cuddled up next to Patricia.

"You just wanted to get everyone out of the house didn't you?" she asked.

"Hmm, the thought never crossed my mind until they were all gone," I said.

We sat on the couch cuddling for the next three hours till everyone got home; when they came in we were almost asleep. They were in the doorway just snickering at us.

"I think they're all jealous," I said, as they broke out in laughter.

"How's the girl doing?" I asked.

"She is scared but she is not hurt not physically anyway. Her parents were called and met us at the scene," Jessica said.

"Apparently they noticed someone hanging around and thought they were being watched, so they went out one night and threw her in the hole. They figured they would get her later ... or just leave," Rebecca said.

"Well thank god for whoever it was they thought they saw; I'm sure it saved that girl even more pain," I said.

It had been a long day so we decided to get some sleep and headed to our rooms; I was happy that Patricia joined me.

We were all up late the next morning, but breakfast was ready soon after; we ate pretty quietly. We ended up in the living room discussing the Agency, what we would do with it knowing what was going to happen soon. We figured we could use the Agency as cover for some of the stuff we were going to be doing, so it was settled. Kristy announced the pool was finished, and she had started on the underground storage area; we figured in an emergency it could house people to. The next project would be the bed and breakfast. After that she would start on the underground housing.

Rebecca also told us she had resigned from her Detective Firm and was now free. They were apparently very happy with her last case and had given her a nice bonus, but were sad to see her go.

I was still thinking about what the future held and how we could change it, or even if it was possible to change it.

"I'm going for a run; who wants to go?" I asked. Jessica joined me and surprisingly so did Jenny. We ran the perimeter a few times and talked about where to put the buildings and where to extend the fence to. We also talked about the entrances to the underground areas and storage site. We finished up our run and I reminded Jenny the barn and corral will be up tomorrow and she needed to find horses. She came over and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then ran inside.

"Seems like you have quite a following Casper," Jessica said.

"Who told you about that name? It's been a long time since I have been called that," I said.

"Kristy squealed on you."

"Oh well, I have always liked it better than Justin anyway."

"I see you and Patricia have grown closer."

"Yes a little, I was being really careful at first because of what happened with Jack and Melissa. But I think she trusts me now, and if she doesn't, well then I guess it will never happen."

"Oh she trusts you; actually she has been waiting for you to act since you threw her in the lake. But don't tell her I told you," she said laughing.

"Thanks. You know, if things go the way we have been told, everyone is going to need someone to lean on, don't you think."

"It would be much easier, yes. But you can't rush things like that."

"I know, just make sure the girls know I'm there for them if they need someone to talk to, and make sure they don't think I'm not just trying to get lucky," I said and smiled as we walked inside. It was about dinner time, so we decided to eat and then watch a movie — of course the girls picked some flick that I simply had to watch.

The next morning the construction crew arrived bright and early and started unloading the barn parts shortly after arriving. Jenny said that she and Gloria were going to look at horses at a nearby ranch and would be back in a bit. I told her the horses were her decision; if she finds what she wants, tell them to deliver them tomorrow and I'll write a check.

"If you do find what you want, ask for some feed for them too, until we can get what we need ourselves," I said.

They took off in Gloria's car as everyone else just stood there watching them go.

"You just made a young woman very happy," Patricia said.

"Well I don't have a daughter to spoil," I said, looking at Patricia, smiling as I added, "Not yet anyways."

Everyone laughed at that except Patricia, but she did smile at me. We walked inside and I got busy with my surveillance vehicles; I guess this was my hobby. "Kristy, what could you do with a full size helicopter, as far as using it as a surveillance vehicle?" I asked.

"With a full size craft it would increase my range to 500 miles or so, but it wouldn't be very covert and could be easily seen and tracked."

"I understand that. I was thinking about using it later, after the storm hits. There will not be as many problems then."

"True. After the government has collapsed, it would be a vast improvement over what we have now. The range might even be greater then, there would be less interference."

"Ok, plan a landing pad on the property somewhere, maybe next to the bed and breakfast; we could say it's for the client's use."

I made a BBQ for lunch since Gloria was out; I invited all the workers to eat as well. They appreciated the lunch and then got back to work; it ended up a rather large barn. I figured with feed and supplies it could easily hold ten horses, eight for sure. After the crew was done with the barn and corral, I went inside and told everyone to find a bathing suit, we needed to check out the pool. We went down in to the basement and then to the pool where we all just stopped and looked at everything.

"WOW this is so cool," I said throwing my towel down on the chair and jumping in the pool. "The water is perfect come on in!" I was just standing in the water taking in the view; the pool was an oval shape with a round section on one end that was made into a spa. The surrounding area was planted with some type of grass, but I was sure it was not real. There were two trees in the cave along with some boulders I assumed we could dive off of.

Kristy decided to join us then and said, "What do you think?"

"I think it's almost perfect. Can you add a little breeze, like outside, and if possible can you add a little smell to the air? Like the smell of grass and the outdoors in general."

She worked on that for about 30 minutes; eventually I felt the breeze and the smells of the outdoors.

"Now it's perfect, you did a great job Kristy" I said. We were having a dunk fest when Gloria and Jenny got home, Kristy told them we were in the pool and they showed up a few minutes later. After complementing Kristy on her work and looking at everything a few times, they jumped in with us.

"Kristy is the ventilation in here good enough to have a BBQ down here?" I asked

"Yes, that's no problem."

"Great, then could we add a built-in BBQ, and maybe a few picnic tables?"

"Sure, just find some examples of what you want and I'll take care of it."

We spent another hour in the pool, but when we got out we realized we were missing another item — a shower.

"There is no need for a shower as there are no bad chemicals in the pool. In fact, you could use it to bathe in if you want, the water is recycled every night." she said.

We all got out and Gloria made us all a quick dinner. Jenny said she found two horses she wanted and they would be delivered on Monday with some feed. The guy also said he would give us some instructions, and that we could call anytime if we needed help. Well it was about that time, so we all went to bed.

The next morning I got up and dressed and noticed my closet was somewhat fuller than it was yesterday. I guess Patricia had moved in, much to my pleasure. I was glad she got over her fears. I went out to the kitchen, grabbed some coffee, and went into the office. I went online and looked for helicopters, I found a used 1993 Bell 230. Well I always liked that old show Airwolf, so this would work out, especially as I was sure Kristy could make it better than new. So I got on the phone, called the seller, and talked to him for a while; he assured me the helicopter was in great condition. I said I'd take it, but he needed to deliver to my place. He agreed, and said it would be a few days and he would call first.