by Jack Dayton
They stood under the train bridge, searching Martin Street for any sign. Nothing. Gone.
“Where’d he go?” Casper managed to ask even as his breath came in deep gasps.
“That SOB is here somewhere.” Vance breathed deeply, hands on hips still peering up the hill to the flashing red traffic signal at Barnett.
He heard Casper’s breath catch and turned. Ghost was shaking his head, still groping to understand what had just happened. He tried unsuccessfully to suppress a small sob, looking down.
Vance put his hand on his shoulder. “Ghost, look at me.” Casper tried to raise his gaze but could only manage a glance. “I said, look at me, Marine.”
Casper took a deep breath and looked up at the gunnery sergeant. “Gunny,” was all he could manage.
“Okay, Ghost, this is bad. I ain’t gonna sugar coat it but I need you, Ghost.”
Casper’s face broke again “Sergeant Seelbach . . .”
“I know . . . it’s no way to go but I need you now. Seelbach would want you to do what you’re trained to do, Ghost. You read me?”
“Yes, Gunny,” Ghost sniffed and pulled himself up. “Good to go, Gunny.”
“Ooh rah, Marine.”
“Gunny?”
“Yeah?”
“Should we take some pictures of the footprints? I mean while they’re fresh and all.”
Vance’s throat swelled. Even on a Marine’s worst day, he is still trying to do his best for his fellow Marines. Vance pulled a deep breath, pausing enough to keep his voice steady. “Casper, that is just what we need to do. You are motivated, Marine. You get the pictures and then I want you to run up the hill to the fire station and tell them they need to get to the train depot. Can you do that?”
“Yes, sir, Gunny.” Casper applied himself to the task of getting the pictures of what was quickly becoming melted, muddied prints. Vance tried to decipher where the prints led with little success as a steady stream of melt ran across the street into the sewer grate.
Casper took off for the fire station and Vance stayed under the bridge. Whomever killed Seelbach came under the bridge but didn’t stay. There was no place to hide under the bridge and the only way out was the other side unless there was some way to manage the almost vertical climb up the cement retaining wall. The opposite side of the train bridge was the only option. He walked over to the southwest corner, trying to see any indication of movement in that direction on the wet pavement. The pavement showed nothing but at the corner where the wall met the bridge he examined the wall and the staircase that offered the only other exit. There were no footprints on the stairs. There were bootprints though . . . straight up the wall at the corner where the wall met the bridge. He followed the prints as they faded toward the top of the wall.
Vance took out his phone and let the light from the screen illuminate as far up as it could. The light was faint but it was unmistakable. At the top, a gap between the iron bridge and the concrete wall was just big enough for the tail of red rope to get stuck.
Vance knew enough not to try to do anything more from where he was but there were ways to get up to the bridge without disturbing the scene. The cement staircase opposite got him up to track level. He walked through the undisturbed snow to the train bridge and found the tracks that were missing below. Following the tracks back to where the rope was jammed between a gap in the concrete. A pile of red climbing rope was left tangled at the top of the bridge. Whomever had used the rope had tried to pull it up behind him but it had gotten stuck and there was no time to free it. He looked at the pile of red rope and the place where it was tied to the railing. He dropped his head, his jaw tightening when he saw the knot that secured the rope.
Chapter 14
He turned and followed the tracks which went back down the access road toward the train station. What was he looking for, Vance wondered. Then he saw it . . . a gap in the chain link fence separating the access road from the train tracks. Whomever pushed Seelbach knew where he was going to cover his escape. He had boldly gone back almost to the scene and then doubled back on the tracks, knowing he could walk the ties and not worry about detection. And there wouldn’t be any trains.
Vance walked down the tracks using his phone to see where he left the tracks. About 500 yards down across from the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer Academy someone had walked off the tracks and plunged down into the gorge. There was no one there now but whomever it was knew how to navigate wild space well enough to move quickly. He probably made it up the other side and had a vehicle parked in the Jordan Hall barracks parking lot. Long gone now.
Vance paused feeling his frustration boil over. He turned and ran the ties back to the platform at the Quantico Station and climbed up. He walked up to the yellow crime scene tape that had been strung from the brick wall of the station to a cigarette disposal container placed at the edge of the platform. The platform had largely been cleared of bystanders and well-meaning Marines who wanted to help. He searched the platform for Dr. Quinn but she was nowhere to be found. Vance went back around to the front of the station and walked into the packed terminal. The flashing red and blue of the emergency vehicles painted the space inside.
The terminal was packed. The coffee shop was putting out free coffee and water and almost everyone was drinking something, waiting to learn what the plan was for transportation south. Vance wended his way through the crush looking for Quinn and Ghost. He finally spotted them at the rear of the station in the back, as far as they could get from the place where Seelbach was pushed. She was sitting in a chair someone had dragged over to the corner of the terminal, her hands nested around a cup of coffee. Ghost was leaning on the wall next to her. Both of them were looking down at the linoleum floor, silent.
“Ghost, how you doing?” Vance checked him.
“Good to go, Gunny,” Ghost looked up and pushed off the wall, relief palpable on his young face.
“Doc?”
Quinn looked up, shaking her head. “Don’t ask me for that ‘gung ho’ shit right now, Gunny.”
“I get it. This shouldn’t be happening.” Vance scanned the crowded room. They were the connection to Seelbach. There would be investigators who would want to talk to them.
The Quantico police chief, Keith Devlin, was monitoring the crime scene from inside the terminal. He had his hands full. His staff of two was stretched to the limit with keeping people from disturbing the crime scene in a very crowded space. The resident activity of NCIS had been contacted and sent agents over to help with evidence collection.
The riders who were on the train were unhappy, confined as they were to the train car they had been on for over an hour with no word on how they would get home. Some of the Quantico riders stuck in the station were increasingly restive, knowing that there was a very real possibility that they might be stuck in the station overnight. Others were still traumatized by what they had witnessed.
A loud voice asked for attention and the crowd shushed itself to listen. Chief Devlin began by asking for calm. Someone suggested he stand on the window sill so everyone could see him. He took a big step up and turned to face the crowd.
“I am Chief Keith Devlin, the chief of police here at Quantico. This is Officer Jason Bender from Marine Corps Base Quantico Security. As I was saying, I am asking everyone here to be calm and patient. We are doing everything we can to resolve the transportation issue and get you on your way as soon as possible. The VRE is sending buses and they should be arriving shortly. Those of you who are getting off at Brooke Station will go directly there and there will be another bus for Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Stations so please note the correct bus for your stop.” He paused and someone shouted out “How will we know which bus?” which brought a collective groan from the group. “The buses will be clearly marked with signs in the front window, okay? We know you are all hoping to get home tonight before the snow gets worse so please understand we need your cooperation. We know you are tired but we have one last request. Any of you who hav
e any information or saw the incident that took place, please let us know. We need to talk to you before you leave here and then we will make arrangements for you to either get home or have a place to stay until tomorrow morning.” Another groan went up, much smaller but the crowd’s mood softened. Those who had nothing to offer were congratulating themselves on being in the group that would be released.
Quinn and Casper exchanged glances. “Looks like we’re staying,” Quinn said.
“We’re all staying,” Vance offered. “I’ll go over and tell him where we are.”
The buses arrived and the crowd began moving through the doors out to find their way home to supper and bed. A steady stream of people from both the terminal and the stopped train merged toward the buses. The train blocked Potomac Avenue so the buses approach came from the base side of the terminal. There were four stacked up on Potomac Avenue filling as quickly as the doors opened. Slowly, as the process ensued, the doors closed and the buses lumbered off into the snowy night.
A handful of people were left, a few others who had seen Seelbach being pushed, some who saw the chase to catch the pusher. A group of MCB Security professionals were clustered around the door leading to the platform, Chief Devlin at the center. One of the group, a civilian broke off from the cluster and set up with Devlin at a table in the corner opposite of the door.
Vance, Quinn and Casper had moved to a table. Avery’s eyes looked empty of emotion. “I don’t know what to tell these guys really. What did I see that could help? You guys know more about what’s going on than I do.”
“They’ll have their questions. We’ll just tell them what we saw.”
Ghost was quiet, looking back and forth from Quinn to Vance.
“Ghost, you doing okay?”
“Yeah, Gunny, I think so. I just been thinkin’ about what happened.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s gonna be something that you think about a lot.”
Ghost squinted at the Gunny, brow furrowed, as though he had something to say.
“What is it, Ghost?”
“Nothin’, Gunny . . . ” He dropped his head down again.
A uniformed officer from the Quantico police department came over. “Hey, I’m Officer Dale Tucker. I understand you were on the platform and may have seen the incident?”
Vance answered “I was in the terminal and later chased the guy but I didn’t see the actual execu . . .” Vance stopped, hesitant to call it what it was.
“We were with Sergeant Seelbach. He’s our coworker and friend,” Avery spoke up.
“Okay, if you don’t mind coming over, the Chief and Special Agent Mackey from NCIS would like to ask you some questions.”
They pulled themselves together and moved across the terminal to the table that was an informal command post and found some chairs across from Chief Devlin and Agent Mackey. The activity on the platform was more subdued but the reality that their friend was still being pulled from under the wheels of the locomotive was painfully apparent.
The chief opened the interview. “I’m Chief Devlin and I’ll be leading the investigation. This is Special Agent Wyatt Mackey from NCIS which has offered to assist our staff. I apologize for keeping you late, especially on a night like this but we really need to capture what you might have seen when it is fresh in your mind. I promise you we will not keep you any longer than we have to. If I could get your names and contact information, job titles. I don’t know if you have any alternative transportation plans but we can either get you home in a city vehicle or we can arrange for you to stay here on base.”
Gunny spoke up for both the Marines. “We are fine, sir. Lance Corporal lives in the barracks and I have a rack in Jordan Hall I can take advantage of. Only Dr. Quinn might need some assistance.”
“At this point, I have no interest in sitting on I-95 for the next three hours just to get home. If you could get me a room at the Crossroads Inn, I’ll be fine there overnight.” Avery couldn’t imagine trying to get home and then being snowed in the next day, the images from the last hours swirling in her mind.
“Thank you for your cooperation. That will make this go much faster.” He proceeded to take down their particulars and organize the paperwork.
“If I could just ask you a few questions,” Agent Mackey picked up the pen lying on the evidence form ready to get the interview started. “So where exactly were you when the incident took place.”
“I was standing next to Sergeant Seelbach. We were both waiting for the train on the platform,” Dr. Quinn responded.
“Can you describe what happened?”
“Well, I was turned away from the sergeant, looking down the track for the train. I had this sense of movement and turned to see the sergeant falling down onto the tracks right in front of the train.” Avery shuddered and closed her eyes, sighing. “It was awful . . . we couldn’t do anything. He was struggling as he fell, grasping the air.” She stopped, unable to continue.
The chief asked Lance Corporal Casper what he saw. “I just said good-bye to them and was walking through the crowd on the platform. I turned around as I walked away that’s when it happened.” Casper paused and took a deep breath. “This guy, all in black, with a black hoodie on, just came out of nowhere and grabbed the sergeant and threw him onto the tracks. Never saw anything like it.”
“So you weren’t getting on the train?”
“No, I was going to get some chow at the Filipino Kitchen. He just came out of nowhere.”
“And you, Gunny. What was your situation?”
“I was in the head and came out in time to see the train stop and some guy running through the parking lot. So Ghost . . . I mean, Lance Corporal Casper and I took offer after him.”
“So as I understand it you gave chase with the assailant through the parking lot?”
“We followed him until we were under the train bridge and then his footprints disappeared into the drainage under the bridge. I did locate a spot where he used a rope to climb up to the other side of the tracks.”
“Whoa . . . so you climbed that fence at the end of the parking lot and then chased him to the bridge. How’d you get down to Martin Street?” The Chief questioned.
Casper piped up. “We jumped.”
“You jumped.” Devlin and Mackey exchanged looks.
“I swear,” Casper was indignant that anyone would doubt they could manage that jump.
Mackey smiled. “Easy, Lance Corporal, we have no doubts. Gunny, I’m sure you can corroborate this.”
“Affirmative. Lance Corporal Casper would never manufacture or exaggerate information. Not for something this serious, I can assure you. As a matter of fact, Lance Corporal Casper has pictures of the bootprints we found under the bridge.”
The Chief asked then “We’re gonna need those, Lance Corporal. Gunny, would you be able to show us where this chase went and especially the rope you mentioned. You say it was stuck somewhere under the bridge?”
“More like where the bridge meets the rail. Whomever did this knows about climbing and used a unique rope to climb the wall. I can show you exactly where I found it.”
“You didn’t touch it or move anything?”
“No, sir,” Gunny answered.
“I’m going to ask you to take Agent Dozier with you. Lance Corporal Casper, you don’t have to go along. We want to keep the scene as free of extra footprints so your gunny can make the trip. Is there anything else you can tell us about the event?”
Avery shrugged, “I can’t think of anything more. Can you two?”
Casper was looking down, shaking his head almost imperceptibly. “Ghost,” Vance broke through his reverie. “You got anything?”
“No, Gunny,” he said without looking up.
As the three began to collect their bags, the Chief stopped them. “One other thing, did Sergeant Seelback have any enemies, ex’s that might be looking to take their frustrations out on him, get back at him.”
Vance’s response was firm. “Sergeant Seelbach had one
commitment and that was to the Marine Corps. I don’t know that he had any enemies. Casper?”
“No, Gunny,” Casper looked at the officers, swallowing hard. “The only thing Sergeant Seelbach cared about was being a good Marine.”
“Thank you. If you can stay behind, Gunny we won’t keep you long. Dr. Quinn and Lance Corporal Casper you can go. We can take you to the Crossroads now if you like, Ma’am.”
“If it is okay with you, I think I’d like to wait until after we get some chow,” Avery answered.
“No problem.” The Chief responded. “If you don’t mind being available if we have more questions, we would appreciate it.”
“Yes, of course,” she answered.
Agent Mackey thanked Quinn and Casper and went out to the platform to find Special Agent Dozier. As they waited, Quinn took the Gunny aside. “We’re going down to Sam’s for a drink. I don’t have much of an appetite but I really don’t want to hold up in a room at Crossroads right now. Why don’t you meet us there when you get finished?”
Vance thought a moment. “Roger that. I’ll meet you down there as soon as I can.”
They both peered out the window to the platform then just in time to see the gurney with a body bag move toward the waiting ambulance.
* * *
Special Agent Wade ‘Bull’ Dozier opened the terminal door for Gunny Vance, pulling twice before he was able to get it open.
“Got it?” Vance considered the tall, wiry agent who was going to walk out to the bridge with him.
“Yeah, thanks,” Dozier answered, glancing up at Vance waiting for a crack that didn’t materialize. They started walking toward the back of the parking lot. “So you chased this guy?”
“Yeah, me and Lance Corporal Casper were close enough to see him running so we took off. We thought we had him cornered at the back of the lot but he went right over the fence.”
Dozier scanned the lot in front of them with his flash light. There were a few sets of tracks but nothing to contribute to evidence. “We’ll have to go over this when it gets light but you were just running after him here, right?”