Chapter 13
The Harding-Nyland Veterinary Research Farm was one square mile or 640 acres. The main entrance was at the southwest corner. The access road proceeded for two hundred yards past paddocks and large enclosures used for the bigger animals before arriving at the center of the facility. One large barn, more paddocks, six stables and six more, smaller enclosures created a perimeter around the main office, which housed six examination rooms in the back. The office was attached via a corridor to a hospital containing three operating rooms and one large operating theater for the big patients and for teaching.
Craig came out of his office to greet Randal and Harry, who were coming along the road in Harry’s Explorer.
The Explorer parked in a stall beside the two dormitory buildings. Both buildings were two storeys high. They each contained twelve rooms per floor that could each accommodate two students, visiting veterinarians or zoo officials who wanted to stay while their charges were being treated. One building was for men, the other for women.
Randal got out of the driver’s side. Harry must be getting as mellow as he claimed to let someone else drive his precious Explorer.
Harry had some difficulty getting out. He slowly straightened up and stretched before closing the door.
“Haven’t found anything definite that would cause the fire,” Randal said when they reached him. “It’s clear it started on the inside, but that’s about all we’ve got at this point.”
Harry arched his back and winced. “I checked with the others staying at the site. None of them heard or saw anything unusual, including swarming wasps or kamikaze fireflies.”
“Hetherington could be suffering from tinnitus.”
“That’s not funny.” Harry touched the hearing aid in his left ear.
“We swung by the Midnight Fire Campgrounds. There are only three campsites in use, seven people total, including three children. No one there heard anything unusual except for a ten-year-old girl who insisted she heard a humongous hummingbird zip past overhead this morning as she was returning to her tent after going to the bathroom.”
Harry fiddled with his hearing aid for a few more seconds, but still wasn’t satisfied with its setting. “The cabin was almost empty.”
“We found some melted plastic and metal parts from a toy, probably some remote control car or truck.”
“Or a helicopter.” Harry reached into his coat pocket and brought out a red, plastic propeller. One of the blades was completely melted off; one had just a melted tip. “This is larger than what a remote control plane uses.”
“Hetherington confirmed the owners had two grandsons, one eight and one eleven.” Randal looked up. “That would have been from four years ago.”
An eagle soared overhead on the afternoon thermals before continuing north.
“One of yours?” Harry shielded his eyes as he watched.
“It could be Ed. We only released him a month ago. He comes around a lot.”
“We did find two old gas-powered generators,” Randal said, “one inside and one outside. Kyle’s team is investigating the one inside as the likely culprit.”
“Hetherington now thinks it was vagrants. The others agree with him, but it sounds like they were all talking together. I don’t know if he’s got them all corralled into his way of thinking or they just can’t be bothered to think for themselves.”
“Vagrants and squatters, even tidy motorcycle gangs, would leave some evidence of their presence no matter how careful they tried to be. And would a vagrant or squatter risk crashing there with people in other cabins?”
Harry said, “It could be someone else.”
“It’s not poachers. They have a place to stay.”
“Don’t start that again, you two. I’m tired of getting caught in the middle.” Randal then said, “Hetherington did make a point of telling us he found three discarded condoms in the woods. He was sure at least two of them had been used.”
“He must have been a big help to all of you.”
“Heaven sent.”
Harry looked around the grounds. “Nothing big?”
“Not this week. The elephant went home last Tuesday.”
“Your second unit’s gone. Kyle said his team would be there until about four. They’ll take both generators back with them and whatever else they think is worth a look.”
“Good. You two can stay and help set the tables for the barbeque.”
“Sorry. Harry has to take me back to my Bell, the one with the man-sized propellers.”
“I’m driving back,” Harry said.
“Not as long as I’m around.” He frowned at Craig. “Next week, you and I are taking him to Dr. Crane to check for AMD or glaucoma or cataracts. He doesn’t see a damn thing when he’s driving.”
“I saw this.” Harry pulled out something small and charred from the pocket that had contained the propeller. “It’s a bone. Some animal got caught in the fire.”
Craig took the small bone. “Is this all you found?”
“Why?”
“It’s a phalanges bone from a human hand, likely the tip of the little finger. It’s adult; my guess would be a woman or a small man.”
Randal groaned, “Shit.”
“Somebody had to have used those condoms.” Harry took out his phone. “I’ll let Kyle know we’re on our way back.”
Harry and Randal returned to the Explorer.
Randal called back to him, “We may be a bit late tonight.”
“We’ll keep the beer cold and the ribs hot.”
Randal drove the Explorer away.
“Dr. Harding,” Zemar called from his office.
Zemar Khan Marwat and his sister Saleha Bibi Marwat were standing at the door. Zemar held his hand to his ear to indicate a telephone call for him.
“It’s Dr. Nyland,” Zemar said when he reached them. “There’s been an accident with a trip wire.”
He entered his office and took the phone from Saleha. “Barb, what happened?”
“Ben Hawksworth,” she said through an intermittent signal. “. . . snare . . . trip wire snapped . . . coiled around his left calf . . . thought it . . . take his leg off.”
Ben Hawksworth was a graduate student leader of the Oregon State crew who were using the farm as a base for their research. A big, bearded teddy bear, he had hooked up with Lorrie Strachan, another graduate student from Oregon State, while working at the farm.
“How is he?”
“Lorrie got the wire out. It was imbedded about six millimeters into his skin . . . bandaged him up. She and Nigel . . . to Dominion General . . . second truck . . . a few stitches and a shot, but I don’t think it’s serious . . . joking about not missing the barbeque . . . Lorrie . . . her glory looking after him.”
“Still, it’s scary as hell for what it could have been.”
“. . . found two others . . . pit deep enough to swallow . . . stakes at the bottom.”
“Poachers.”
“So says Morton Colter.”
“We can’t accuse him without evidence. Our cameras still haven’t caught anyone in the act.”
“How do they manage . . . should have . . . one of them at it by now.”
“We will one day.”
“. . . just dart one . . . bring him in . . . let him . . . an evening with Fred or the boys . . . soften him up.”
“Not tonight; we have the barbeque. Where are you?”
“Ten minutes out.”
“See you soon.”
“Craig, you know . . . stop this.”
He sighed. “I’m working on it.”
Wear Something Red Page 13