How could things go so wrong so fast? Joselyn didn’t understand. She tried when she was lying in the dirt, staring at Mimi’s dusty face. She tried when they stuffed them into a truck and drove for what felt like longer than the usual twenty minutes it took to drive into town.
Joselyn was still trying now, sitting in one of those rooms with the table and chairs. Maxwell was a small town and if this was what she suspected, then they were either too poor or there just wasn’t a point in having a two-way mirror in it. Somehow, she still felt like someone had to be watching her.
The room was small and stuffy to add to the discomfort and even though a girl had come by and brought her a can of soda, Joselyn hadn’t really been able to bring herself to take so much as a sip. Behind her eyes, she could still see Eli lying in the dirt next to the curved glass.
There had been a murdered out there with them. Someone that saw what Eli and Mimi were digging up and killed them for it. Then what? They just disappeared when Joselyn and Eu showed up? If the military hadn’t shown up, would they have been killed, too?
And then there was Professor Mackey. Maybe she snapped at the prospect of having the find taken away with all of the stress that had been piling on lately.
Maybe she’d been the one to hurt – kill – Eli and Mimi. She could have been coming to kill them when the military showed up. Speaking of, why were they even out there?
The door clicked. The sheriff was holding a manila folder in one hand and a black tape recorder in the other. Very old school.
He put the folder on the table and sat down. “The ID you gave us matched with your fingerprints to a Josef Nash of Albuquerque. You don’t look like much of a Josef to me.”
“I’m a work in progress. My name is Joselyn.”
“Mind if I call you Joe?”
“I mind that a lot, actually…”
“Alright, Joe, I’m gonna need you to tell me everything that happened in the desert earlier.”
Joselyn grit her teeth. She wasn’t going to pick a pointless fight with a *sheriff* of all people. Not after everything else today. “I really don’t know.”
“Your friend Eustace says that the two of you were sent out to…Zone 2…by Carolyn Mackey. Is that correct?”
“Professor Mackey wanted us to check on Eli and Mimi. We hadn’t heard anything from them in hours.”
The sheriff flipped open the folder and read something. “And how was your professor when you last spoke to her?”
“She wouldn’t have hurt Eli and Mimi. This is – was – my and Eli’s third dig with Professor Mackey and she’s never been anything but nice. A little stressed this time – “
“Because of funding issues.” The sheriff flipped a picture onto the table. It was Eli lying completely free of the dirt. Concealed from them at the dig site had been a ragged wound in the right side of his neck. The way the picture was taken, it looked like he was staring at her specifically.
He spoke softer this time. “Money can make people do things they would never dream of.”
“She wouldn’t do this. What did they find in the hole?”
There was a knock on the door and Joselyn recognized one of the men in suits that had been at the hole. “This case is closed, Sheriff Bigby. I need to speak with,” he looked at Joselyn, “Miss Nash. Alone.”
“Now you wait,” the sheriff stood, “five people are dead!”
“And your case is closed. Have a nice day, Sheriff.”
The door opened again and Joselyn caught a glimpse of more men in camoflage outside. The sheriff looked down at her again before leaving them alone.
“Miss Nash,” the man took a seat, “I’m going to tell you a story and you’re going to have to remember it exactly the way I tell it. Once you can repeat it back to me, you will get a free ride back to Albuquerque.”
“Why were you even there?” Joselyn asked.
“The FBI is overseeing military exercises in the area. You screamed when your professor attacked you. It was good that we arrived when we did.”
“She never attacked us.”
“Professor Carolyn Mackey,” he continued, “had been isolating herself this entire trip. Staying in the trailer and talking to no one until she sent the two of you out to Zone 2 where she had already disposed of the other students. The attack came out of nowhere.”
“She never attacked us. Eli and Mimi had found – “
“There was nothing in the hole.” The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded paper that looked like a letter. “I need you to sign a statement that will serve as a record of what happened today.”
Joselyn took the paper and read the paragraph that everything had been condensced into. “I’m not signing this.”
This time, the door opened without a knock and she knew it had to be Eu. Joselyn got up and hugged him tight. “Glad you’re okay.”
“You, too.” Eu looked at the table. “Sign it so we can get out of here.”
“They’re lying about her – “
“We can go home. We don’t have to be a part of this.”
Joselyn studied him and went back to the table. As she was signing her legal name, she said, “Professor Mackey was not a murderer.”
Then she threw the pen down and they let them walk out.
Choosing Creation Over Destruction 