Why Not Murder

48. Missing

48. Missing

Maya was watching In-Depth News. A new reporter was presenting the news about XX Fuel and was playing the last report that Mitchell had recorded. He had not been seen or heard from for ten days now and his colleagues at the news station were concerned. The link between his last broadcast and his disappearance was not stated but appeared obvious.

Mitchell's last report: "On screen is the police mug shot of the man who was allegedly the ring-leader of the terrorist groups." There appeared the frontal and side photos of Dog. His face was badly bruised and swollen and Maya wondered if anyone would recognize him. Dog was still avoiding contact with others as much as he could. "His name has not been released," Mitchell continued, "The reason given by police spokepeople and our government representatives is that he had various pseudonyms and they believe release of his birth name would compromise their continuing investigation. Why were these photos not released earlier? That is a question begging an answer. We have been told that this man burned to death in the train accident on the line heading north out of Marhaven. What is the evidence of this? Could this be another ruse for the purposes of keeping the progress and details of the official investigation secret? It is hard to have faith in authorities that do not back up their claims. Is it any wonder that rumours are circulating that these photos are fake?"

The report continued, "XX Fuel claims that the oil spill cleanup is a result of their efforts. The oil that contaminated much of the surrounding area has drained into fracking fissures created by the company or its subsidiaries. How this came about is not explained. Plans to recapture the sunk oil and process it for industrial purposes are underway. None of the oil sinking further into the ground has affected the drinking water downstream according to XX Fuel and the litany of scientific research they are funding. Fortunately few people live in the region any more. Those who remain are too sick to leave or have a stubborn tie to that land. One of the locations downstream is a town, now a ghost town, named Crawford Mills. No one permanently resides there but people are going there because it is said to be the focal point of the so-called resistant groups that populate the increasing protest marches and demonstrations. An interesting development is that sightings of ghosts in Crawford Mills are increasing. During the time that the industry of Crawford Mills, a mining town, was in operation, the grandmother of the supposed reincarnation of Louis Riel, Rayelle Davine Lewis, was hung with a number of other townspeople, for undocumented reasons. They were never given a trial or due process of the law but were hunted down and strung up by citizens living in Crawford Mills. These events are the subject of the granddaughter's research. After refusing all requests for an interview she has become impossible to locate, although every day there are people who report having seen her. Some of the reasons for believing that she is the reincarnation of Louis Riel include not only the name coincidence, but that she has the same birthday, the same appearance, although feminized, and the same voice. One has to wonder how this last mentioned could be confirmed.

"Evidence has been recovered at the site of the first murders of the XX Fuel executives along the highway to the XX Fuel operational headquarters," Mitchell paused a very brief moment and then continued, "this evidence includes a bullet shot, used ducktape and a key chain. This evidence was handed into the police, a receipt obtained which still exists, and then when inquiries were made concerning such evidence, it was discovered that the evidence was never received by the police and did not exist. The bullet could have been used to identify one of the killers' guns. The ducktape may have been used on one of the victims and may have had DNA evidence of the killers. The key chain held one key and had the name 'Crawford Mills' embedded in the plastic. The bullet was of the type used by police, however it could have been used by another person.