Why Not Murder

60. Explosion

60. Explosion

True to her word, Maya was taking Winnie through an exercise routine every day. There were exercises for the arms, neck, tummy, back, hands and face and they did these together. Winnie's legs were moved by Maya holding them by the ankles and feet and pushing Winnie's legs back and forth, up and down and side to side. Winnie could not move them but this got the circulation running through her veins. Then Maya would carry Winnie downstairs and gently put her into a wheelchair and push her around outside for sunshine and fresh air. Gradually over the days, the wheelchair on its route wore out the lawn and created a dirt path. A labyrinth of paths were made and also in the nearby forest because Winnie wanted to go there as well. The improved circulation and daily work out brought colour to Winnie's face and made her happy. She stopped obsessing over when she was going to get better and focused on living her life as best she could such as it was now.

Winnie and Maya grew closer in their friendship. They had long conversations about all the topics that mattered to them. They didn't talk about their past though. They weren't purposely avoiding talking about their personal histories. It just never happened. The past had regrets and created a longing for the return of the good times. They didn't speak of the future either, that involving mostly hope for the outcome of plans. The overlapping worlds of Maya and Winnie developed into a bubble of its own within the larger scheme of things.

One day the world beyond intruded rudely upon them once again. As usual it was through hearsay. There had been a massive explosion at the XX Fuel operations site that fortunately erupted on a Sunday and therefore there were no workers on site. The debris from the explosion hurled out in all directions, landing as far as Brockton. Fires flared up at the operations site and in the surrounding forest. There were casualties and some deaths. A woman in Brockton was out in her backyard hanging up clothes to dry and was struck on the head by a piece of metal about the size of a pencil that was assumed to have resulted from the explosion and she was instantly killed. No details beyond the basic reporting of the explosion were given by the news. Days later, it was reported that there had been a major oil spill and that it was flowing into a rapid river turning it black. It was reported that there was no threat to the drinking water and the environment. Fires are part of the natural ecosystem and all the fires were being contained.

"Sounds like they have the whole situation under control," Winnie said sarcastically, "It's not said what the cause of the explosions were. But of course, for some reason we can all easily discern, after decades of laughing off reports of UFOs and alien sightings, there has been a rash of serious reports of such instances surrounding the explosion event. Please don't tell me they want us to believe in other intelligent life meddling in our screw-ups now! It has to be a distraction." Maya could see that Winnie was upset about the explosion.

Winnie had told Maya that Whittaker Purcell had been in touch in order to meet up with Maya. He had no contact information for Maya. So Maya met with Whittaker at his office in Marhaven.

Whittaker looked over his steaming coffee, looking upwards into Maya's eyes. "I know that it was you who returned my gun," he said, "you are the only person who could have done it and would have done it. I owe you an apology."

Maya quickly interrupted, "No need, no problem."

"Review of your suspension from the force is coming up," Whittaker said, "I've advanced to a point where I can make the outcome favourable to you."

"That's kind of you," Maya answered and added, "what can I do for you?" She didn't say that under no circumstances would she consider taking on her old job as a police officer. She was still bitter about the circumstances that led to her dismissal, which now appeared to be temporary, although that had never been made clear to her before.