The decoy

Chapt 5

Chapter Five  

            Sebastian Tyrovitch drove his pickup thirty miles east of Winona and into the parking lot of Vail's Refuse and Disposal. It was a huge landfill covering one hundred and seventy five acres. Beside the parking lot was a recycling plant. Sebastian thought about what he had learned about the murder victim. Paul Vail had obviously come a long way from picking up trash in a single pickup truck.

            Sebastian was surprised by the size of the facility and even more by the overwhelming odour of the place and the noise from the thousands of birds overhead was nearly deafening. The acrid smell came mostly from the ponds which had been built around the perimeter of the site to catch the leachate which the mounds of garbage drained off. The parking lot held about thirty cars and small trucks. Sebastian noticed that most of the vehicles were aging and rusting like so much of the industry in the area. There was one exception; a bright red convertible corvette took up the spot closest to the door. There was a "Super Starr Gym" bumper sticker on the rear bumper of the vette.

            Walking in through a rusted metal door he saw that the ground floor of the building housed large piles of recycled material, each one sorted by type. There were huge hills of aluminum cans, glass bottles, and odds and ends of different metals and six dump trucks whose load was being inventoried by men in jump suits and masks. The jump suits looked like they used to be red once but now the color was harder to identify.

            A set of metal stairs led to offices in the ceiling above the floor and Sebastian followed them up. He opened a door and found a blonde woman sitting at a desk sorting files. She was about thirty five and slightly overweight. She wore a sweater that probably fit her better twenty pounds ago. The blond turned and took a long look at Sebastian.

            "What can I help you with sweetie?" She asked.

            Sebastian offered the same letter he gave to Pezzo as introduction.

            He said, "I'd like to speak to someone about the operation here."

            The blonde clearly was more intimidated by a letter from the FBI than Pezzo had been. "Let me get Cam for you." Her tone was serious and she scurried into the main office.

            Moments later, a man stepped out and said. "I am Cam Starr. What can I do for you?"

            Cam Starr was huge. He stood six foot four and obviously lifted a lot of weight. He wore his dark hair long so it curled over his ears and his goatee beard was trimmed short. He wore dark slacks and a blazer which was straining to contain his biceps.

            Sebastian sensed that Starr was intimidated by the FBI letter as well although he was pretending a little too hard that he wasn't. The blonde seemed somehow reassured that Cam was there. She looked up at the big man with admiration. Cam Starr had a posture and demeanour that said he could handle anything.

            Sebastian introduced himself and said, "As you see I am doing a follow up on a murder investigation. I know the local police have been investigating but the FBI has an interest and we are particularly curious about Mr. Vail's business here."

            Starr was still trying not to be intimidated.

"Jessie Vail owns this place now and I am running it. I have been running it since Paul was killed. I worked here since college and I know the business as well as the Vail's do. I also have another business which does well and Jessie trusts my business sense. That's why she put me in charge. Now what the hell is the problem?

Some assholes broke in here one night and killed Paul. Our police force knows what happened and they probably have a few good suspects. Talk to them. There is nothing special about this case."