Page 114 of Unnatural Death

“That was especially bad for her because she had asthma among other physical problems,” I reply as I think of Lucy’s mentioning strange orange-yellow flashes of light on thermal imagers.

Yana had trouble breathing at times. She would open the mouth cover of the exoskeleton to get air, I surmise. On the early morning of the Mansons’ murders, Yana lost the cap to her inhaler as she was returning from the campsite she’d destroyed. She was stressed. No doubt she was angry because she didn’t recover the micro hard drive from the bodies.

I would imagine that Yana felt she’d failed at her mission.

She was successful at taking out the Mansons, but nothing else was working according to plan. Adding insult to injury, she must have been stunned to hear Lucy’s helicopter thundering overhead in the foggy dark. As Lucy and Tron have analyzed video taken by the Doomsday Bird’s sophisticated cameras, they have a very different idea about why the campsite looked the way it did.

The hundred-dollar bills scattered everywhere aren’t counterfeit as it turns out. Lucy thinks that Yana was gathering the money at the very moment when the helicopter roared in, hovering above the treetops. The rotor wash blew the cash everywhere because it was out in the open and uncontained at that time.

* * *

“Yana was ducked out of sight right below me,” Lucy is explaining several hours later at dinner. “My thermal imagers couldn’t pick her up because of the exoskeleton’s sensors. But if she had the money out and was getting ready to pack it into something, then I made a mess of things. After doing a few circuits low overhead, I left to bring back investigators.”

“I figured it was your fault,” Marino says, and he’s in very good spirits as we sit around the dining room table.

Benton has the battery-powered candles flickering. The classical music quietly playing was his choice and not turned on by Bad Janet. She wasn’t invited and is no longer with us. Marino sits between Dorothy and me. Lucy is with Tron, and Shannon and Henry Addams are having a lively conversation with Blaise Fruge.

I’ve made Marino’s favorite spaghetti Bolognese, panzanella salad and garlic bread because this is his night. Dorothy and I decided on it and have a plan. Every now and then my sister gives me a look and a wink, smiling a little. Faye Hanaday’s mystery cake box is on top of the antique sideboard with a long-bladed chef’s knife, a spatula and plates. I get up to bring in the bottle of champagne chilling.

Dorothy follows me into the kitchen. Tonight, she’s outfitted in a skeleton onesie that she claims makes her feel thin when she plans to eat and drink too much.

“He’s never going to get over this.” She’s scarcely able to contain her excitement, finding fluted glasses in a cabinet. “And you were right, sis. I was being silly. Once I listened to her talk?” Dorothy rolls her eyes. “What was I so worried about? She’s perfectly lovely and professional.”

“We’ll go in there, and Lucy can get the video playing on the TV. Then as Marino is listening, you’ll present him with the cake.” I go over the plan.

We carry the glasses and champagne back into the dining room. Popping the cork, I announce that we’re about to drink a few toasts, and Dorothy pours drinks all around.

“First to the governor.” I raise my glass. “Because of the attack that occurred inside our building, she plans to meet with me next week about our security and other problems.”

“About damn time,” Marino says as we clink glasses.

Since our building was breached, Norm is gone, and I’ve also gotten rid of Tina. The state has funded temporary guards while we find an appropriate solution. Roxane and I are having a private lunch at the governor’s mansion. She also wishes to discuss the comments Maggie Cutbush made while Shannon was standing in the crowd writing down every word.

I made sure Roxane was aware, and she apologizes for Maggie’s and Elvin Reddy’s reappearance in my life. She realizes we need to make some changes.

“I don’t know what they will be, but things couldn’t have gotten much worse than they’ve been,” I explain. Then I ask Lucy if we’re ready.

“Just give the word.” She smiles.

“And now this for you,” I say to Marino as the dining room’s TV turns on.

“What the hell?” he exclaims, stunned by the sight of Cate Kingston on video.

“Hi, Pete, your very thoughtful wife, Dorothy, wanted me to record this message for you,” Cate says in the recording. “She said you might like to hear special news from me in a festive setting, hopefully surrounded by friends …”

She’s exactly as my sister described her, young and energetic. She’s pretty, petite, and it’s hard for me to imagine her out in the woods looking for a huge creature capable of lifting almost twice its massive body weight. Or so I’ve been told. The anthropologist begins her elaborate explanation for why the plaster cast Marino made is authentic.

The anatomy of the foot in motion would be next to impossible to fake, she claims. It’s also of interest that DNA analysis was inconclusive but consistent with something that might be a human relative.

“You can see the way the muscles, the tendons and bones are moving, and I can also say I’ve never seen this particular footprint before,” she’s explaining. “Usually, when people have a significant finding, the impression makes the rounds with the experts. I’ve never seen this footprint and don’t believe it was fabricated from an image on the internet or anywhere else.”

She knows from scientists in my building’s forensic labs that trace evidence adhering to the plaster cast includes microscopic pollen from cedar trees. The season for that is the spring and not the fall. Meaning it’s possible if not likely that the footprint was left inside the gold mine many months ago.

“Back in April or May,” Cate says. “And because of the sheltered environment, it was preserved. That certainly argues against it being faked …”

* * *

Dorothy and I exchange glances as we scoot back our chairs. We get up from the dining room table and she carries over the simple white box, setting it in front of Marino. I follow up with the plates, the knife and spatula.

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