Juan leaned out next to him. “Oh, man. ”
“Juan,” Travis said again, very softly, “What did you do?”
“Nothing! I swear. I got in here and he was not at his post!”
Travis rubbed his brow.
“I did not throw him out of the gawddamn window, Travis!”
“Then who did?” Travis asked. “Then who did?”
3. Judgment is Drawn
Travis stood in the corner with his arms folded across his chest. His face was solemn and his gaze intense. The Mayor, Peggy, Curtis, and Juan all sat around the Hotel Manager’s office in an uncomfortable silence. Jenni and Katie stood near the door, both of them looking very pensive.
Nerit strode in, her rifle over one shoulder, and looked at Travis.
“It’s taken care of. ”
Bill followed her in holding a notepad and looking very official.
“Okay, we hooked the body after Nerit put him down and dragged it up to a balcony. I examined it and even though there was extreme damage to the corpse, I was able to conclude that there was no sign of trauma other than some abrasions on his knees and hands. I think he was pushed out the window fully conscious. There was no sign of head injury other than his eyes and parts of his face missing. ”
Manny fidgeted, then said, “Could he have fallen?”
“I might have considered that a possibility if not for the fact that we already had one murder,” Bill answered.
“I didn’t do it,” Juan said softly.
“I hate to say it, but you are the most likely suspect right now, Juan.
Both Ritchie and Jimmy were people you had a beef with,” Bill said.
“We all had issues with Ritchie to some extent and Jimmy did piss off a lot of people yesterday,” Travis pointed out.
“It could have been me,” Jenni said defiantly.
“True. We could have two different murderers on our hands, but the fact remains that two people were pushed out of the safety of our fort and left to die at the hands of the zombies,” Bill said in a very serious tone.
“I can deal with this if you want, Manny” Curtis said to the Mayor.
“No offense, Curtis, but I think Bill should deal with this. He has a lot more experience than you and he is an outsider so he isn’t biased,” the Mayor answered.
“No one is an outsider anymore,” Katie spoke up. “We’re all intertwined in each others lives. There could be many more people with a beef against both of the victims. We can’t just go after the first convenient suspect. You need a solid case before any action is taken to make sure we’re not just on a witch hunt. You need a solid case. ”
“Spoken like a true prosecutor,” Bill said with amusement.
“I don’t want this getting out,” the Mayor said after a beat. “A party is planned for tonight and we need it for morale. ”
“People are already talking about Jimmy,” Nerit cut in. “It is hard to keep things quiet in such a small community. ”
“She’s got a legitimate point. Besides, hiding something from the general population only ends up blowing up,” Katie remarked.
“You have to wonder if the government knew what was going on when this whole zombie thing started,” Jenni added. “I mean… hell…where did all the zombie movies come from? There had to be something going on that inspired them. ”
Travis chuckled softly. “I always thought Romero was just sick in the head. ”
Jenni gave him a dark look, but then shrugged dismissively. “Well, I still think they knew something. ”