Outstanding Subject
Part 7
Vero
Returning to his desk, he found the report he had requested from Cathy. He began to read it..."... is considered as ascending to fifteen million dollars as to the amount of damages caused by the spill of petroleum that polluted the waters of the Peninsula of
Valdez, spreading a threatening black mantel... the causes of the accident are being evaluated by the OPA... the estimate of the damages is purely approximate... The real environmental consequences of the will only can be evaluated in the long term. ... the negative impacts on the seafloor, the fauna, the flora and the air cannot be measure neither to verify immediately. .. The disaster of the ROGELIA leaves us with lesson that should not be ignored: it puts
in the open the imperious necessity of the nations... the antiquity of the ships, and the lack of regulation on them...will need 20 years to heal the area affected by the spill of roughly 500 tons of petroleum.... the exodus of tourists began in the Peninsula...
His reading was interrupted by Danny appearance.
-Hello Danny, you know something - Sam said, while gesturing for him to sit down.
-A first glance it seems a fatal accident - Danny consulted his notes - the police says that the car swung off the route bounces and caught fire. Today at afternoon, an autopsy will be done you determine the cause of the death. There is no identification of victims. They will try identification with the dental registers..
Danny raises the eyes to see if Sam had a question at that moment.
-Also they are trying to identify the license plate of the automobile; with that they can also identify the car owner ... Sam there is a detail - added Danny, looking at Sam expectantly.
- Yes? What? Do tell me.
-It's unofficial, but there are skid marks related to the accident that have not yet been explained.
- Skid marks? And what? - Sam shagged his shoulders - The driver would have gone too quick, intending to brake and skated off the road. It is not a mystery.
-Sam, the left marks are marks the kind that are left when a vehicle crawls.
-What?
-Somebody dragged that poor devil down the road, and they left those marks.
Sam looked at him, amazed.
-Ok Sam I have fulfilled with I promised. Now it's your turn to give me something of interest. What is the news in all this?
Sam ran his hands through his hair. He didn't have an answer for the question.
-Danny this is serious, I don't want you to get involved .. You would not understand...
-Nonsense- restored Danny abruptly - if there is some special news in this I should participate, or I will tell CJ.
-Ok, we'll. collaborate - accepted Sam - but don't you say anything to CJ yet.
- What is happening? What are your suspicions? What do you know?
-In reality... - Sam replied- the story is disheveled enough and if there is something in it that's so delicate that I cannot run the risk that it spreads.
-Good, so what if you tell it to Danny, the person, and not the journalist.
Sam inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Danny had legitimate right to know the antecedents. For that reason Sam related it for second time, in abbreviated form and without revealing names. This time, he didn't feel as fatuous as when of he had narrated it to Toby. And when he had finished, Danny didn't look deceived.
Danny leaned against the back of his seat, feeling very well. That was the effect of having an exclusive information.
-Sam what you're saying is that somebody commits murder to hide something, and that it can mean that your ex- bosses have problems, they are the owners of the ROGELIA.
- I know Danny, but it can be that the car accident isn't related to ROGELIA catastrophe. Maybe it was a coincidence that Josh and I we were hoping to meet with somebody from those sides, at the hour of the accident.
Sam and Danny looked at each other for a long while. Then Sam continued - On the other hand, I wouldn't want to bet three hundred lives to that possibility.
Sam looked up the moment that Cathy and Josh entered his office. Cathy handed a report to Sam and then left. Josh, on the other hand, pulled a chair to Sam's desk, and gestured in question.
-I understands that this is a meeting regarding the accident - he said yawning widely.
-In effect - Sam said while he read the OPA ´s listing of members in charge of those tasks of investigations on the ROGELIA, that Cathy had newly given him.
Josh, looked at Danny. He made a brief, although audible hiss.
- What do you think, Danny? . Just another death?
- I don't believe it Josh.
Sam continued reading the list of OPA's members
- Josh, do you recognized some of these names? Charles Plott, Glenn Milford, Arthur Grutt...
-No, none of them means anything for me.
-Who else? - Danny asked.
-Truman Grishman, Jack Verbys, and the group's boss group Joseph Pruist
- Wait, I know Truman Grishman, -Josh said - we went to Harvard together .He is an excellent Engineer, he investigated the case of EXXON VALDEZ in the 89.
-And I know Jack Verbys; I met him in a party at Capitol Hill. -Said Danny- Between music and good whiskey, we became friends. Then I invite myself to look at the laboratory of the OPA. I didn't understand too much about the technology, but considered it very interesting.
Josh took Sam's telephone, dialed the number of his owns office and requested that Donna give him the telephone of Truman Grishman. Then he dialed his private office number and was able to speak with Grishman personally.
The Engineer was happy to hear him, but he could not assist him. They agreed to meet the following day for lunch at Hotel Sheraton.
- Well, Sam, - Josh said, while he deposited the receiver- I believe your novel is improving, we already have three tips of a ball.
- Well, thank you, boys.
- Arqimedes in his bathroom or Newton with his apple could not have shown more enthusiasm before the revelation.
- What do you mean, Josh? - Asked Sam
- Your lack of enthusiasm in the face of this news is...
- Josh, - Sam interrupted - you have maybe forgotten that a person
Died.
- Right, Sam, I ´m sorry.... I just wanted to cheer you up a little. - Added Josh.
He and Danny left Sam's office.
Sam still sat, returning to the report of damages caused by the spill of petroleum and the listing of the OPA. when the telephone rang, He lifted the handset and Cathy informed him that he had his old secretary Lucy Phillips on the line.
-Hello Lucy!
-Sam! What a wonderful surprise!!
-How are you, Lucy, do you miss me?
-OH! Sam, yes a lot. I am very proud of you, Sam. I am following your career in politics.
- Thank you, Lucy. When I ´m in N.Y. we'll. Have lunch.
- We should; it'll. Be better if you tell me beforehand, and I will wait for you on the corner...
-I knows, they didn't like it when I left that way. They didn't forgive me.
-Yes, your departure was a disaster, Sam. There had been many pending matters.
Sam made a pause.
- Sam, are you worried about someone finding truth?
- You know me even better than my mother. - Said Sam while he filled a glass with water.
- I cannot help it.
- Always efficient. Yes, Lucy it is because of those outstanding subjects I'm calling you, particularly the case C&L Oil.co. I need my notes. Do you even have them?
- I have kept all your things Sam, I will send them to you this afternoon.
- Thank you Lucy, I knew that could count with you.
-Sam, the past knocks again on your door. The Friday the Engineer Arthur Grutt called for your number in Washington. I was the one that gave it to him. I hope that there is not I didn't so anything wrong.
Sam wanted to say something but closed his mouth, wiped it and listened to his accelerating heart. He wanted to swallow saliva, but wasn't able to generate any. He pressed the headphone with force.
-Sam?
- Yes - his voice was hardly audible; he fixed his gaze on the listing of the OPA members. The name of Arthur Grutt seemed come alive from it.
Sam gradually turned white as chalk, he didn't seem to notice when explode the glass that he had in his left hand exploited, destroyed by the pressure he applied to it, to leaving a small stream of blood on his palm.
part 8
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