Chapter Whiskey #3
“Y’all don’t be worry-in none about that,” Mac said with a fake southern accent. “I’m fix’in to remedy that there situation.”
Robinson chuckled as he stepped out of the boat.
They took seats at the last outside table.
“There’s no table service,” a man from the table beside them said.
“Thank you kindly. We’d of been sitting here wait’in,” Mac said with that fake accent. He rose from the wooden seat. “I’ll get us a couple of beers,” he told Robinson.
The bar was crowded with a mix of male and female patrons, where the outside deck area had been predominantly men, he assumed from the boats.
He listened to many overlapping conversations as he waited between two stools in a gap that gave him access to the bar.
The one male forty-something bartender sporting an eighties mullet was working hard, making his way around the oval-shaped bar.
Mac ordered two beers. He left the change as a tip for the bartender, who worked alone. By the time he made it back outside, Robinson was laughing and chatting with the men at the nearby tables.
“This is my buddy I was a tell’in y’all about,” Robinson said. “This crazy mother did that and more.”
Mac could only imagine what story Robinson had spun. He shrugged and smiled. “I can neither confirm nor deny whatever he was tell’in y’all.”
Everyone around laughed, including Robinson. Mac joined the laughter as he handed Robinson his beer. He took his seat and drew in a healthy pull of the amber fluid.
“Bobby here’s been fish’in this lake all his life,” Robinson told Mac. “He says if we veer off from the lake and head down the creek, we’ll find more spotted trout than in the lake.”
“They’re trying to go where it’s warmer, and the temp in the lake’s already dropping,” the man Robinson referred to as Bobby said. “It’s kinda a local secret.”
“If you keep telling everyone, it ain’t gonna be a secret no more,” another man said.
Robinson laughed. “So are we gonna find a bunch of boats up that way tomorrow?”
“Nah, us locals don’t fish tomorrow, and that last group of city boys I told are already gone,” Bobby said. A disturbed expression crossed his face.
“I’m sure they’ve turned up at home by now,” another man said. “You didn’t even really know ‘em, so I’m not understand’in why you be so upset by them miss’in.”
“Missing?” Mac repeated. “Are you talking about those four men who never made it home after a fishing trip? Was that here?”
“Yeah, sure was, two weeks ago. This whole place was crawl’in with the police, look’in for ‘em,”
“Wow, I didn’t realize it was here,” Mac said. “What do you think happened to them?”
“Dunno, they were nice enough fellers,” Bobby said. “Came and joined us here nearly every night. They were plan'n a trip back next year.”
“So do ya think they just ran off? Maybe they were into something illegal back home and they just ran off?” Robinson posed.
“No, man, they were stand-up dudes,” Bobby said.
One of the other men changed the subject, and they never got back to the four missing men. Neither Mac nor Robinson saw an opening to redirect the conversation. As they finished their beers, they received a text from Cooper telling them to get back to the cabin ASAP.
“Wonder what happened?” Robinson whispered to Mac after they’d both checked their text messages.
They said goodbye to their new friends and raced back across the lake. They found the four other members of the team standing on the dock. Based on their body language, Mac knew something had happened.
“What’s up?” Mac asked after Robinson cut the engine.
“Found a camera and listening device in the cabin,” Flores said.
“What the fuck?” both Robinson and Mac said, almost simultaneously.
“I have a message into Shepherd,” Cooper said. “I want to rip the devices out and drop them right on Williamson’s counter.”
“Damn good thing we found them before we gained access to cabin seven, if they’re in there as well,” Flores added.
“No reason to think they’re not,” Winston said.
Cooper’s phone rang. “It’s Shepherd,” Cooper said before answering. “Did you get any info?” He paused while he listened.
“There was no disclosure of cameras or listening devices in the cabins to the local or state LEOs,” Shepherd said.
“This changes things. There could be something on the footage captured during their stay that would help to figure out their disappearance. You are authorized to confront Williamson. Have Flores take the lead with his FBI creds.”
“Thank you, Shep,” Cooper said.
“Touch bases back with me after you confront him to discuss next moves.”
“Will do,” Cooper said. After the call disconnected, he advised the team that Shepherd had given them the go-ahead.
They returned to the cabin, and Cooper did in fact pull the camera and listening device from where they were mounted. The six men piled into their two pickup trucks and drove back to the office/bait shop/general store. When they entered, no customers were within. Only Williamson.
Kenny Gallup locked the front door and turned the sign to ‘Closed’ as Flores and Cooper walked straight to the counter, the others following. Cooper dropped the camera and mic onto the counter as Flores held up his FBI credentials.
“It is illegal to have recording equipment in hotel rooms or similar spaces without signage posted that discloses the camera's existence,” Flores said.
“I, I don’t watch it unless something is stolen or broken in the cabins,” Williamson said.
“It’s still illegal,” Flores said.
“What about cabin seven and the fact you didn’t disclose the surveillance equipment after the four guests disappeared two weeks ago and the police asked you about them?
We know you didn’t share the existence of the camera footage with them.
Did you even go back and watch it to see if it offered any clues? ” Cooper demanded.
“No, of course I didn’t tell the police. I would have gotten in trouble for having the camera equipment installed.”
“Did you watch it? Do you still have it?” Flores asked.
“No, no, I didn’t watch it. I didn’t want to know, didn’t want to get involved.”
Cooper slammed his fist against the counter. “Not good enough. Four men are missing and presumed dead!”
Mac sat back observing, impressed with his two teammates and learning how much force was acceptable on the Shepherd Security Team. He would have handled it similarly if on his own. It was good to know his instincts would have been acceptable in this situation.
“I don’t know what happened to them. They checked out and left, not my responsibility.”
“Did they seem okay when they handed their keys back?” Cooper pressed.
“They didn’t actually hand them to me. They dropped them in the drop box outside that morning. They were gone before I got in that day,” Williamson said.
Mac brought the file up on his phone. He distinctly recalled reading the police report that did not say that, and he knew exactly where in the file it was.
“Per the police report, you said they checked out that morning at eight a.m. and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary,” Mac said.
“You did not say you did not see them and that they dropped their keys in the outside drop box. Why did you lie?”
“I was asked what time they checked out. I brought up my records and told them I logged it at eight a.m. I didn’t lie. And no, nothing was out of the ordinary. Guests leave their keys and depart before the office opens all the time,” Williamson insisted.
“You didn’t give them the key piece of information that you did not see them,” Mac snapped.
“Who the hell are you? You’re not even an American with that accent,” Williamson said.
“I am an American citizen, which is not the point,” Mac said. “You withheld critical information from the authorities. We need to see all the footage you captured inside cabin seven while those men were guests.”
“What makes you think I didn’t delete it?” Williamson said.
“For your sake, I hope you didn’t,” Mac said. “You’re facing a lot of charges as it is. You’ll never see outside of a jail cell again if you deleted it.”