Coaster (6 page)

"Well the CEO is hot for the mechanic."

"Merit? Why?"

Kincaid took a donut out of the bag and waved it as he spoke. "They need a fall guy."

La Rosa shook her head. "What about the person that did this, how about making him the fall guy?"

"They have no idea who it is. And we're just starting our investigation. The Feds arrived today and now they're on the case. But this is not going to get solved in a week
, and that's what the CEO wants. He wants to re-open the park 'cause they're losing money every day that it's shut."

"Really
? It just happened."

"Yeah, but they are all about the bottom line, La Rosa. You know that." He stuffed the donut into his mouth.

La Rosa tuned into the conversation going on in the room and watched the CEO trying to tell the Mayor's staff that he needed to get the park back open. The staff nodded in compliance. In the corner were three men in black suits. Feds. "Damn." La Rosa said under her breath.

Kincaid was sipping his coffee. "What?"

"Feds."

Kincaid nodded in assent. "Yep, we're gonna have to work with them."

La Rosa raised her eyebrows. "With them? Right. I think you mean
for
them."

"Whatever."

The meeting was breaking up and La Rosa heard one of the men say that they were interviewing the mechanic in twenty minutes. She was feeling apprehensive for him. It was not looking good. The Feds made their way towards La Rosa and Kincaid.

"Wow, pretty
cliché breakfast." One Fed nodded towards the donut in Kincaid's hand.

"Y
ou caught me." Kincaid smiled, but the tone was not humorous.

"L
ooks like we'll be taking over this case from you guys."

"No, looks like you'll be aiding in our investigation." La Rosa spoke up.

"Oh, that's not entirely true, but whatever you need to tell yourself." The bigger of the two men winked at her.

"Listen guys, I get that you feel the need to come in and take control of this case
, but Kincaid and I were here yesterday and we saw what happened and we really want to be part of this. It was a hideous scene and there is going to be enough work to go around. What do you say, can we work together?" La Rosa needed to be on this case because Lindy's face was burned into her brain.

The other Fed looked
at La Rosa. She never wavered in her gaze. He cocked his head, taking her in. She stood her ground. Everyone was watching them as if they were locked in a silent battle.

Finally La Rosa move
d. She looked down at her toes and took a deep breath. When she exhaled she said, "Look, you didn't see the girl from last night whose two best friends were killed on the ride. The ride she was supposed to be on and only missed getting killed because she had to pee. That girl is shell shocked and honestly, I'm not sure she will even make it. 'Cause if the grief doesn't get her she's gonna be messed up for sure for surviving. This is why we can't back down. Listen, four heads are better than one, right? We can help you out. We know the area, people...." La Rosa's voice faded away.

The man didn't say anything. He
simply nodded at the other Fed. He was obviously in charge. The other man turned away towards the two other federal agents waiting across the room and rolled his eyes, but not so the lead Fed could see him.

La Rosa smiled slightly. "Thank you. Really, I appreciate it.
We can give you what we've got so far."

The Fed, La Rosa, and Kincaid
moved to sit down as they began comparing notes.

                                                                      ****

Ro
ger was tired as he walked towards the office. The exhaustion would not leave him even after four cups of coffee. He entered the building and the light changed significantly. A woman was waiting out front and brought him back to the conference room. Sitting at the table was a plethora of suits, and he thought he recognized the CEO of the company. He felt immediately worried. They were all watching him and the CEO motioned for him to sit down. He'd noticed that Detective La Rosa was in the back of the room. She had smiled at him as he sat down. That did not seem like a good omen.

"Mr. Merit, how long have you worked with us?" The man to the left of the CEO was apparently asking the questions.

Roger cleared his throat. "Almost twenty-five years."

"Well, that's
quite a feat. Anyway, can you walk us through the morning routine you did yesterday?"

"Sure. I got here at five-thirty
and me and my team had a meeting. Then we did the walkthrough at six, just like we usually do. I split up the team to do sections of the park and it takes about three hours to do the entire walkthrough of the park."

"And you, specifically,
walked the coaster in question?" The man was checking his notes.

"Yes. Me and my associate
, Jacob. We walked it." Roger was feeling the bile in his stomach. He knew what they were doing. They were asking all the questions you ask someone you think is guilty of something. While they might technically be right that he should have found the bomb, the situation was really outside of his control.
They couldn't be thinking of blaming me could they
?

"During that walk you noticed nothing out of the ordinary? When running the cars you saw nothing to raise concern?"

"No. If I had, I would've let someone know or closed the ride. There was nothing that either of us saw out of the ordinary."

The suit looked briefly from his
notes. "Well, there obviously was something out of the ordinary, wasn't there?"

Roger nodded
. Damn, they're gonna make me the fall guy here. Someone's head has to roll, why not mine.
"Yes, there was."

"So it is safe to say that you are responsible for not detecting the device?" The room went silent with that question.

Roger looked around and caught Detective La Rosa's eyes. "Um...."

"Is that a correct statement, Mr. Merit?"

"Well, I guess...that could...be true. Wait, are you trying to say I did this?"

The CEO stepped in. "No, Mr. Merit. No one is
saying you did this. But you must see we need to get to the bottom of this situation, and someone is going to have to be responsible for the issue. You understand that is the case, correct?"

"No.
I don't. For all we know this was a terrorist that did this. How am I supposed to stop someone like that? I'm not Homeland Security, am I? I'm a mechanic. I check the machinery and make sure that your coasters are safe. That's my job." Roger felt his mouth going dry.

"Yes, you are responsible f
or the safety of the patrons." The CEO was baiting Roger.

Roger paused a
nd thought before he spoke. "No. I'm responsible for the mechanics of the roller coasters. That is my responsibility."

The CEO nodded. "I see. Okay, Mr. Merit. You are free to go. Since the park is closed
for the remainder of the week, why don't you take the time off as well? We can talk next week." He stood and nodded towards the door. Roger had been dismissed.

"Sure." Roger was under no preconceived idea that this was over. In fact, he was
sure it was just the beginning. He got up and turned to leave. Detective La Rosa was looking at him as he exited the room. As he walked down the hallway he heard the door behind him open and he turned to see her follow him.

"Mr. Merit. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"You know what...." Roger wasn't sure he wanted to talk to anyone else today.

"I know you probably don't want to talk to me. But if I can just have a moment."

Roger smiled.
She'd read his mind.
"Okay, just for a minute."

Detective La Rosa pushed open a door and looked inside, "In here?"

Roger stepped through the door into a smaller conference room. The door shut and Detective La Rosa sat down near him. He could smell her clean scent.

"Mr. Merit. Thanks for your time. That was pretty rough in there." She nodded across the hall.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Shit always rolls downhill."

Detective La Rosa nodded. "Look, I'm the type that lays my cards on
the table. I don't believe you're responsible for what happened. But my believing that and what others take into their hands is not within my control. So I'm gonna give you a piece of advice. You need to find a lawyer. A good one. Quick."

Ro
ger nodded. "It's on my to-do list."

"Do you mind if
I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." He looked at her
eyes. They were warm, brown, and almond-shaped. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about that, but he was only human.

"So, when you got to the site after the explosion, what did you see first?"

"The girl. Lindy. I think that's her name."

"Yes, Lindy."

Roger nodded. "I saw her sitting on the ground. She had hit her head somewhere and there was some blood. I got Stuart to take her down to where the medics were. Then I...."

"Stuart?" La Rosa was writing in her notebook. "Who is he?"

"He's a security guard on staff here."

"O
kay. You told him to take Lindy down to the medics and then what did you do?"

"I headed into the ride. I had to walk through the lines and there were people lying all over. Some were obviously badly hurt and a few were sitting up and looked dazed. By this time one of my mechanics had gotten there and we tried to help people up and get them out of the line. We found several of the people were dead."

"How did you know they were dead?"

"I checked for their
pulse."

"Are you
a trained medic?"

"I took some CPR classes and
my ex-wife was diabetic, so I learned some stuff from her doctor when we were married."

La Rosa nodded and then asked, "Did you see where the track had blown up?"

"Not right away. It took some time to get the people out of the line and that was our first focus. About an hour later I made my way towards the tracks, but the fire was still burning and there were firemen everywhere, so I couldn't really get very close."

Det
ective La Rosa wrote something on her notepad. Roger paused while she wrote and when she was done she looked up at Roger and said "Then what happened?"

"I went back to the mechanic's shed and got my stuff and left to get my daughter."

"Did anyone see you do this? Did you talk to anyone?"

Roger shook his head.
"No, most of my mechanics had already left."

"You went to get your daughter. What time did you get the call to come back to the park?"

Roger thought a moment. "That night someone from the corporate office called and said that they wanted to see me the next day. They wanted me and my mechanics to come to the park by nine."

"When you got there at nine, who spoke to you first?"

Roger shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Some guy in a suit."

La Rosa chuckled.
"That's what we call 'em. The lawyers are 'the suits.'"

Roger nodded.
"They do all have suits on. I really don't remember their names."

"Mr. Merit.
..."

"Roger. Please. Call me Roger."

La Rosa smiled at him. "Okay. Roger, did you see anyone suspicious the morning the bomb exploded?"

"No. No one that wasn't supposed to be there."

La Rosa paused and looked out the window for a moment then looked back at Roger. "If someone was going to access the park, how hard would that be to do?"

"Well, you couldn't climb anything. The gates and fences are over ten feet tall and have wire at the top. But I guess if you were smart enough you could get an employee card to get in. I mean, technically they could get a job here and be inside the
park. You probably could get around fairly easily. It depends on what security is on staff."

"Is getting hired here hard?"
La Rosa was writing while talking.

Roger smirked. "Have you seen the people that work here? Depending on the time of year ther
e are a lot of kids employed. Of course, the important jobs like mechanic and IT are harder to get into. But there are a lot of seasonal workers that get hired. I guess if the person was young enough they could blend in."

"
You've worked here a long time, right?"

"Yes, twenty-five
years."

La Rosa paused. "You must know most of the peop
le who work in the office?"

"Well, I used to but we went through a few
restructurings and a lot of people got laid off. They brought in new management to run the offices. So I'm not as familiar with those people."