One Grave Less

children die from their mistreatment as well. These are people for whom life is cheap. As we’ve witnessed up close.”

Chapter 58
    Garnett’s frown became deeper as he listened to Diane. She recognized he had no idea how grim this might be. He was thinking drugs because the fabric was contaminated with it. He could handle drugs. It was a problem everywhere. He wasn’t thinking humans, children, the grimmest of all crimes.
    “The rumors about me and David were about us being into drugs. I think that was so we would think in that direction and not in any other. I believe that whoever is head of this criminal enterprise got wind Simone found something that Oliver had discovered and was trying to tell me about it. The guys who attacked Frank’s house were looking for a package that they believed Simone sent to me—something besides the feathers and other items. I haven’t received a package, but I couldn’t convince the guy who took me of that. However, I believe with the way they have been after it, it is something on the level of proof and we have to find it. They believe it exists so I have to believe it too. We find it, we have them.”
    “Okay, hold on,” said Steven. “What are you saying was going on, exactly? I’m supposed to be a smart guy, but I’m having trouble connecting the dots. They seem to be spread all over the place.”
    “What was the one thing that was always going through the mission? Refugees, mostly women and children. A lot of us were out in the field most of the time, but Oliver wasn’t. I think he got wind that some of the charitable organizations that helped relocate the refugees that Santos and other strong men created were really selling some of them into slavery. They were also, I believe, dealing in rare animals. I imagine it was a multimillion dollar operation on both fronts and Oliver was threatening to bring it to a stop, at least at the mission. That’s why there was the massacre. I think the same people were threatened by Simone. They were afraid that we could put it together and the first thing they tried was to discredit us. That cost the least in terms of manpower. Rumors can be a potent weapon. But they overdid it, or we didn’t react the way they thought, or they found out about the package and had to be more confrontational—something made them change strategy and now they are trying to kill us.”
    Diane stopped talking. Garnett stared at her. She imagined he felt out of his depth at the moment. He had been thinking of a local problem, not a global one.
    “It makes sense,” said Gregory.
    David nodded.
    “Not to me,” said Steven. “We would have known if something like that was going on. Look, I hate to always be the devil’s advocate here, but I’m having a hard time with this.” He spread his hands out on the table. “Okay, I concede that with the arrival of Attila and his Huns, Simone being jealous of Diane is not the cause of any of this. Still, all this is so complicated. And, damn it, we were all good detectives. We would have known. If not us, then why the hell wouldn’t David suspect something? There is not a more suspicious person I know.”
    “Martine asked that too; then she said we all have our blind spots,” said Diane. “David is good at spotting anomalies. His blind spot is for things that are supposed to be there. The refugees and orphans were supposed to be there—nothing to be suspicious about. And how would we know what an organization did with the children when they placed them? We never had anything to do with that. That was the mission’s work. That was Father Joseph’s work. They just let us work out of their building.”
    “But . . .” Steven didn’t finish. He just shook his head. “Do you think Father Joseph was involved? I have a really hard time with that.”
    David looked pensive, as if thinking about what Diane said about his blind spot. Assessing what he could do about it.
    “He may or may not have known,” David said after a moment. “Father Joe may have accidentally discovered it. Hell, he may have told Oliver, or vice versa. The massacre may have been to shut them both up and cover their tracks.”
    “Okay, what about Santos?” said Steven. “We know he did the killings. Why in hell would he do it because someone asked him to?”
    “Santos hated Diane and Gregory,” said David. “He was involved in drugs. All of these enterprises are probably related in some way. Criminals tend to know each