“This is where her car was found,” The young officer said as he lead Judge Dervin through the parking lot. “We've talked with her friends and coworkers and have confirmed that she frequented the cafe, but...”
They stopped walking and Judge Dervin wiped the sweat from his brow. He never realized how hot Texas was. The officer's continued silence grew uncomfortable.
“But what?” Judge Dervin prompted.
“Your Honor, we've found some disturbing things in your daughters car.”
“Such as?”
The officer pulled out a pad of paper from his pocket and flipped through some pages until he reached the notes he was looking for.
“For one thing,” The officer said, his youthful face showing his discomfort with having to be the one to tell Judge Dervin, “We found plans to the nuclear reactor that was destroyed.”
“She was a nuclear physicist,” Judge Dervin said in defense of his missing daughter.
“Yes,” The officer said, turning to another set of notes, “And she'd marked the plans in exactly the same way that the reactor was destroyed. Your daughter went missing before the reactor was destroyed,” the officer continued, “So these plans couldn't have been a study on the accident.”
Judge Dervin nodded. “I'm sure she'll be able to explain all this once we find her,” He said. He didn't want to believe his daughter could have been a part of that disaster.
“That's not everything,” The officer said and Judge Dervin felt himself droop just a little bit more. “The plans were labeled as one of five.”
“You think there will be more nuclear plants destroyed?” Judge Dervin asked.
The officer shrugged. “We don't know what else they might be targeting,” He said. “We were hoping you'd be able to shed some light on this.”
Judge Dervin shook his head. “We haven't really spoke to one another in quite some time.”
The officer didn't respond to that. Instead he made a note of it on his notepad and resumed walking. Judge Dervin followed.
“The only other thing we found was a list of what we believe are code names for the members of this group.”
The officer handed Judge Dervin the list:
Green Tea, Tea Leaves, Leaves Early, Early Bird, Bird Feather, Feather Weight
“Early Bird,” Judge Dervin mused.
“Do you know who that is?” The officer perked up, ready to write down anything Judge Dervin said, “Is it your daughter?”
Judge Dervin held back his glare. “I am not convinced my daughter was involved with this group. In fact,” He went on, “I think she may have been trying to gatherer evidence against these people and they found out and stopped her before she could tell anyone.”
The officer said nothing but Judge Dervin knew by his expression that he wasn't convinced.
“But anyway,” Judge Dervin continued, “I seem to remember hearing someone referred to as Early Bird not too long ago. I just can't remember where I was or who said it.”
“Well, if you do, let us know,” the officer said and then walked back to the rest of the police leaving Judge Dervin alone with his thoughts.
“Please,” Judge Dervin muttered as he tried to hold back his emotions, “Please Samantha don't do this to me.”
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