Elysium Dreams

Eleven

Several hours later, we were back in the conference room at the US Marshals' office. The conference room was many things, but comfortable wasn't among them. The walls were a drab beige color with grey industrial carpeting. Up to this point, I had always considered grey to be one of my favorite colors, but a few days in Alaska had changed that. When things weren't white, they were grey. I wasn't sure if it was to hide the cinder residue that seemed to permeate the streets or just because color hadn't happened in Alaska.

The conference table was a rectangular monstrosity of plastic and metal. There were ten office chairs done in fake black leather. There were four whiteboards on the back wall and one on each of the side walls. The final wall was covered with panes of glass that looked into the Marshals' office.

The windows had blinds that were closed. White in color and in need of a good dusting, it was obvious that they weren't down very often. Oppressive fluorescent lighting was stuck in the ceiling at regular intervals.

The whiteboards were covered in photos and handwritten notes in different colors. Gabriel, being cute, had given me a pink marker for my notes. So far, there weren't many. I got up, went to the boards, and found the picture of our newest victim. Over her head, in my messy handwriting, I put the word "sedated" with an arrow pointing at her grisly remains.

Both Agent Gentry and Agent Arons were now in the room. They had integrated themselves into our part of the investigation. I agreed with Lucas, they were both looking for a way out of Alaska and this was their ticket. I also agreed with Lucas that bringing us in to solve it wasn't going to get them the promotion to warmer climates they desired.

I stared at some of the other stuff written on the boards. Lucas, Gabriel, and Xavier had all put their stamps on them. Their handwriting streaked colorful stains across the whiteboards, providing not just information, but a colorful piece of artwork in the white and grey room. We didn't really require different colors to distinguish us. We all had unique handwriting styles.

Xavier's was like mine, something just above a scribble that took a while to get used to reading. Lucas's was more stable, cautious, his letters articulated. Gabriel's was surprising, loopy and almost feminine in nature. My eyes fell on the repetition of the word "drugged". Each had written it on the boards in a different place.

My eyes found another word, "loner", above another victim. I thought about it. Our teacher was a "loner" as well. Outside of work and family, she didn't associate with many people. I wrote it above her picture and took a step back. My eyes fell on variations of words. The synonym for "loner" was used several times. So was "severe".

"Lucas," I said, pointing at the boards.

"What?" He looked up from a file.

"All these women seem to be social misfits," I said.

"I know," he stated. "They were all very meticulous as well."

"So, I'm not pointing out a pattern we had not realized existed," I made it a statement.

"Nope, we know. We can't find any links though other than those."

"Well, our teacher seems to have been personal. You don't smash photos at one person's house and not another's if it isn't personal."

"I agree," Lucas said. "But she was a teacher for sixteen years."

"As I said earlier, that's a lot of suspects. If you go by the national average, that means at least half of her students have divorced parents. And single women in societies such as these are more likely to get remarried quickly. So, if she averages thirty students per year, that's four-hundred and eighty parents. Mark off two-hundred and forty because they are women, which leaves two-hundred and forty. Of course, then you have to add another eighty, give or take a few dozen because of divorce and remarriage. So, three-hundred men who might have known this woman just because their child was in her class. Then there are a dozen or so coworkers that are male, and I do not know how large her family is, but it seems good sized, so another dozen plus that are related by birth or marriage."