“I don’t get it, why is Captain Matsumoto’s name on these documents?” Jolene asked, nervously. “Surely there’s a mistake here. Or maybe it’s all for the police department?”

“Oh, child,” Sonia sighed. “I remember having that sort of naive faith once. And true, that would be the easiest explanation if not for one thing. If, like you said, he was ordering all this for the police department, sure, his signature would be on the shipping manifests, fine, but there would be some documentation of which specific precinct it was going to, with signatures from other government officials. I don’t see anything of the sort here. No, these were purchased on a personal account. Where the hell he got the money for all this from is anyone’s guess.”

Jolene frowned. Between this and the drugging—or whatever it was that happened earlier—it didn’t seem real. As if she were no longer living a normal life but instead secretly the central character in a bizarre sort of reality show. The kind where everyone else around her was a paid actor, and her genuine reactions as the only one not in the know were the starring attraction.

It was all too much to process at once. Thankfully, Brad spoke up.

“I guess I get the firearms if he was moonlighting as an arms dealer for local gangs, if I actually saw an increase of gun violence personally. What’s up with the construction equipment, though? That’s quite a lot that he’d have to hide unless he had already worked out the plans for his construction projects beforehand.”

Jolene pondered this sudden line of thinking. Sure, she’d noticed some construction in various parts of the city, but there was always some construction going on in various parts of the city as older structures were cycled out or remodeled. There certainly hadn’t been anything she’d noticed that she could classify as out of the ordinary, at least in the short time she’d been in the colony.

She spoke up timidly. “Has there been any more construction going on in the city than usual?”

When Brad and Sonia turned to look at her, she stumbled a bit before adding, “I mean, I see stuff being built all the time but I don’t know what’s ‘normal’ for the colony.”

Brad stroked his chin. “You know, I’m not sure either.”

Sonia furrowed her brow. “I mean, I guess I’ve noticed some construction. Let me keep going through these files and see if I can figure this out.”

Jolene suddenly wished she had her communication device. Perhaps some news sources had something to say about the construction.

She looked over at Brad, eyes firmly on his own communicator. Oh, maybe he’s already on it. She edged closer to Brad, trying to look over his shoulder. Brad flinched as he noticed her sliding closer, before she awkwardly said, “Sorry, I was wondering if there was any news about construction in the colony. Didn’t mean to be creepy.”

Good save.

Brad’s shoulders relaxed, and he said, “I’m looking and I don’t really see anything.”

Sonia piped up. “The construction wouldn’t have to be going on on Deimos, you know?”

Jolene pondered this. True, Deimos wasn’t a particularly large moon. There might not be much reason to build more on it.

Mining…on the other hand…

“What do you two know about Captain Matsumoto? Was he always involved with the police?”

Sonia stopped her search. “That’s a good question. Might be worth trying to find his personnel file. I might take some time to sniff that out later. Why, though?”

“It just hit me that there would be use for construction and excavation equipment in mining. Maybe he was previously involved with the mines and knows something is there that others haven’t claimed? Just, what could he be digging for on Deimos of all places that hasn’t already been taken by mining companies over the years?”

“If it’s that valuable, maybe that explains the guns as well. Well armed, well trained security is a good investment,” Brad mused.

Sonia spoke up again. “I see something in here about an abandoned mining facility outside the dome. Oh, I think I remember this. Something bad happened in the mine and a bunch of people died, so they closed the facility. Something about it being unsafe to enter.”

“What, like radiation or poisonous gas?” Brad asked, suddenly interested.

“I can’t remember for sure. Looking at this news clip that’s on Vince’s hard drive, it sounds like the official story is just labeled as an accidental chemical leak, so it could be either. But they said that it wouldn’t be safe to enter the facility ever again. If I remember right they sealed it in concrete. It was years ago.”

“This is getting too weird, too surreal,” Jolene said.

Sonia leaned back in her chair and sighed. “Well, I reached the end of the files. If I’m being honest it just feels like I’m looking at some crazy person’s conspiracy board as he hurriedly tries to explain what a Sasquatch is to me.”

Brad then opened his mouth. “We’ve got some stuff here, let’s try to organize it. Guns and construction or excavation equipment. Abandoned mining facility. And the only recognizable name is a police captain who might have drugged one of his officers to kill another one to cover his tracks. I guess our next step is heading to the facility and seeing if we can’t get a peek at what’s going on over there, if anything.”