Newsome's face tightened at the memory but the excitement of being able to help was still present."I was at home observing the Pleiades star cluster.And the balloons—and the body—just sort of floated right in my line of sight.I didn’t realize what it was right away, of course.I had to zoom in a bit, get a better focus.”
“And it was balloons.You knew that right away?”
"Yeah.Well, I called my friend, Ray, to confirm and he thought so, too.Weather balloons.And that’s when I realized there was a body attached to them.And then…well, then one of the balloons popped.And then another and another.And then the body just…fell.”
“While still attached to the balloons?”Vic asked.
“Yeah, but they just all kept popping…”
Vic opened a photo on her phone and showed it to Newsome.It was an image of a standard weather balloon, the basic sort that had suspended and then dropped Amanda Parker."The balloons that were holding the body…did they look like these?"
Newsome studied the photo carefully."Similar, yes.But it’s hard to know or be certain.It was so far away, you know?"
“Were you able to get a good look at the body?”
“No.My telescope isn’tthatgood.The body was just slightly too far away.”
“Could you tell if it was a male or a female?”Miles asked.
“No.”He frowned and added: “Sorry.”
"Could you tell anything else about the balloons as you watched it happen?"Miles asked.
"The way they were falling, the pattern of descent and all, I figure they had been at altitude for a while before deflating.Weather balloons expand as they rise because the atmospheric pressure decreases.Eventually, they reach a point where they burst.But these looked like they had deflated more gradually, like someone had released the helium or they had developed slow leaks."
“And if someone wanted to lift a person using helium balloons, what size balloons would they need?"
Newsome thought about this, his fingers tapping against his desk."A standard 72-inch diameter balloon, the kind you can buy online, holds about 400 cubic feet of helium when fully inflated.Each one can lift roughly 35 pounds.For an average person weighing around 150 pounds, you would need about twenty-five balloons to achieve neutral buoyancy.To actually lift them off the ground and send them to significant altitude, you would probably want something closer to forty."
"And that's accounting for the weight of the harness system?"Vic asked.
"Yes.The harness would add maybe 10 or 15 pounds depending on the design.You would want reinforced straps capable of distributing the weight evenly."Newsome pulled up a website on his computer showing weather balloon suppliers."These 72-inch balloons cost about twenty dollars each.Helium runs maybe fifty cents per cubic foot from most suppliers.The entire setup would cost a little less than a thousand dollars."
Miles felt a piece of the puzzle click into place."So whoever is doing this doesn't need sophisticated equipment or access to specialized facilities."
"Not at all," Newsome said."Everything they need is commercially available.The hardest part would be inflating that many balloons and coordinating the release, but even that's just time and patience."He chuckled a bit and then seemed to wish he hadn’t.“I mean…it’s sort of scary to think how easy it might be to get it done.”
"What about launch locations?"Vic asked."Would someone need a specific type of area to get these off the ground?"
Newsome considered this."They would need somewhere open, away from power lines and buildings.Probably at least a quarter acre of clear space.And they would want to avoid populated areas where people might see them preparing the balloons."
"Industrial zones," Miles said."Abandoned lots, maybe agricultural areas on the edge of the city."
"That would make sense," Newsome agreed."And they would want to launch at night or early morning when there's less chance of witnesses."
Miles's phone buzzed in his hand.Agent Kim's name appeared on the screen and he answered immediately, excusing himself from the conversation by mouthing“Sorry…”He turned away with a single step and said, “Hey, Kim.”
"Miles, I have an update," Kim said without preamble."Forensics was able to identify the second victim using dental records."
"That’s great.What’ve you got?”
"The ME's office prioritized it after they understood the connection to Amanda Parker.The victim is Robert Thompson, thirty-four years old.He worked as a window washer for a company called Sky Blue Building Services.It looks like they handle the major high-rises downtown."
Miles exchanged a glance with Vic and said, "The second victim's been ID'd.Robert Thompson…a window washer."
"I pulled his employment records,” Kim went on.“Thompson worked on buildings ranging from 30 to 70 stories.He spent his entire career dangling from harnesses hundreds of feet above the ground."
It sure as hell fit, Miles thought.Amanda Parker was a skydiving instructor, used to being thousands of feet in the air.Based on Robert Thompson's work experience, he'd been no stranger to heights, either.
