Neither medic appeared to even hear what he said, their expressions remained so impassive. They didn’t share a look to confer with one another, either.
“No, we didn’t have any reports like that,” the first medic said.
“See!” Edie shouted, turning her head quickly back and forth to face Cassidy and James. “This is what I’m saying; no one reported it. He’s probably still back there at that waterfall.”
“Are you saying there was an unreported death at a waterfall on the first night of the festival?” the blond medic asked, finally stepping from around the desk to talk. The lanyard around his neck bearing a private company’s logo said he was Registered Nurse August Fielding.
“Yes, and now my friend is missing,” Cassidy said.
“Are those somehow related?”
“I don’t know. I mean, it also seems suspicious.”
Box fans whirred, blowing hot air around the small tent. James felt suffocated but wasn’t sure if it was due to the stuffy room or the sluggishness with which the medics addressed their concerns.
“Okay,” the second medic said, stepping forward. His lanyard was turned around so James couldn’t catch a name. “We’re going to need to get a statement from you, but we’ll get someone out to that waterfall to at least investigate that claim.”
He handed the three of them clipboards to fill out for their statements and left the tent. The women took a seat on one of the cots to write down their statements, and James took a seat in front of the desk that August returned to. A few minutes later, the medic returned with a security guard that James didn’t recognize.
“This is our head of security, Bill Peterson,” the medic said.
James stood and took Bill’s hand. He was an older ex-military looking type with muscular shoulders and greying hair and he reached out to Edie and Cassidy to give them quick pumps of their arms as well.
“We’ve made a call to the mainland to get some more people here, but in the meantime, he’s going to ask you a few questions.”
“I thought the head of security here was someone named Grant?” James asked.
“No, that’s incorrect. I am head of security.”
“And, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name,” James said, reaching his hand out to the medic.
“Diego Lopez,” he answered with some hesitation.
“So, can you tell me what’s happening here? I’ve been informed there was an accident and now there’s a missing person?”
The three visitors briefly explained their concerns. Neither Diego nor Bill seemed shocked or interested in their story, and Bill stood with his thumbs hanging through his belt loops like he was listening to a boring bar tale.
“And whereabouts is this waterfall?” Bill asked.
“We can show you where it is,” James said.
“That won’t be necessary. If you tell me where it is, then we can take it from there,” Bill said.
“I mean … it’s not the easiest place to get to. I don’t think that it’s an official trail that we took to get out there or anything.”
“You can draw us a map that is your best guess of where this is, and we’ll take it from there,” Bill insisted. Diego handed James another clipboard from behind the desk where August sat clicking around on the computer, and James relented.
While James drew, Bill took down all their contact information, yet again, and told them all that they could go.
“Wait, that’s it?” Cassidy asked, hugging her clipboard to her chest.
“If we need to, we will contact you for more information.”
“What about my friend, Daisy?”
Bill looked irritated and the heat of the tent seemed to be getting to him. His face was beet red above the collar and he was visibly sweating. “If you give me a description of your friend, we’ll keep an eye out for her.”
“That’s it?” she repeated.
