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Chapter 27
Nayome took a sip out of the cup of water. It had been set down in front of her with a thud, by a distracted admin assistant. She hadn’t seen anyone else since she had been ushered into this small room. The painted cinder block walls and drop ceiling reminded her of an elementary school, but it was missing the cheery touches and colorful construction paper artwork that gave grade school classrooms their characteristic warmth.
Nayome eyed the mirror wall that was to her left suspiciously. Did they really have two way glass in these rooms? Was someone watching her right now? She was trying to act normal, but all of her actions seemed awkward and stilted, as though she was play-acting at being a regular person.
I am a regular person.
Forgetting about all the magic and events of the past week, Nayome reminded herself she was just a regular girl, trying to make it in the big city. Breathing in deep, she attempted to calm her rapidly beating heart. Reaching up, Nayome gripped her amber necklace tightly in a clammy palm, feeling comforted by the smooth shape of the pendant.
“Miss Miller.” A man Nayome didn’t recognize greeted her, as he sauntered into the cramped interrogation room. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Agent Crawford followed on his heels, shutting the door behind them.
“Agent Garcia,” the man said, as he held out a hand to shake. Making eye contact with Agent Garcia over their handshake, she attempted to size him up. His suit was pristine, same as Agent Crawford’s. His hair was salt and pepper, streaks of gray fanning out from his temples. Eyes were a warm coffee brown, but his expression was tight, giving nothing away. The way Agent Crawford followed his lead indicated he was higher ranking.
“Agent Garcia, Agent Crawford,” Nayome nodded in greeting, as they both took a seat in the small plastic chairs across the table. Releasing her grip on her amber pendant, she waited for them to begin. No point offering up any information they weren’t specifically asking for.
“So, Miss Miller,” Aent Garcia started, “You’ve been quite difficult to get in contact with these last few days.”
“I heard, I’ve been staying with a friend in the city.”
“You haven’t appeared at work, aside from when I believe you made Agent Crawford’s acquaintance?”
“No, I was feeling under the weather and called in for the rest of the week. Probably something I picked up on the plane.”
“Of course. Well, happy to see you looking well today.” He smiled at her, and Nayome thought under different circumstances, he might be a charismatic guy.
“Much better, thank you.” Nayome was impressed at how even her tone sounded. All this drama over the past week must have conditioned her to deal with stress on another level. Glancing around, she decided to play up her innocent, regular person role a bit. “Is this going to take long? I’m happy to help, but I really don’t understand what’s going on. I gave you all my research, like you asked.”
“Indeed, and we thank you for your cooperation.” Nayome watched as Agent Garcia shifted in his seat, leaning forward on the table towards her. “We wanted to bring you in for some follow up questions, after taking a closer look at your research.”
“Oh?” Nayome leaned forward as well, blinking curiously, gaze shifting between the agents. She didn’t understand what her research might mean, or what they may have found. She didn’t need to feign interest.
“You spent a few days in the rainforest, out of service, correct?”
Nayome felt a sinking feeling. The eyes staring back at her were intelligent, she needed to be careful here not to sound inconsistent.
“I did. What’s your question?”
“Where did you stay, while you were in the forest?”
“The park office set me up with a place to camp. It was quite lovely, actually.”
Agent Garcia was nodding, while he jotted something down.
“Did you camp alone?”
Nayome hesitated a breath, what should she say? “Yes, they set up the site for me, but I stayed there alone.”
“That was very accommodating of them.”
“I thought so.” Nayome started to feel uncomfortable, but tried to stay steady, resisting the urge to shift around in her seat.
“Can you point out on this map wearabouts you camped, and where you collected samples?” Agent Garcia said, as Agent Crawford unfolded a detailed satellite image map of what looked like Taynish as a whole.
“Ummm…what am I looking at here?” Nayome asked. The map was huge, and she was having trouble pinpointing any specific landmarks.
“Here is the park office.” Agent Crawford reinforced his comment by circling a small, barely visible structure on the map. “And here is where your hotel was—the Stone Inn, correct?”
“That’s right.” Nayome was starting to feel like she should request a lawyer, but wouldn’t that just add another person Gabe had to wipe the memories of? Looking over the terrain on the map, she could see signs of the river that cut across the forest, appearing in various clearings through the canopy. “Assuming this is the main pathway, I would have camped around here, by the river. That’s where I got my samples as well.”
