“Was the cabin searched by the killer?”
“It was.”
“Carefully and thoroughly.” He said it more as a statement than a question, seemingly deep in thought.
“Yes.”
“Ah. Well, that confirms my initial suspicions.”
“Which are?”
“Well, I hesitate to share with you my thoughts in this area.”
“Why?”
“Because you won’t believe it.”
“Try me.”
Castillo took a deep breath. “Okay. Here’s what Grooms told me. He saw the UAP crash—”
“When was this?”
“Ten years ago, plus or minus. He was a little vague.”
Cash nodded.
“He immediately went up to the site of the crash… and found something.”
“What did he find?”
“An alien artifact. And he took it. Later, he said, the aliens cleaned up the crash site so you’d never know anything had happened there.” Another silence.
“So…” Cash said slowly, stopping an exasperated breath. “An alien artifact. See any proof of this artifact?”
Castillo shifted uncomfortably, seeming to note Cash’s cynicism. “No.”
“What was it?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“Did Grooms often make things up, or claim something existed when it didn’t?”
Castillo leaned back, irritation playing across his face. “Well… I’m not going to lie to you. Yes, he did. But this felt different. Usually, his delusions were scattered and nonsensical. When he spoke about this, it was a coherent story, and the details fit with other UAP observations I’ve seen throughout the years.”
Cash rubbed at her temples with pointer fingers. Jesus, this was all too much bullshit to sort through. “So… if Grooms had the alien artifact, is it possible that others might have wanted to get their hands on it—and kill him for it?”
“That’s a possibility. But I think it’s a lot more likely that the aliens themselves would want it back and come after him.” Again, Castillo hesitated and then said, in a rush, “I think that’s exactly what happened.”
Cash stared at Castillo. She could already hear Colcord’s cynical laugh when he heard the outcome of her trip. “Killed by aliens,” she said, deadpan.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe it.”
“And this was what you talked about on those phone calls? Grooms told you all this—about seeing the crash, finding the artifact, and so forth?”
“Yes.”
“And nothing else? No discussion of money, disputes, personal conflicts, anything of that sort?”
