Lady Justice and the Quirky Arlo Quimby Read online

  As we were headed back to the car, Kevin said, “He’s not exactly what I expected.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “I was picturing Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future.”

  “Sorry to disappoint. On the surface, he’s just a regular guy.”

  At 6:35, Arlo called. “He’s here, and he’s got a guest --- an Asian guy. You’re good to go.”

  “Okay, we’re headed up. Try to get a photo of both men if you can.”

  “Yeah, I can do that!” he replied, excitedly. “I should have thought of it myself.”

  Kevin and I made our way to the elevators as unobtrusively as possible, doing our best to avoid the security cameras.

  We exited on the sixth floor and thankfully, no one was in the hallway. We found #613. Kevin knocked just to make sure the room was unoccupied. Getting no response, he slipped the key card in the slot. The little light turned green and we were in.

  It was a typical hotel room. Pull-out sofa, king sized bed, night stands and a full bath. An open suitcase sat on a folding luggage bench. The guy hadn’t even unpacked.

  “I’ll take the luggage,” Kevin whispered, handing me a pair of rubber gloves.

  I started in the bathroom, but there was nothing of interest there, just the usual shaving gear and tooth paste.

  I moved to the nightstand by the bed. A note pad was by the phone. There was a list of names written on it. I had just started to examine it when Kevin joined me.

  “Nothing but clothes in the suitcase. You find anything?”

  I pointed to the notepad. “Just this.”

  On the pad were five names.

  McAlester Army Ammunition Plant

  Pine Bluff Arsenal

  Radford Army Ammunition Plant

  Anniston Defense Munitions Center

  Lake City Army Ammunition Plant

  All of them had a check mark beside the name except for the Lake City Plant.

  Kevin gave a low whistle. “Holy crap! Maybe old Arlo is onto something after all.”

  I took out my cell phone and snapped a photo of the pad.

  We took another look around the room, but found nothing of interest.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Kevin said.

  I dialed Arlo. “We’re out.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “I knew it! I have a break coming. Meet me in the lobby.”

  When we stepped off the elevator, Arlo waved. “Follow me.”

  He led us to an employee lunch room. At that hour, no one was there.

  “Tell me! What did you find?”

  First, I returned the key card, then I showed him the photo of the notepad.

  “Those are all government munitions plants!” he gushed. “I told you something was going on. Now we have something concrete to take to Detective Blaylock.”

  “Not Blaylock,” I replied. “If this really means something, it’s way bigger than the Kansas City Police Department. I have a brother in Homeland Security in Washington. I’ll get the information to him.”

  “Homeland Security! Wow!”

  “Did you get the photos of the two men?”

  “I did,” he replied, proudly holding up his phone.

  “Great! Email them to me and I’ll pass them along to my brother. He can run them through his facial recognition software.”

  “How cool! Just like in the movies. What should I do next?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all,” Kevin said. “We don’t want to spook the guy. Let’s just let Homeland Security take it from here.”

  “I’ll tell you what you can do,” I said. “If the guy has any more visitors at supper, get their picture and send it to me.”

  “Sure, I can do that.”

  “Well, that about wraps it up for tonight,” I said, heading for the door.

  I was surprised when Kevin spoke up. “Arlo, do you really believe the earth is flat?”

  I guess he’d been thinking about my earlier treatise and it had aroused his curiosity.

  “I do,” Arlo replied. “Tell you what. If you’re really curious, there’s going to be a Flat Earth Society meeting Thursday night. Why don’t you come?”

  Kevin was amazed. “You mean there’s enough of you guys to actually have a society?”

  Arlo smiled. “You bet there is. Will you come?”

  “I’ll think about it,” Kevin replied.

  My partner never ceases to amaze me.

  CHAPTER 4

  Early the next morning, Kevin was in my office. He wanted to be there when I called my brother at Homeland Security.

  “Well, here goes,” I said, dialing Mark’s private cell phone number.

  “Walt, Good morning. I’m guessing there’s some crisis in Kansas City. That seems to be the only time I hear from you.”

  “Hey bro, the phone works both directions, but yes, you’re right. We have a situation here.”

  I heard a long sigh. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

  I told him everything I knew from the moment Quimby approached me at the diner, to our illegal entry into the suspect’s room.

  “I have some photos to send you. Quimby took pictures of the man and his guest, and I took a picture of the names on the note pad.”

  I handed the phone to Kevin. “Here you do it. I don’t know how.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes and took the phone. Thankfully, one half of Walt Williams Investigations is tech savvy. When he finished, he handed the phone back.

  “Jesus!” Mark said on the other end. “You’re sure Quimby heard C-4 and attack?”

  “That’s what he said. What do you make of the list?”

  “McAlester in Oklahoma is the largest plant in terms of storage. It houses a third of the Department of Defense’s munitions.

  “The Pine Bluff plant in Arkansas houses our chemical/biological defense items, and is the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where white phosphorus munitions are filled.

  “The Radford plant in Virginia is where they manufacture propellants and explosives in support of field artillery, air defense, tank, missile, aircraft and Navy weapons systems.

  “The Annistion plant in Alabama is where they store the Army’s largest munitions. And I think you know about the Lake City plant.

  “In all, there are fifteen such locations across the U.S., but if these five were taken out, it would cripple our defense system.”

  “What about the check marks beside four of the names?” I asked, already suspecting the answer.

  “If this is indeed an attack where they’re planning to hit all five of the plants simultaneously, I would guess that the check marks mean that everything is in place at those four and they’re only waiting for everything to be in place at Lake City.”

  “That was my thought too. So what’s next?”

  “I’ll have to take this information to my superiors. In the meantime, we’ll run the photos through our facial recognition software. Listen, Walt. This is important. You, Kevin and Quimby have to stay away from these people. We can’t let them know we’re onto them. Right now, we know where they are. Let’s keep it that way.”

  “I already told Quimby to stand down. He understands.”

  “Great! As soon as I know more, I’ll get back to you.”

  After hanging up, I turned to Kevin. “You heard the man. Nothing to do now but wait.”

  I thought that would be the end of our meeting, but Kevin didn’t budge. In fact, he was looking rather sheepish.

  “Okay,” I said, “what’s going on?”

  “You may think I’m crazy, but I’d like to go to that Flat Earth Society meeting and I’d like you to come with me.”

  Needless to say, I was both surprised and shocked. “Surely you don’t put any stock in all that stuff.”

  “Not really, but I’m curious. You have to admit those photos and drawings Quimby gave you raise some questions. I’d like to hear more --- just for the
fun of it.”

  I had to admit that I was a bit curious too. “Okay, I’m in. Now, all we have to do is tell our wives we’re going to a flat earth meeting and hope they don’t have us committed.”

  “You’re doing what!” Maggie asked, incredulously.

  “Ummm, I’m going to a Flat Earth Society meeting with Kevin. It was all his idea,” I replied, trying to shift the blame to my brother-in-law.

  Maggie shook her head. “You two have done some stupid stuff, but this takes the cake. Why? Why would you go there?”

  I figured she would ask so I had prepared an appropriate response.

  “We have a new client and he’s a flat-earther. That has nothing to do with the case, but we thought it would be a good idea to know more about him --- you know --- so we could serve him better.”

  “That’s poppycock! Now tell me what’s going on.”

  I really hadn’t planned on getting into the details with Maggie, but she was putting me on the spot.

  “Okay,” I said, pulling out Quimby’s drawings. “Take a look at these.”

  I went through Quimby’s interpretation of the drawings. When I finished, she had a strange look on her face.

  “Interesting, don’t you think?”

  When she didn’t reply, I went a step further. “Would you like to come with us?”

  “Not a chance!” she replied, and huffed into the kitchen.

  At that moment, there was a knock on the door. It was Kevin. Maggie was on him like a duck on a June bug.

  “How could you drag my husband into a cockamamie thing like this?”

  “Hey, he’s the one who drug me in!” he replied, defensively.

  Maggie gave me the evil eye and was about to shred my story to pieces, when my tenant, Jerry the Joker, came to the door.

  “What’s all the ruckus? Oh, hi Kevin. You two going somewhere?”

  “They sure are,” Maggie replied. “To a flat earth meeting.”

  I could see the wheels turning in Jerry’s head. The guy has a joke for any and every occasion.

  “Flat earth! Sorry, I don’t buy it. If the earth was flat, cats would have pushed everything off of it by now.”

  I turned to Maggie. “Thanks.”

  She grinned. “You had it coming, doofus.”

  I grabbed Kevin by the arm. “We’re out of here.”

  “Where to?” I asked when we were safely in the car.

  “The First Community Church on Linwood.”

  That shocked me even more. “Pastor Bob’s church?”

  “Yep,” he replied. “Go figure.”

  When we walked up to the church, Pastor Bob was in the foyer. Needless to say, he was as surprised to see us and we were to see him.

  “Walt! Kevin! Are you here to see me?”

  “Actually, no,” I replied. “We were told the Flat Earth Society is meeting here tonight.”

  “Uhhh, yes, in the basement. Frankly, you two are the last people on any shaped earth I would expect to see here tonight.”

  “And we were equally surprised when we learned you were hosting the event. Do you really believe this stuff?”

  He smiled. “What I believe has nothing to do with why they are here. They are good people, they needed a place to meet, and our basement was unoccupied this evening. End of story.”

  He pointed to the stairwell. “The meeting is down there. Enjoy!”

  I don’t know what I was expecting, but when I entered the room, the people milling around looked like any group of folks you might find at the mall.

  “Not a tin foil hat anywhere,” Kevin whispered.

  Arlo spotted us and hurried over. “I’m so glad you came,” he said, obviously excited. “Come, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

  He led us to a balding gentleman who looked to be in his mid-sixties. He reminded me of Richard Schiff, the kindly old physician in the new TV show, The Good Doctor.

  “Walt, Kevin, I’d like you to meet Oliver Prentis. He’s the organizer of our little group. Oliver, Walt and Kevin are newbies.”

  Prentis offered his hand. “Welcome. My first question to newcomers is whether you’re genuinely interested in what we have to offer, or if you’ve come to see if we worship Beelzebub, mix potions, or sacrifice virgins?”

  The guy obviously had a sense of humor.

  “Actually, Arlo showed us some drawings and a photo. It aroused our curiosity.”

  “The Rowbotham experiments,” Arlo clarified.

  “Of course,” Prentis said. “Intriguing, aren’t they. Let me show you something else.”

  He led us to a photo on an easel.

  “This is time lapse photography showing the rotation of the stars over the earth. According to scientists, the earth is a globe spinning on its axis at 1,000 miles per hour. Also, according to scientists, the earth is also allegedly moving 67,000mph around the sun, the sun is moving 500,000mph around the Milky Way, and the entire galaxy is going 670,000mph.

  “If all of that was true, photos like this one would be impossible.”

  He showed us another photo.

  “If all of that was true, time lapse photography of the stars would look like the photo on the right. Throughout thousands of years the same constellations have remained fixed in their same patterns without moving out of position whatsoever. If the Earth were a big ball spinning around a bigger sun which was spinning around a bigger galaxy shooting off from the Biggest Bang as NASA claims, it is impossible that the constellations would remain so fixed. Based on their model, we should, in fact, have an entirely different night sky every single night and never repeat exactly the same star pattern twice.”

  I was having difficulty grasping the concept.

  “So you’re saying that the earth doesn’t rotate on its axis?”

  “Exactly. What I just described to you is the heliocentric model of the universe where the earth is spinning and rotating around the sun. What we believe is quite different. The earth is motionless, the heavenly bodies are much smaller and they rotate around the earth.

  “We also believe that the sun and moon are much, much closer than we’ve been told. Take a look at this next photograph.”

  “We’ve been told that the sun is 93 million miles away. If that was true, at that distance the rays striking the earth would be parallel, but that’s not what we actually experience. Now look at this.”

  “The angle at which the sun’s rays strike the earth are slanted. Following the rays to their origin, it is obvious that the sun is much closer and much smaller than we’ve been led to believe.”

  “So we’re talking about a flat motionless earth with the sun, moon and stars rotating around it? What would that look like?”

  Glad you asked,” he replied, leading us to another photo.

  “This is the earth as we see it. Aren’t either of you going to ask the obvious question?”

  “Okay, I will,” Kevin said. “If the earth is flat, what keeps everything from falling off?”

  “Very good!” Prentis replied. You will notice on this map that there is no continent of Antarctica. No south pole. We believe everything is held in place by a 200 foot wall of ice that surrounds the earth.”

  So far, everything Prentis said had at least a shred of truth, but this was just too much for me to swallow.

  “I see you’re skeptical,” Prentis said. “Here are two more photos.”

  “Another interesting fact is that in 1961, 53 nations signed the Antarctica Treaty which sets Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation, and bans military activity on the continent. Also, interestingly enough, the symbol of the United Nations looks strikingly similar to our map of the flat earth.”

  “It kinda makes you wonder what they’ve been hiding from us all these years, doesn’t it?”

  “But what about our space program?” Kevin asked. “Surely the photos of a round earth taken from space prove that the earth is a sphere.”

  “I suppose that woul
d be true if space exploration ever actually took place. Unfortunately, there is overwhelming evidence that NASA’s space program is probably the greatest hoax that our government has ever perpetrated on its citizens.”

  “Okay,” Kevin replied, belligerently, “you had me wondering up till now, but to suggest that our entire space program was faked is preposterous! Now you’ve lost me.”

  “I totally understand,” Prentis replied, “and you’re not alone. That’s why our program this evening will be of special interest to you. We’re showing a presentation titled, A funny thing happened on the way to the moon. Watch the video and then we’ll talk again.”

  We took our seats and another gent introduced the video.

  “There is no doubt that a Space Travel Conspiracy exists. The purpose of NASA is to fake the concept of space travel to further America's militaristic dominance of space. That was the purpose of NASA's creation from the very start: To put ICBMs and other weapons into space, or at least appear to. The motto ‘Scientific exploration of new frontiers for all mankind’ was nothing more than a front.

  “NASA's early rocket research is well documented to have been a complete failure, plagued by one disaster after another. At some point, perhaps after the Apollo 1 disaster, it was decided to fake the space program outright and use rockets which only needed to fly into the air until they disappeared from sight. NASA went from nearly every launch being a failure to a near flawless track record, able to land man on the moon multiple times without error.

  “At the time of NASA's creation, the general population already believed that the earth was round, based on the handed down teachings of the Ancient Greeks, which is why it was depicted in that manner. As with everyone else in the country, the people at NASA were taught the fiction of a globe earth from the cradle, so there was no doubt in their mind as how to display it.

  “If you have any doubts, the following video will allay them. It has been seen by nearly 2 million people.”