Chapter 124

We headed back down through the building to the parking garage, and Ed loaded us into a small blue car. Since I didn’t know him at all, I let Wendy sit up front with him and took the back with Theo. I kind of liked riding along with everybody on these jobs because it gave me a chance to see all the different areas in Packhaven.

Today, we went in the opposite direction to what we had for the municipal park opening. And within fifteen minutes, we were leaving the city behind us. The steel and glass of Packhaven’s downtown dropped away, and we entered well-kept, green suburban neighborhoods. Intermixed with these were small mom-and-pop shops: cafes, boutiques, hardware stores, and all of the other essential places that made living in the suburbs comfortable.

The homes were upscale, and the grounds were meticulously manicured. I could tell just by driving through them that there was definite truth to the story about Southhaven. We went through these for quite a while, and I didn’t see a single house that didn’t look like it was cared for by affluent owners.

Not one of them had a broken fence board. Not one of them needed a new roof or a new paint job. There were no leaning buildings and not a speck of rust to be seen anywhere.

When we left the suburbs, we headed out through farm country, passing by acreages with animals or crops and tidy farmhouses. Not much further out, these gave way to the foothills and the start of forests.

We were reaching the end of summer and mixed in amongst the undergrowth, some of the smaller bushes were starting to yellow in anticipation of fall, but largely, the foliage was still green and thick. It was nice to sit in the back and watch the shady, windy road pass us by.

I gazed out the window into the forest, making note of the different kinds of vegetation that grew here that didn’t grow in Lustrum, where I was familiar with such things. The forests here contained a lot more evergreens than at home.

The conversation between Ed and Wendy died out, and she turned her head back to face Theo and me. “If hiking or being in the outdoors is your thing, there are lots of opportunities to do it here. The road that we’re on goes into National Park and forest lands. There are trails all over the place.”

“There’s a small fee that you have to pay for an annual pass, or you can pay by the visit and get a daily pass.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve always been a city girl. Hiking and being out in the outdoors has never really been my thing. In fact, I could probably count the number of times I’ve been this far away from the city into nature on two hands.”

“That’s a shame,” she said. “It gets kind of cold here during the winter. But during the spring, summer, and fall, it’s a great place to be in the outdoors. You should really try it out.”

“I can show you around the outdoors if you and Charles want to try something new,” Theo offered. “Maybe on your next day off, I can take you out somewhere before the weather turns for the fall.”

“Maybe,” I said. “How far do we have to go to get to the reservoir?”

“Not much further,” Ed replied from the driver’s seat.

He pointed at a navigation app on his dashboard. “Looks like we’ve got about ten more minutes of driving until we get there. But it makes sense that the reservoir is all the way out here. You wouldn’t want any of the dirt from the city getting into it.”

“I didn’t really see much dirt in the city to get into it,” I said. “But I can understand wanting it to be away from people so it doesn’t get accidentally polluted.”

Our conversation ebbed and flowed, and this time, Ed and Wendy kept Theo and me involved.

Sure enough, about five minutes before we were supposed to reach our destination, the road curved and opened into a valley, at the center of which was a lake.

“There’s a dam here for some of the hydroelectric power that Packhaven uses,” Ed explained. “So, this reservoir is a man-made lake. That doesn’t make it any less important. There’s no recreation allowed on this lake. But there is hiking allowed in the foothills around it.”

“If you really want a good view of it, I suggest hiking up on one of the bluffs where you can see the panoramic view. It makes for wonderful pictures. I’ve taken my wife and kids out here a couple of times. Pack a picnic, and it’s a nice day trip.”

Ed pulled into the parking lot belonging to a set of small utilitarian buildings painted blue in the same shade as the lake. It kept them from being too conspicuous on the lakeside. And with their brown roofs, they would probably be virtually unnoticeable from those viewpoints that he had been talking about.

Pipes snaked in and out of the ground and the buildings, all covered with mesh to disguise them from view. I shook my head, keeping my thoughts to myself, but internally, I was quite impressed.

They really went out of their way in Packhaven to make everything visually appealing, even this far outside the city. Thought, they probably cared for the reservoir so carefully because it was critical and it had all the trails around it.

Ed parked the car, and we all got out. Three people with hard hats and clipboards in work uniforms waited at the edge of the parking lot where the path to the main buildings joined up. They waved to us, and we headed over to them.

One of them stepped forward and shook our hands. “I’m Melanie Birch,” she said. “I run the plant here. These are my head engineers, Mr. Dale and Mr. Waldron. I’ll be taking care of the administrative portion of the tour, and from there, they’ll take you around and show you the inner workings and run you through some of the chemical testing.

Wendy took a moment and introduced us to the three of them. And then we set off into the main building. Ms. Birch gave us a tour, showing us the offices and the monitoring stations where the alarms were. She showed us lists of what they monitored, how they controlled the outflow, and how they watched the water levels.

Ms. Birch went over the needs of Packhaven and how the employees at the reservoir made sure that there was always enough water for the residents. When she told us that we were going to head out with the two engineers, one of the two touched my elbow lightly.

“Miss Laurentia,” he said. “I’m Paul Dale. I was thinking that to make the tour a little more personal, maybe you would like to come with me. I’d be happy to give you a personalized tour.”

“I don’t know why we would need to split up,” Mr. Waldron said.

“Well, I was just thinking that it would take a long time for us to show the four of them the entire complex. So I was thinking maybe you’d like to show Wendy, Theo, and Ed the north side of the complex. And I will take Miss Laurentia around the South side.”

Theo cleared his throat. “Wherever Elena goes, I go. I’m not with the press. I’m her bodyguard.”

“Oh, well. Of course, then,” Mr. Dale said.

“Is the whole complex really that much to see?” Wendy asked Mr. Waldron.

He paused and thought for a moment before speaking. “I suppose the north side has the outdoor measures for cleanliness and monitoring, and the south side has all of the pump houses and mechanical buildings. It would take quite a while to wander the entire complex. Seeing as how the two are almost a ten-minute drive apart.”

“Exactly,” Mr. Dale said, nodding. “That’s what I was thinking. If we split up and cover just half, the pair of ladies are working on the story together. They can combine notes from either half and save a significant amount of time.”