Chapter 4

In pediatrics, a young man seemed to be expecting them. Ironside's schooled mind registered automatically that he was in his early thirties, about six feet tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and a worried look on his face.

"Chief Ironside?" he asked, "I'm Bill Frazer."

"Mr. Frazer – thank you for being willing to talk to us. We found your name in Ed Brown's address book. May I ask you what the reason is for your sons being here?"

"Actually I'm their stepfather. And my wife has the same symptoms as the boys, but in a milder form. A few days ago they showed signs of a general malaise. Soon afterwards red blotches appeared on their legs and arms and even on their faces. On Thursday we took them to the hospital. The doctors don't really know what the problem is."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you, Sir. But why are you taking any interest in my family?"

"We found out that Sergeant Brown repeatedly phoned this hospital on Thursday. Did he talk to you?"

"Yes, he did. He asked me several times about changes in the boys' condition. We are old friends. He actually wanted to come by yesterday too."

"I'm afraid that he's been missing since yesterday."

"Oh my God, no! Is there a connection between what happened on Sunday, the illness of my wife and children and Ed's disappearance?"

"What happened on Sunday?"

Bill reported the events at the picnic, the wet ground and Ed's strange behavior.

"When I told him that the boys had fallen ill, he said that I should tell the doctors that they had probably been in contact with some stuff called 'Agent Orange'. He had mentioned that on Sunday already. But the doctors want to wait and see how the disease develops. They are of the opinion that this 'Agent Orange' is harmless to humans and therefore couldn't have caused those symptoms."

Ironside understood: Ed had taken a sample of the contaminated soil to the lab, assuming it was 'Agent Orange', without being sure of it.

"Ed was wrong about that. It wasn't 'Agent Orange' but 'Agent Pink', and I believe that it could very well have caused those symptoms. This might help your family." He pulled his notebook out of his pocket. "This is the analysis of the substance you came in contact with on Sunday. Give this to the physician in charge."

As the head nurse was just passing by, Bill asked her if he could meet with the doctor in question. She knew that he was busy right now, but she promised to get the doctor to talk to him as soon as possible.

Then Bill turned back to Ironside. "Chief - what do you know about that ominous 'Agent Pink'? I don't quite understand the implications of chemical formulas."

"It's an herbicide and defoliant like 'Agent Orange' which is being used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program in Vietnam. The names come from the stripes in orange or pink painted on the barrels to identify the contents. The problem isn't the solution per se, but a substance called 'Dioxin' with which it is contaminated. That is very toxic to humans. And there's a lot more Dioxin in 'Agent Pink' than in 'Agent Orange'. I hope that the doctors will know what to do about it."

Bill's face showed his mixed emotions: Fear for his boys but also relief because at least he had some information about the cause of their illness.

"Sir, Ed seemed very upset last Sunday. Did he know that it was dangerous – although he thought it was 'Agent Orange'?"

"He might have suspected something, but we don't know what he was afraid of exactly. Perhaps he saw the effect of it on soldiers or civilians in Vietnam. But it's possible as well that he had to face his own traumatic experiences of the war. Ed's not a harsh man. It can be difficult for this kind of men to deal with their memories of the cruelty of the war. Maybe this was the reason for his strange behavior."

Thoughtfully, Bill answered: "When Ed and I first met, he was only in first grade. Ed often encountered Lenny, a boy with Down syndrome. He was about twelve years old and liked to sit by the little pond on Ed's way to school. From time to time he would throw a little stone into the pond and watch delightedly the rings it formed. Ed always greeted him and Lenny waved back. One evening, as Ed was passing by, three bullies were throwing stones at Lenny. Lenny was sobbing helplessly. 'Leave him alone!' Ed ordered. Of course they didn't listen to him, since he was smaller than any of them. One word led to another, and a brawl broke out. Ed fought like a little tiger, nevertheless the end of it was foreseeable since Lenny was no big help. That was when I stepped in. I was taller and stronger than those bullies. Then even Lenny started to defend himself. Shortly afterwards the three of them took to their heels. In our torn clothes, Ed with a bleeding nose and me with a split lip, we escorted Lenny home, and we've remained friends through the years. – What I want to say is that I've never seen Ed being afraid of anything or anybody, that's just not like him. But on Sunday he was scared, and on Thursday night he said that he would have to look into the matter to try and find out what was going on."

Ironside nodded. Bill and himself were definitely talking about the same man.

"That's the way I see him too. And in order to find him I must find out what he found out. It seems to me that everything started at that picnic on Sunday. Can you show me on a map where I can find that picnic area?"

"That's probably too complicated. It's quite a lonely place in the area of Mount Diablo. If you want me to come along with you, give me a minute to tell my wife. She's fond of Ed too; we both want to help find him in any way we can."

Ironside glanced at his wristwatch. "We'll do that tomorrow. I want my aids to accompany us but it would be dark before we could reach the place tonight. I'd like to leave at 8 a.m tomorrow. Thank you for your help."

"Your analysis of 'Agent Pink' might help my family. It's me who has to be grateful – and I sure am!"


Sunday

The next day was a Sunday, but the thought of a day off didn't occur to any of them. It took the paddy wagon a little over an hour to reach the picnic area. The terrain was somewhat rough and the absence of a proper path meant that the Chief couldn't go along with Bill, Eve and Mark to search the area.

Bill showed Ironside's staff the place where the model airplane had crashed. It was still lying there, but now all the foliage of the bushes and small trees around it had fallen off. Only the big trees had kept their leaves.

"Looks like that defoliant was somehow emptied out over the area and not sprayed," Mark uttered.

"That would explain why the concentration of it was so high in Ed's ground sample – and why Bill's boys were so badly affected by it," Eve concluded.

"Don't touch anything!" Bill reminded them.

"Let's search the area above this place first," Eve decided.

Since it was a very hot day and the hillside was quite steep, they were sweating and breathing heavily after a few minutes. It was well worth it: Stuck between the roots of a tree Mark found a dented barrel. "That's got to be the source of the stuff!" he exclaimed.

Eve and Bill came by too. "But look!" Eve objected.

The barrel was marked "Bonsanto Chemicals" and bore a stripe in orange.

Mark put on plastic gloves and tilted it from side to side. It seemed to be nearly empty.

"From here upwards, the foliage of the bushes is intact; there's only a trace of broken twigs. Let's follow it!"

xxx

Ironside had to do what he hated the most: He had to wait. Of course his thinking didn't stand still. A week ago, Ed and Bill's family had been here in Bill's car. It was an educated guess that Ed had returned here on Thursday night to get the ground sample. Perhaps he could verify that, if he could find marks of two different sets of tires, since this wasn't an official picnic area, but really a kind of 'secret place'. The soil was quite dry and hard making it difficult to single out any tire marks. But Ironside was in no hurry at all. Thoroughly and methodically he went over the whole ground. Finally he found what he was looking for. The marks weren't deep at all, but they were clearly visible for eyes as sharp and trained as Ironside's.

The Chief would have to ask Bill if one set of marks was actually his. But he was quite sure that he recognized Ed's tire marks. And Ed's marks were left over the others, which confirmed his guess: Ed's car had been here after Bill's.

There was something strange about those marks though: There wasn't just one crossing over Bill's marks, but two. Since there was more than enough space for a car to take a turn, Ironside could see no reason why Ed should have driven back and forth. Did he come here twice perhaps? That led to the speculation that he had probably returned on Friday night. So this might very well be the last place where they knew he had been.