Firewatch Ch 22

The streets are emptier on the drive out of town than they were on the way in.

“What’s your theory?” Flores asks as they wait for a red at a deserted intersection. The lights are on in an empty laundromat. The washers look old-fashioned, and the dryers are even worse: double-stacked in a mustard yellow, paint flaking off to reveal rusted metal underneath. The walls are faux wood paneling. The tiles on the floor are orange and brown. As one, all the fluorescent lights flicker.

“Agent Flores?”

Flores looks over sharply. The light is green. “Sorry.” She pulls through the intersection and clears her throat. “Your theory, Chief Johnson. Do you have one about the locals who are missing?” She could ask better questions if she could see some names and look at some files, but for that, they have to get inside the police station.

“This is not a place where people want to stay.”

“Why is that? It’s obviously not thriving, but it’s beautiful. It’s quiet. This is a dream for people who want to hunt or fish or camp.” Well, it should be. Is it? If it were, there would be more people. More indications of seasonal crowds. A more robust hospitality industry. Flores has seen nothing to suggest anything like that. No signage for lakes or boats. Not even a single outdoor-themed store. “Is the hunting no good around here? I wonder why.” Flores retains information well. There are reasons that places one would expect to offer plenty of game do not. Human disturbance is usually the top reason. Disease and water can also drive game away.

As can having too many predators around.

Flores flicks her blinker and turns onto the road leading up into the woods, toward the campsite.

Chief Johnson looks directly at her. “Why do you do this?”

“My job? Mental health and behavioral science aren’t the most exact sciences. But they’re pretty exact, if you know what I mean. At this point, we know so much. There are just so many patterns that we can learn from now that we have the data. There are still edge cases, still mysteries. But for the most part, if you understand behavioral science, it’s not too difficult to understand why people do what they do. And we even have strong, evidence-supported ways of helping people change what they do. Psychology doesn’t have all the answers, but it has a lot of them. I thought there would be more to it. I understand behavior now, but I guess spiritually, that just gives me more questions.” Flores laughs. “I even understand why I feel that way. The FBI gives me things to solve. It’s not always interesting, but if I can find someone’s runaway daughter and then reassure them that she’s safe, that’s worth something. I guess we have to walk from here, huh?” Flores pulls into the parking lot near the campground and puts the car in park to find Chief Johnson gazing at her.

“You want answers? To what?”

Flores climbs out and the chief does the same. “I don’t know. In a lot of ways, people are animals. But then there are parts of us that seem different. Special somehow. I just wonder what it all means. Which one of these paths goes to the lookout tower? There is a path, isn’t there?”