Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (7 page)

“Sheriff!” he
yelled.

“What do you
know?” Anna asked impatiently. “I figured you would have sent word by now.”

“Dr. Styles
thinks it’s an animal,” he reported.

“He what?” Anna
said, momentarily caught off guard.

Aaron shook his
head. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong. He thinks the weapon is some kind of
animal claw. Maybe an elephant tusk. Or perhaps a bear claw painted yellow.”

It took Anna a
moment to process what she had heard. “So the murder weapon was made from some
sort of animal bone or something?”

“Yes, Sheriff,”
Aaron said. He was breathing heavily, still excited by the day’s events. “Jason
is on his way to the university right now to meet with a professor who can tell
us what animal it comes from.”

“Well that’s
good news,” Anna said. Although David was exceedingly strange, he did excellent
work. She found herself being thankful that a brilliant man like Dr. Styles
enjoyed remote locations. He could easily have worked at the University of
Minnesota Medical Center teaching America’s future coroners, or work as a CSI
expert.

“Does he think
it was an animal that did this?” she asked.

“No, ma’am. I
think he thinks it was a person.”

“That’s what I
figured, especially given what Trevor and Sam saw tonight.”

“Right,” Aaron
agreed.

“Why don’t you
join the others in my office? They will tell you what you can do to help.” As
he walked away, she sighed and leaned against the top of Janet’s desk.

“Anything I can
do for you, Anna?” she asked.

“Order some food
from someplace. I doubt many people will eat, but it’s important that we have
something around to munch on. It’s going to be a long night.”

“I’m on it,”
Janet said. “Anything else?”

“Well, I think
it’s time that I…” but Anna stopped midsentence when Father Matthew and Pastor
Amy walked through the doors. Both of them were in their black clerics.

“I thought I
might be seeing you this evening,” Anna said as she hugged Matthew then shook
Amy’s hand.

“We heard about
what happened,” Matthew said. “We would like to offer our assistance. There is
something we need to do, but we wanted to clear it with you first.”

Anna’s curiosity
was piqued. “Okay, what did you have in mind?”

“We would like
to go to the Brickton Estate,” Amy said. Surprised, Anna raised an eyebrow.

“And why would
you want to do that?” she asked slowly.

“Honestly, I
think we can be of service to you in this dark time,” Matthew said solemnly.

“What he means
to say is that I was close to Alan,” Amy said quickly. “I visited him almost
every week and I know a lot about how he lived his life. I believe I might be
able to advise some of your officers on the scene.”

Anna knew they
were hiding something. At the same time, she had known Matthew her whole life.
They graduated from high school together. His integrity was beyond reproach,
and he had been a good friend and confidant when her husband left. She didn’t
know Amy very well, but if Matthew trusted her then that was good enough for
her.

“Sure. Any help
we can get is appreciated.” She turned to Janet. “Notify the guys and let them
know that Father McMillan and Pastor Adler will be arriving in the next twenty
minutes.”

“Sure thing,”
Janet said with a bright smile.

“Thanks, Anna,”
Matthew said. “I will let you know what we find.”

“Please do.”

“Thank you,” Amy
said. “We’ll be in touch.” They left as quickly and as quietly as they had
arrived.

At that moment Officer
Geraldine MacDonald walked up to Anna. A full-figured woman with brown hair,
she kept in a braided ponytail, and an ever present smile, everyone loved
Geraldine.

“What was that
all about?” she asked as we watched the clergy leave the precinct.

“Pastor Amy and
Father Matthew think they may be able to help with the investigation.”

“That seems a
bit unorthodox,” Geraldine observed. Anna shrugged her shoulders. “Well I
suppose having a murder in Crimson Falls is more unorthodox than priests
helping the police,” Geraldine said with a smile.

“At this point I
will take whatever help I can get,” Anna sighed. “Have you been brought up to
speed?”

“Yeah,”
Geraldine nodded. “Janet filled me in on the phone. I brought my daughter with
me. She’s asleep in the break room. Janet’s going to keep an eye on her through
the monitor.” Anna was happy that Madeline, only nine months old, was safe and
sound.

“Where’s Jerry?”

“He’s on the
road,” Geraldine moaned. “But I suppose that’s a good thing.” She shook her
head. “Never thought I would say that. Well, at least not in the first two
years of marriage.” Both women laughed. “Where is everyone?”

“I have some
guys in my office tracking the woods, and the rest are at the Brickton estate.”

“Tracking the
woods?” she asked.

“Here, let me
show you.” Just as Anna turned to lead Geraldine into her office, Rick suddenly
filled the doorway.

“We found
something. Come quick.” Both women jogged toward the surveillance room. As they
turned into Anna’s office, they heard Damien cursing.

“…the fuck is
that?”

Trevor
immediately jumped out of his chair and followed his mother into the room.

Being
technologically savvy, Damien was able to have a single camera shot appear
across all of the screens. There in front of them, larger than life, was the
body of Sheriff Ron Kelly.

* * * * * *

4

As Jake was
walking through the dark forest with his German Shepherd along with two other
officers and their dogs, he promised himself that he would run in the next
election.

“This shit is
beneath me,” he mumbled. Their flashlights danced around the woods,
illuminating strange shapes and movements.

“What did you
say, Jake?” Tim Dalton asked. Well-built and ruggedly handsome, Tim was a man’s
man. He was popular with most everyone in Crimson Falls, which meant that Jake
found him annoying and a threat to his political ambitions.

“Nothing, Tim,”
Jake said flatly. “Just keep moving.” Jake looked forward to running the precinct
one day soon. Though there were only fourteen cops in Crimson Falls, he would
rule over it with an iron fist. Just like he did in high school. Suddenly one
of the dogs, Ringo, started growling. Before they knew it, the other dogs were
barking as well. Their barks began to swell.

“Whoa, boys,”
Jake yelled. “What is it?” They continued to bark and began showing signs of
intense anxiety. Jake was worried about the dogs’ reaction; they were trained
not to bark so the perpetrator would not be warned about their presence.

“What do we do?”
asked George, the third officer in the group. George was the village idiot,
with disheveled grey hair and a beer gut that could rival Santa.

“We move as
quickly as possible,” Jake instructed. They jogged behind the dogs, but were
having difficulty keeping up with them.

“Why aren’t they
listening to us?” George asked, confused.

“Just keep
moving!” Jake yelled. “They got something!

“How far have we
gone?” Tim hollered. Jake had a hard time hearing them over the sound of the
dogs.

“We’ve gone
about a quarter mile,” George said as he checked his wristwatch.

“What the hell
is
that
?” Jake said as he saw something dark sitting in the tree he was
passing. He screamed at the dogs to stop. After a moment they sat still, though
their growls revealed their disagreement.

“What is it,
Jake?” George yelled.

“Don’t know
yet,” he said. “Shine your lights up into this tree here.” Jake began to climb
up the lower branches.

“I’ll be
damned,” he said.

“What’s going
on?” Tim asked.

“It’s a camera!”
he shouted from the tree. “Why would there be a camera here?” he wondered out
loud to himself.

“Is this even
part of Brickton’s property?” George asked.

“His estate goes
on forever,” Tim said.

Jake knew
Brickton had cameras, but didn’t think his insanity had spiraled this far out
of control. Suddenly his radio screamed, almost making him fall out of the
tree.

“Jake, come in,
Jake!” Anna’s voice yelled. “Jake, are you there?”

“Jesus Christ!”
he yelled. He grabbed his radio from around his waist. “What’s up, Sheriff?”

“About a quarter
mile from where you are is a body. I need you to move quickly.” Confusion blew
through his mind.

“How in the hell
do you know where I am?” Jake asked.

“That doesn’t
matter, Jake. Now, unwrap the dog leashes from the tree and get moving. They
know where to go.” Jake shook his head in astonishment.

“Anna, how do
you know where we are?” He looked around at Tim and George to see if they
understood what was happening. They shrugged.

“For Christ
sake, Jake. Move!” Anna shouted through the radio. Her urgency was clear. Jake
climbed down and jumped from the bottom branch to the ground. He did as he was
told and they followed the dogs to the body that Anna had told them about.

It didn’t take
long for them to reach Sheriff Kelly. When they did, the dogs sat quietly while
the officers gawked at their former mentor. The eerie glow of the flashlights
seemed to amplify the horror of the decaying corpse.

“It looks like
he was hunting,” Tim observed.

“I’m sure of
it,” Jake said. “I’ve hunted with him before, and we always came out this way.
I know these woods like the back of my hands. Jesus Christ.”

“At least he
died doing what he loved,” George said.

“I don’t think
he died of a heart attack, Einstein,” Tim said.

“I’m gonna kill
whatever asshole did this,” Jake said between clenched teeth.

“Stand in line,”
Tim said.

As they argued
about who would kill the killer, the dogs began growling again.

“What is it
guys?” Jake asked. They began barking hysterically and started running in the
direction from where they had come.

“We can’t leave
him here like this!” George cried.

“It’s not like
he’s going anywhere,” Tim said. “Looks like he’s been here for a week at
least.”

The three of
them followed the dogs. After about three minutes, the dogs quickly changed
direction. They ran back toward the body of Sheriff Kelly.

“What the hell
is going on?” Jake asked. After another few minutes they arrived back at where
the body had been.

“Shit!” Tim
yelled.

“Are you sure
this is where we just were?” George asked. He shined his flashlight all around
them. Jake slapped the flashlight to make him stop.

“No doubt. That
tree there is marked with orange for hunters. And see over there? That
squirrel’s nest? Yep.”

“What?” George
asked, confused.

“We were just
here dumbass!” Jake yelled.

“Then where the
hell is Sheriff Kelly’s body?” Tim screamed. The dogs suddenly began whining
loudly and laid down on the ground.

“I’ve got a
really, really bad feeling about this,” George whispered as the three of them
moved closer together, weapons drawn.

“Look,” Jake
said as he pointed to where the body had been.

“Oh, Christ,”
Tim whispered. “Someone dragged him away. But how?”

“Shut up!” Jake
growled. “Listen.”

“What?” George
said, breathing heavily. “I don’t hear anything.”

“That’s because
you’re talking, shithead,” Jake said. “Now shut the hell up.”

As they strained
to listen, they heard the sound of breaking limbs. Jake looked up just in time
to see a dark shadow falling toward them.

“Look out!” Jake
yelled as he tackled Tim and George. The body of Sheriff Kelly landed where
they had been standing, a rope wrapped around his feet.

“We weren’t gone
but maybe three minutes,” Tim said in confusion. “And something got the dog’s
attention over there. But while we were running, someone else came up behind us
and did this? They climbed a tree, with this dead fat man in tow? And all of
this in the dark?” Tim stopped himself from talking any further. It made no
sense.

“It had to be
more than one person,” Jake said, scanning all directions, his gun still
pointing toward the trees. “There have to be at least three or four.”

“But the dogs
are just sitting there,” Tim said. “They’re not doing anything. And what was
with them being freaked out? People don’t scare these dogs. I ought to know. I
trained them. And how are these people moving around so quickly in darkness?”