The Canyon Creek Murders

*Chapter 8*

"Wait, there's a what?" Sam looked up from the map, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. His gaze now being drawn to the area Barry was pointing to. And then he saw it. He couldn't be sure about the plastic bag of course but there sitting against the base of a tree trunk was a parcel that had been heavily taped up and then wrapped with several zip ties.

"Oh wow. Yes, I see it. Yes, we definitely need to check that out," Sam responded in amazement. "Before we do anything, though, we need to mark this off on the map. We need to keep a record of where these things are being discovered. You can never have too much information you know. Besides, there might be some sort of reason or pattern as to how and where they are being dumped," Sam added, gathering his composure once more.

“Got it,” Barry said as he nodded his approvement, deeply impressed by the quick response. The comments once again confirming his admiration for Sam. He hadn't thought of that and the 'can't have too much information' line would be something he would take to heart.

"Well, if I'm reading this right," Sam went on, running his finger across the map, "there should be a road right here," he concluded with a slight frown.

"Hm, there is a fairly steep cliff face behind you. About 60 feet up looks like a ledge. That could possibly be a roadside?" Barry suggested. Sam took his cell phone out of his pocket and used the camera on it to zoom in on the area and get a closer look at it.

"Actually, yes that looks like crash barriers around the edge so yeah I think you might be right. Well spotted, good work!" The compliment had come at the perfect time for Barry and gave him a big motivational lift. "Ok, let’s see if we can climb down and get a closer look at that package then, shall we?" Sam added after making the necessary notes to record their location.

The climb itself proved to be a little more challenging than either of them had anticipated. It was steeper than it looked and surprisingly slippery. Despite losing their footing on a couple of occasions they both made it unscathed and began to examine the parcel they had found.

"I'm no wildlife expert but the damage on here doesn't look like any claw marks or teeth marks I've ever seen," Sam began. Both men turned back to look towards the cliff face once more. "This has been thrown here from that road," Sam continued. "And these are the scuffs and scratches it has picked up while rolling and bouncing its way down here."

"Yep, I'd have to agree with that," Barry responded, his eyes still scanning the cliff in front of them.

"Apart from that, this is in very good condition," Sam spoke up again. "This is fresh and has been put here recently." Barry nodded his agreement without uttering a word this time. "And I also think," Sam added, "that whoever did put this here doesn't know the area as well as they like to think they do."

"What makes you say that?" Barry asked after contemplating that one for a moment.

"Why would someone go to this much trouble wrapping and disguising the package if they wanted it to be discovered?" Barry looked on waiting for a follow-up to that. "And if they didn't want it to be discovered why discard it in such close proximity to a balloon company where people are going to be traveling to and from all the time."

"And possibly even fly over it," Barry added beginning to understand Sam's train of thought.

"Unless, of course, they didn't know it was there," Sam concluded.

"Yep, I get you," Barry responded starting to smile. "So potentially then we could be looking for someone possibly from out of town traveling in by road dumping the body parts and then disappearing again?" Barry asked as he put all the pieces together.

"Exactly," Sam told him beaming from ear to ear. "This is good, really good. First day on the case and we're getting clues already. It's not often you get that! No matter how small the clues may be. Trust me, this is a great start. As long as it is what we think it is of course. It could be something completely innocent but for now, we need to assume that this is another part of the jigsaw."

"The coincidences would be pretty remarkable," Barry agreed.

"Indeed," Sam nodded. "Now let's get that bagged up so we can get it back to the station for further investigation and get back on track for what we were originally looking for shall we?" Barry carefully placed their recent discovery in the equipment bag they were carrying between them and then followed Sam back up over the canyon face towards the spot they were standing in a few moments ago.

After another two hours of hiking, Sam’s stomach was really grumbling at him, and he was beginning to feel the strain of the day's outing. His feet were also hurting him. Although after a brief chat with Barry. who was also in some discomfort with his feet, it was all chalked down to the stiffness of their new boots. They had, however, reached the area in which the severed hand had been spotted. Unfortunately, after spending another hour combing and searching the area, nothing had been found.

"You know it's highly possible that it's been moved," Sam began, almost looking for an excuse to head home again. "Something must have got at it to have unwrapped it and exposed it the way that it was. Maybe whatever did that has returned and moved it or even eaten it perhaps. I don't know what sort of wildlife there is around here. I think we need to chat with Harrison and Luke to see what we could be dealing with here."

"Yeah, quite possibly," Barry agreed. "Everything we have here suggests that we're in the right place," Barry added. "This printed trail still is a dead ringer for this very spot. The distance from the rock to the tree and everything around it is bang-on. I'm pretty sure it WAS here just not anymore." There was a tone of disappointment and defeat in his voice but secretly he could feel the lactic acid building up in his legs and he also found himself longing to return back to base.

"OK let’s give the Sheriff a call then and let him know we're on our way back," Sam responded. "It's not as if it's been a total loss is it," he smiled aiming an excited glance at the equipment bag containing their earlier find.