The Canyon Creek Murders

*Chapter 2*

The captain opened the file and began to address the two men sitting in front of him. "We're looking at sending you guys down to the southwest part of the country. Some dismembered body parts have been discovered in a canyon down there. Now, although the canyon itself is rather large, the body parts have been discovered by and have fallen under the jurisdiction of a small town on its outskirts named Canyon Creek. And believe me when I say small, I mean small," he emphasized. "Law enforcement wise, they have a sheriff and a deputy and that's about it. Certainly, full-time-wise anyway.

“They feel they do not have the expertise or the experience to tackle such a case and even if they did, they certainly don't have the resources to do so anyway. To even think about taking this on would bring any other policing matters they may encounter to a grinding halt. So, as a result, they have put out a call for help.”

Sam broke out in a quiet little chuckle causing the captain to pause his briefing. "That's a very good start," Sam chirped up, trying to explain the reason for his apparent amusement. "At least we won't have to battle angry and unwelcoming locals this time!"

"Ah yes, I heard about that. Most unfortunate," the captain replied. "But yes, on this occasion they should be happy to see you arrive."

Barry looked on without saying anything. He didn't get the reference but accepted that he didn't need to. If it was important, someone would have explained it. Besides, mentally at least, he was still pinching himself at being involved in such a briefing.

"Don't worry Barry, I'm sure you guys will have plenty of time to catch up on things like that on the journey down to the southwest," the captain told him. "But for now, let's crack on with what we have, shall we? Right, up until now, or at least until this file was produced anyway, there had been three body parts discovered. So, the chances are there are plenty more out there somewhere just waiting to be found.

“These three parts have been sent away to the state capital for forensic analysis and they have confirmed that all three of these, are in fact, from separate victims. All of these parts were found in varying conditions for several reasons I expect. Length of time they had been left for. Weather conditions. And of course, local wildlife will all affect how they were discovered.” He paused, glancing up at both Sam and Barry, who both nodded.

“All of that would make sense, Captain,” Sam told him, and the captain nodded.

“But they fully believe that each of them had been dumped in the same way. One of the packages containing a foot, I believe, was still in relatively good condition. The foot had been placed inside a plastic bag which was in turn wrapped in sticky tape and then tied with zip ties. So, looking at all of this combined it appears that once more we could be looking for a serial offender.

“As for whom these parts belong to, that has yet to be determined, unfortunately. Everyone knows everybody else in places like this and nobody has been reported missing, so the chances are whoever they are or were maybe not local to the area. Everybody clear so far?" His question was put to both of them, but his attention was firmly fixed on Barry's response. He wasn't expecting any problems from Sam at all, he had done this many times over. But this was a first for young Barry. He knew he had helped both Sam and Hank on previous occasions, but this would be the first time he had been directly involved himself.

Encouragingly, Barry appeared at least to be calm and collected. His nod and facial expression suggested that he had taken in everything and understood everything that had been discussed so far. “Got it, sir.”

“Good that’s the case details covered or what we know of them so far. Which brings us to accommodation arrangements," the captain continued. "This one might be a little trickier. As we've already mentioned, Canyon Creek is a tiny little place and as such it doesn't actually have any hotels or such. I have looked into maybe renting an R.V," the captain paused and looked up before continuing with this suggestion to see Sam already screwing his nose up. "Hmmm yeah, I wasn't sure that one would be greatly received," he added.

"Sorry," Sam replied, "but no, it's just too far. I mean that would take us several days just to get there, especially in one of them. And even then, it's such a confined space we'd be falling over each other. As an adult, I've only ever lived on my own so I think it could put too much of a strain on any possible friendship or working relationship we may have."

"Fair point. Ok, so let's rule that one out then," the captain conceded. "I'm told the local sheriff does have a spare room at his place in which he would be happy to put one of you up in. Other than that, the only other option I've found so far is a small trailer park about a thirty-minute drive away from the canyon itself. Sounds strange to me but they're gearing up for the tourist season there, apparently, so most of them are booked up with hikers and kayakers exploring the canyon. But I'm told the park is owned and run by one of the Canyon Creek locals so we should be able to squeeze one of you in there.

"That sounds promising," Sam chirped up. "The thirty-minute drive wouldn't be a problem; it takes me about that to get here every morning so that would be normal in a way. Just a change of scenery," he smiled.

"Sounds good to me," Barry added. "I'd be happy with either, to be honest."

Sam nodded before following up. "Great I'd very much prefer the trailer if that's, ok?"

"Fine by me," Barry told him. "Who knows, maybe I can pick the sheriff’s brains in the evenings and see if I can get a few tips from him too."

"Fantastic! I love your thinking there," the captain beamed. "So, it looks like we're all done for now then. Great meeting guys, well done. Now, Barry, I know you're excited and I know you want that promotion but please give this some serious thought before you finally say yes, ok? You could be away for some time so make sure you and your partner Katie, is it, are both clear and happy on this."

"Will do sir. But becoming a detective has been my dream for as long as I can remember and she knows this. I'm sure she will be happy for the opportunity," Barry told him.

"Good. Detective Johnson, are you happy with everything?"

"Yep absolutely. Get that trailer sorted and I'm in," he responded.