Reserved For Murder

by Kevin Hopkins

  ‘Before we get too deep in the woods, I’m just going to give Barry a call—see if he’s found out anything. We’ll probably lose the cell signal soon,’ Grant said, pulling out his phone. ‘Looks like he already tried calling. Guess I didn’t have the volume turned up.’ He dialed into his voice mail and listened to the message Barry had left. ‘So, Barry called all the numbers Sarah gave him. No one saw Sammy after he left the feast. Barry also said he called your mom. Sammy hasn’t come home, yet.’

  ‘Sarah, why don’t you take Detective Penner to the pond—check around that area,’ the Chief said. ‘The three of us will keep searching in this area. Try to figure out where the bike went. No point in all of us following the bike without even knowing if it was Sammy who rode through here. Like following deer tracks when you’re hunting a moose.’

  ‘Okay. Come on, Sue. It’s this way,’ Sarah said, grabbing Penner by the arm.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ‘Sarah, can you think of any reason why Sammy wouldn’t have come home last night?’ Penner asked as she and Sarah walked along the path, scanning the scrub on each side for any signs of Sammy.

  ‘Only thing I can think is that he fell asleep fishing or he fell off his bike and got hurt,’ Sarah said.

  ‘Does he have a cell phone? I assume you tried calling him if he does.’

  ‘Yeah, he does, but it went right to voice mail. Service out here isn’t the best, if you haven’t noticed,’ Sarah said, taking out her cell phone. ‘See, no service.’

  ‘So, he wasn’t too upset about Jonny?’ Penner asked as they continued along the path. The morning humidity was starting to creep in.

  ‘Don’t think so,’ Sarah said. ‘If he was, he didn’t mention anything. Like I told City Boy, death’s natural. We all die, so there’s no point in getting too upset about it. When we die, we’re greeted by our ancestors and our second life begins. Why would you get upset about that? That’s what my mom always taught us, anyway.’

  ‘That’s a good way of looking at things,’ Penner said.

  ‘That it is,’ Sarah said in agreement. ‘Come on, the pond’s just up around the bend,’ she said, running up ahead of Penner.

  ‘Wow, it’s a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be,’ Penner exclaimed. The trees opened up to reveal an expanse of water, surrounded by bulrushes and cattails. She could see a small beaver lodge on the far side. ‘When you said it was a pond, I was thinking the type of pond someone has in their backyard with koi fish in it. This is like a small lake.’

  ‘We’ve always just called it the pond,’ Sarah said. ‘Maybe it is a lake. Don’t know really.’

  ‘So, if Sammy was here fishing, where would he usually set up?’

  ‘Usually over there, by those rocks,’ Sarah said, pointing to the other side of the pond. ‘Watch your step, lots of snakes and snappers around.’

  ‘Snappers?’ Penner asked, looking with dismay at the tall grass surrounding the water’s edge. ‘What are snappers?’

  ‘Snapping turtles. They’ll probably get out of the way before you even see them. They feel the vibrations through the ground when you walk. But still, keep your eyes out for them.’

  ‘And these snakes, are they poisonous?’ Penner asked.

  ‘Nah, no poisonous snakes around.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ Penner said, feeling a bit better.

  ‘Snakes are venomous, not poisonous,’ Sarah said with a laugh. ‘But don’t worry, no venomous ones here either. Used to be a venomous rattle snake in this part of Ontario, but no one’s seen one for years.’

  ‘Just because no one’s seen one doesn’t mean they aren’t here though, right?’

  ‘I guess. Come on! We’ve gotta find my brother,’ Sarah said, picking her way carefully around the pond. ‘Just stay behind me. My footsteps should scare anything in front of us out of the way.’

  ‘Just don’t scare them backwards and I’ll be just fine.’

  ‘You’re just like City Boy,’ Sarah said. ‘Don’t worry—I’ll protect you.’

  ‘Saying I’m like Grant is okay. As long as you don’t compare me to Millar.’

  ‘He seems nice enough.’

  ‘He is,’ Penner said. ‘I just like razzin’ him.’

  ‘I feel the same way about City Boy,’ Sarah said as they got to the rocks. ‘Pretty easy to get under his skin.’

  ‘Same as Millar. Alright, let’s have a look around.’ There was no obvious sign of Sammy—neither he nor his bike was there.

  ‘There’s some broken fishing line here,’ Sarah said, picking up a handful of clear fishing line that looked like a bird’s nest. ‘Whoever was fishing here had one heck of a snarl with their line.’

  ‘Could it have been Sammy? Or is he too experienced for something like that to have happened?’ Penner asked. ‘I’ve never fished so I really don’t know. I know you put your line in the water and hope a fish hops on your hook, but that’s about it.’

  ‘Hops on your hook?’ Sarah said. ‘You are like City Boy. That’s something I’d expect him to say. Could have been Sammy. Stuff like this can happen to the best of fishermen.’ She bent over again. ‘Probably not Sammy, though. There’s another wooden match here. Sammy doesn’t smoke,’ she said, picking up the match.

  ‘You sure he doesn’t come out here to sneak smokes?’

  ‘No way. He knows mom would whoop his ass if she ever caught him.’

  ‘Pretty good deterrent?’

  ‘Let’s just say mom has a favourite wooden spoon,’ Sarah said. ‘She’s never used it, but boy, the threat has been there many a time.’

  ‘Sounds like my mom,’ said Penner. ‘Sometimes the threat is much more powerful than the action. Hey, check this out,’ she said, pointing to an area behind the rocks. ‘Doesn’t this look like the same bike tread we were following earlier?’

  ‘It does,’ Sarah said, looking at the marks left in the dirt. ‘Looks like it goes off around the pond the other way. Think we should see where it goes?’

  ‘Might as well. Sammy’s not here,’ Penner said. ‘You lead the way. Make sure you walk with a heavy foot—scare off all those snakes and turtles.’

  ‘Will do, City Girl,’ Sarah said with a laugh.

  ‘And here I was thinking we were hitting it off,’ Penner said, shaking her head.

  ***

  ‘I’ve lost the trail,’ Sarah said after ten minutes of following the tracks through the trees. The trail had started out being rather easy to follow—the trees weren’t as dense here as earlier so there were fewer leaves on the ground. But, as the trail continued, the forest started to close in around them, making it difficult to see the path, never mind to follow the bike tire tracks. ‘I think it heads over in this direction, but I really can’t tell.’

  ‘Well, it definitely got to this point, so it could’ve only gone one of two ways,’ Penner said. ‘It could have continued down the path we’re on, or it could have veered off to the right, away from the water.’

  ‘Makes sense,’ Sarah said. ‘Doubt anyone would have ridden into the water. Okay. You stay on the path—I’ll see if I can see anything in the woods. I’ll meet up with you in five minutes or so if I don’t find any more tracks.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ Penner said. ‘Be careful. Call out if you find anything—I should be in earshot.’

  Sarah turned off of the path, into the trees. Penner listened for a minute, the crunch of leaves getting quieter. ‘Let’s see if I can pick up the trail again,’ she said to herself, starting to walk along the path, stomping her feet harder than before. Every ten steps she stopped, bending down, looking at the path in front of her. Truth be told, she hadn’t seen any sign of the bike tracks in quite some time—she had just been following Sarah as they went. She started walking again, scanning the path in front of her, not seeing anything but leaves. A loud cracking sound ahead made her stop dead in her tracks. Standing frozen, her mind raced, trying to figure out what would have made the noise. It sounded like a branch breaking
, probably being stepped on—she had heard similar sounds as Sarah walked on sticks in front of her. But Sarah should be off to her right, and this sound came from in front of her. She turned her head so her ear faced the direction she thought the sound came from, hoping to hear something that would help identify what made the sound, but all she could hear was the pounding of her pulse. There was another crack, and rustling of leaves. ‘Whatever that is, it sounds big,’ she thought, wishing she had her gun. She tried to think of her time at summer camp. Are you supposed to play dead if you see a bear? Talk to it? Run? ‘Running’s probably not right,’ she said out loud. She slowly started backing up the path in the direction she had come, away from whatever was coming through the woods. It was getting closer. ‘Maybe it’s just a deer,’ she thought, trying to calm her nerves. It wasn’t working—her mind just kept envisioning a bear coming out of the woods, looking for an easy meal. ‘Bears don’t like people, do they?’ she said, still backing up, nearly losing her footing. ‘Back off, bear!’ she yelled. The sound kept getting closer. ‘Go away!’ She screamed.

  ‘I thought we were friends,’ the Chief said as he stepped out of the woods.

  ‘Chief! You scared the crap out of me.’

  ‘I can tell. Sorry about that, I didn’t realize we were so close to you guys,’ the Chief said as Millar and Grant came out of the trees. Millar had a big smile on his face.

  ‘Real funny, Millar. Jerk,’ Penner said, not sure if she was more annoyed or relieved. ‘I guess you didn’t find anything?’

  ‘Not really,’ the Chief said. ‘The tracks seemed to lead here. You?’

  ‘No. We found some tracks back down the trail a bit. They started at the edge of the pond where Sammy usually fished, but we lost them just back there,’ Penner said, pointing to where Sarah had lost the tracks. ‘Sarah went into the trees to see if she could find them again, and I was looking out here.’

  ‘Before you started cowering?’ Millar said.

  ‘Okay, tough guy. I’d like to see you out here by yourself, instead of with Grant and the Chief,’ Penner said. ‘You wouldn’t last five minutes.

  ‘Maybe not but…’ Millar said, a scream stopping him mid-sentence. ‘Was that Sarah?’

  ‘Must have been,’ Penner said. ‘Let’s go.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  ‘Sarah! Where are you?’ Penner called out as they ran into the heavy undergrowth, ducking under low hanging limbs and trying to keep their footing on the uneven ground.

  ‘Over here,’ Sarah yelled back. ‘I found him. Hurry!’

  ‘It sounds like she’s over this way,’ Penner said, turning towards the direction she thought the cries were coming from. ‘Yell again so we can find you!’ she shouted, trying to keep her breath as she ran.

  ‘I’m here!’ Sarah called back. ‘I think you’re getting close—I can hear you running.’

  ‘Look, there’s a bike,’ Grant said, passing Penner and pointing to his left. Laying in the brush was an older mountain bike. ‘Sarah!’

  ‘There she is,’ Penner said, seeing Sarah crouched down beneath a large maple tree. As she got closer she could see Sammy lying facedown on the ground. A rope was around his neck, tied to a large branch that lay on top of his back.

  ‘I think he’s still breathing, but not much,’ Sarah said, fumbling with the rope around her brother’s throat.

  ‘He is?’ Chief Ravenclaw asked.

  Grant immediately crouched down next to Sarah and took a pocket knife out of his back pocket. Opening up the largest blade, he began sawing at the rope, trying to relieve the pressure on Sammy’s throat. He could see Sammy’s lips were blue. ‘Get the branch off him,’ he said as Millar and Penner got to his side. ‘I’m almost through.’

  Millar grabbed the branch and pulled it off Sammy’s back, as Grant cut the final strand of rope. ‘Don’t move him yet—he may have broken his back or neck when he fell. It’s a pretty heavy branch that fell on him.’

  ‘Sarah,’ said Penner. Sarah seemed oblivious to her voice. ‘Sarah, I need you to listen to me,’ she said, grabbing Sarah by the shoulders. Sarah stood up, almost in a daze. ‘I need you to run to the edge of the woods or until you get a signal on your phone. You can run faster than us and you know your way back better than us. Call 911 and get an ambulance out here as soon as possible. Once you’ve done that, call your mom and Barry, let them know we’ve found Sammy. Have you got that?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Sarah said, staring down at Sammy. ‘Is he going to be okay?’

  ‘We’re going to do everything we can, but I need you to go and call the ambulance, alright? If we can, we’re going to get Sammy to the edge of the woods. Once you’ve told Barry and your mom, stay there and wait for the ambulance. If we’re not there, you’re going to need to bring the paramedics to us. Alright?’

  ‘Alright. Please, take care of him,’ Sarah said, looking up at Penner.

  ‘We will,’ Penner said, giving Sarah a kiss on the forehead. ‘Go.’

  Sarah seemed to gather her wits about her and she took off running through the trees, leaping over any roots in her way.

  ‘How’s he looking?’ the Chief asked, leaning over Grant’s back.

  ‘He’s breathing, but he’s not conscious,’ Grant said, looking over his shoulder. He was holding Sammy’s head steady, a hand on either side of his face. ‘Penner, I need you to hold his head. I want to check his back and see if it’s broken.’

  Penner knelt down beside Grant. ‘What do I do?’ she asked.

  ‘Put your right hand over top of mine,’ he said. ‘I’m going to slowly pull my hand out from under yours. I want you to keep some pressure—we don’t want his head to move. Okay, ready?’

  ‘Ready,’ Penner said, her hand pressed against Grant’s. Grant slowly pulled his hand out from against Sammy’s face. ‘Good,’ he said as his hand was completely out. ‘Now, same thing with the left. Once you have hold of his head, try not to move it. If his neck or back are broken, things can get much worse with even the slightest movement.’

  ‘Great, no pressure,’ Penner said. ‘Okay, when you’re ready.’ Grant slowly pulled his left hand out, leaving all the weight in Penner’s hands.

  ‘Perfect,’ Grant said, standing up and moving behind Sammy. ‘I’m just going to gently feel around. Watch his face, see if he reacts at all. Even though he isn’t conscious, he may react to pain.’ Penner got even lower and tilted her head sideways so that she could watch Sammy’s face.

  ‘Anything we can do?’ Millar asked, standing with the Chief and helplessly watching what was going on.

  ‘Yeah. We’re going to need to find a way to get him out of here, if he’s okay to move. Take the rope and see if you can find some tall, but thin trees, or something that we can make a stretcher out of. Couple inches thick and about six feet long. A bit shorter’s okay, but we want his entire body on it.’

  ‘Gotcha,’ the Chief said. He turned to Millar. ‘Look for stuff laying on the ground. It’d be too hard to break a live tree that size with our bare hands. But we don’t want anything too old or brittle.’

  ‘How do you know if it’s too old?’ Millar asked, scouring the forest floor around the area.

  ‘Pick it up and lean on it,’ the Chief said. ‘If it cracks or breaks, it’s too old. But try not to put all of your weight on it,’ he quickly added. ‘If you do and it breaks, you’ll end up on your face and I don’t want to carry two people out of here.’

  ‘You still alright holding him?’ Grant asked Penner as he felt down the length of Sammy’s back, feeling for any abnormalities.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Penner said. ‘Bit of an awkward angle but not too bad. So far his expression hasn’t changed, so I guess he’s not noticing what you’re doing.’

  ‘That could be good or bad,’ Grant said. ‘He either has no pain, or no feeling. I’m not feeling anything out of the ordinary, so that’s a good thing, at least. I’m going to feel around his neck now. I’ll try not to move your hands.’ Grant moved Samm
y’s hair out of the way from his neck, revealing a streak of blood. ‘Looks like he was cut pretty good when the branch fell on him. We’ll have to wrap this before we move him. I’m not feeling anything broken, so I think we should be able to roll him onto his back. Millar? Chief? Can you give us a hand?’

  Millar arrived carrying a long, gnarly looking branch that was barely an inch and a half thick and not remotely straight. The Chief had found four six-foot long branches that looked like they had been expertly turned on a lathe. ‘What can we do?’ Millar asked, looking at the pieces the Chief dropped next to his.

  ‘Millar, I want you at his feet. Grab hold of his ankles. Chief, come over beside me and put your right hand under his thighs and your left hand under his butt. I’ll be at his back. Penner, you keep your hands on his head. On the count of three, we’re going to roll him so he’s flat on his back. We want to try and keep everything in line, so we’re going to go slow and together, okay? Any questions?’ Grant asked as everyone moved into position. ‘Okay, ready? One. Two. Three.’ Slowly, they rolled Sammy onto his back, trying to make sure his neck, midsection and legs all turned at the same speed, staying in line. ‘Perfect,’ Grant said with obvious relief. ‘Millar, Chief, keep working on the stretcher. We should be able to get him partway out of here before the paramedics show up.’ He grabbed his knife again and pulled off his shirt. He stabbed the knife into his shirt and cut a 3-inch-wide strip off the bottom of it. ‘Help me lift his head a bit,’ he said to Penner. ‘Slowly! Just lift it a little bit. Just enough so we can slide this over his wound.’

  Penner carefully lifted the back of Sammy’s head off of the ground, allowing enough clearance for Grant to slide the makeshift bandage into position. ‘Good, put it back down,’ he said, tying the cloth off across his forehead.

  ‘Think he’s going to be okay?’ Penner asked, looking down at Sammy’s expressionless face.