Reserved For Murder

by Kevin Hopkins

  ‘I hope so,’ Grant said. ‘Hard to tell how long he was hanging before the branch broke. It’s a good sign he was breathing when we got here, and the colour’s returned to his lips. But really only time will tell. If he was without oxygen for even a couple of minutes, he could have suffered irreversible damage. Right now, out best bet is getting him to the hospital. Guys, how’s the stretcher coming?’

  ‘This should be the last piece we’ll need,’ Millar said, bringing another branch over to the Chief, who had started tying them all together. ‘Not to be the bearer of bad news, pun not intended, but I’m pretty sure I saw a bear track just ten feet from here—think we’re okay?’

  ‘Must be old,’ the Chief said, tightening a knot. ‘A bear’s not going to stick around with the noise we’ve been making. Might have been walking around last night, or before we got here this morning. Pass me that last branch, would ya?’

  ‘Here,’ Millar said, choosing the straightest of the leftover branches and handing it to the Chief. ‘Pretty lucky for Sammy if he was laying out here all night with bears wandering around.’

  ‘For the most part, bears don’t approach people in the woods—they don’t like our smell,’ the Chief said, pulling the last of the rope between two of the branches. ‘It does sometimes happen, but not too often. Okay, all done. Now what?’

  ‘Bring it over here and put it right up against his side,’ said Grant. ‘Yeah, that’s good. Alright. Millar, come around beside me. Penner, up by his head again. Millar, we’re going to tilt him towards us, nice and easy. Try to keep everything in line again. Chief, when he’s up enough, slide the stretcher under him, then we’ll lay him back down. Alright, ready. Tilt.’ Again, they slowly turned Sammy so that there was enough clearance between his back and the ground for the Chief to push the makeshift stretcher partway under his back. ‘Okay, put him down, but try to support him a bit, he’s not entirely on yet. Now, this is going to be a bit tricky. We need to pick him up and get him entirely on the stretcher. I think what we’ll do is, Penner—you stay at his head. Chief, can you move over to his feet—see if you can grab around his knees from there.’

  The Chief moved into position and reached out. ‘Shouldn’t be a problem.’

  ‘Perfect. Millar, you scoot up a bit, I want you to have one hand under his butt, the other under his shoulders. I’ll do the same on his other side.’ Grant moved to the other side of Sammy, putting his hands in position. ‘Okay, real slow on this one. Ready? Lift.’ They lifted Sammy in unison, making sure no part of his body moved out of alignment. ‘Put him down,’ Grant said and his body was centred over the stretcher. ‘Great work guys. Is there any more rope left?’

  ‘No. I used it all tying the branches together,’ the Chief said.

  ‘Okay, no problem,’ Grant said. ‘Good thing I didn’t like this shirt,’ he said, starting to cut more strips off of it. He passed one to the Chief. ‘Tie his ankles to the branches. Not too tight—you don’t want to cut off his circulation. Just tight enough to keep him in place.’ He handed one to Millar and kept one himself. ‘Do the same around his waist, I’ll tie one around his chest.’

  After a bit of struggling to get the strips of fabric in the right places, Sammy was secured well enough to his temporary transport. ‘Okay, Chief. Can you grab the stretcher at his feet? I’ll grab up by his head. If you need to put him down, let me know. I want to take it slow walking out—last thing we want to do is drop him. Penner, Millar, walk either side of us to make sure he stays in place. If we need to, we’ll switch out with you. I don’t think he’s too heavy so it shouldn’t be too bad. Alright, ready, Chief?’

  ‘I am,’ the Chief said as he grabbed onto the two longer branches he had tied in as handles. ‘On your count.’

  ‘One. Two. Three.’ Grant and the Chief lifted Sammy into the air, his body staying motionless on the stretcher. ‘Alright, let’s head out. Let me know if we’re wandering off the path. I’m not too sure of the way out.’

  ‘Just head to your left and we should be able to follow the shore of the pond most of the way,’ the Chief said as they started walking. ‘Hopefully we meet the paramedics partway. I’m sure this isn’t the most comfortable for his back.’

  ‘That would be ideal,’ Grant said. ‘They’ll have a proper backboard and stretcher. Mind you, the less we have to manipulate him, the better. If we can get him all the way to the ambulance on this, I think it would be best. I didn’t feel any breaks but even a hairline fracture could be bad if it’s moved the wrong way.’

  They continued to the edge of the pond where the path narrowed, forcing Penner to walk in the tall grass. ‘Um, should we be making more noise?’

  ‘Why?’ Grant asked.

  ‘To scare off the snakes and snapping turtles,’ Penner said, paying more attention to her feet than to Sammy.

  ‘Only turtles around this pond are painted turtles,’ the Chief said. ‘They’re harmless as a dragonfly. Well, except to dragonflies, I guess.’

  ‘Really? I was told to look out for snappers,’ Penner said. ‘You sure?’

  ‘Sure as I can be,’ the Chief said. ‘Whoever told you that was having a bit of a laugh at your expense, I think.’

  ‘She is just like Millar,’ Penner said.

  ‘What? What did I do?’

  ‘Nothing. Just keep walking,’ Penner said. ‘If Sammy’s okay at the end of all this, I’ll get her back.’

  ‘Get who back? Are you actually plotting against a kid?’ Millar asked.

  ‘This doesn’t involve you,’ Penner told him. ‘Do you guys hear sirens?’

  ‘Ambulance must be getting close,’ Grant said, picking up the pace a bit. ‘You doing okay, Chief, or do you need to switch out?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ the Chief said. ‘Let’s just get him there as quickly as we can.’

  As they arrived at the edge of the woods, they saw an ambulance and two paramedics removing a stretcher from inside. A small, curious crowd had started to form nearby. They could see Sarah standing next to her mom, her back to the woods, telling the paramedics to hurry up. Someone in the crowd called out, ‘There they are,’ and Sarah turned around. She ran up to Sammy’s side. ‘Is he okay?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t think he’s any different than when you last saw him. He’s breathing and doesn’t seem to be in any pain, but he hasn’t woken up yet,’ Grant said as the paramedics brought the stretcher to them.

  ‘Put him on here,’ one of the paramedics said. Grant and the Chief gently put their homemade stretcher on top of the stretcher from the ambulance, and then shook out their arms, relieved to be done carrying the weight. The first paramedic put a blood pressure cuff around Sammy’s arm and put his stethoscope to his chest while the other paramedic started strapping Sammy and the branch stretcher down.

  ‘So, what exactly happened? We got a call of a possible hanging?’

  ‘Yeah, he was found unresponsive in the woods,’ Grant said. ‘He was lying on the ground, rope around his neck, with a branch across his back. He has a slight laceration on the back of his head. Other than that, no obvious trauma. He’s been unconscious since we found him.’

  ‘Pulse and B.P. are low,’ the first paramedic said. ‘We should roll.’ They wheeled the stretcher to the back of the ambulance and loaded it in, while the crowd of onlookers tried to see inside.

  ‘Is there room for his mom and sister to ride with you to the hospital?’ the Chief asked as they were locking the stretcher in place. Sooleawa appeared from the crowd and stood beside the Chief. She put a hand on his arm and watched the proceedings with eyes wide with shock.

  ‘Only room for one back here,’ the paramedic said. ‘But whoever it is has to get in now.’

  Chief Ravenclaw stepped forward, out of earshot of the crowd, and spoke quietly to the paramedic, ‘Make sure his clothing is checked thoroughly. There may be a note.’ After a split second, the paramedic nodded in understanding. ‘Mrs. Greycrow, get in.’ The Chief turned around and ushered Sammy’s mom
forward. ‘I’ll bring Sarah back to our place. Sooleawa can make her some soup, and then we’ll come check on him.’

  With the help of two of the men in the crowd, Mrs. Greycrow climbed into the back of the ambulance and sat in a little seat next to Sammy. She wiped the hair off his forehead and started to cry.

  ‘Stay strong, Sammy!’ the Chief called out as the paramedic started to close the door.

  The doors closed and the ambulance pulled away, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

  ‘Are you okay, Sarah?’ Sooleawa asked, giving Sarah a hug.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Sarah said, watching the ambulance leave. ‘I’m not really hungry, though. Can we just go right to the hospital? I think my mom’s going to need me with her.’

  ‘Of course, dear,’ Sooleawa said, looking at the Chief.

  ‘Yeah, no problem,’ he said, looking around the crowd. ‘I just have to talk to a couple of people. Go back home, and get the car ready. I shouldn’t be too long,’ he added, spotting Travis at the back of the crowd, smoking his pipe.

  ‘Okay, but don’t take too long.’ Sooleawa followed his gaze and noticed Travis raising a hand in greeting at the Chief. ‘Ten minutes and we’re leaving without you,’ she said, taking Sarah by the hand.

  ‘I’ll be quick,’ the Chief said as his wife and Sarah walked away. Turning, he faced Penner, Millar and Grant. ‘Good work out there, officers. I hope we got to him in time. Now, if you’ll excuse me,’ he said, pivoting away to walk towards Travis.

  ‘Chief?’ Penner said. The Chief stopped and turned to look back at her. ‘Why’d you tell the paramedics to look for a note?’

  ‘Pardon?’ the Chief said.

  ‘We already have one murder disguised as a suicide. It’s not unreasonable to think this might be a second. But you specifically told them to look for a note—like you already knew one would be there for them to find,’ Penner said, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

  ‘Did I?’ the Chief said. ‘Honestly, I was just thinking how Jonny had a note in his back pocket. I don’t know. I guess it’s still easier for me to think that we might have a couple of depressed kids on our hands than a murderer. Sorry, I have to go. Thanks again.’

  Penner watched the Chief as he walked off towards Travis.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Grant asked, walking up to her side.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she said, still watching the Chief. She couldn’t tell, but it seemed like he started yelling at Travis as the two walked towards the band office. ‘Something doesn’t sit right with this. I don’t know what it is, but something’s off. Hey, Millar! How thick was that branch across Sammy’s back?’

  ‘What? I don’t know. Six, seven inches maybe? Big enough. Why?’ Millar said.

  ‘If it was that thick, how’d it break?’ Penner said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Millar asked. ‘I assume it broke because of Sammy’s weight.’

  ‘But when you and the Chief were looking for branches for the stretcher, didn’t he say it would be hard to break a tree that was just a couple inches thick?’ Penner said. ‘If you couldn’t break a tree that was two inches thick, why would a branch that was three times that size break from the weight of a hundred-pound kid?’

  ‘Maybe the branch was rotten?’ Grant suggested. ‘Did the tree seem dead?’

  ‘I wasn’t looking that closely at the tree or the branch, to be honest with you,’ Millar said. ‘What? Are you thinking this was all staged?’

  ‘I really don’t know,’ Penner said. ‘But I do think we should go back and have a look at that tree.’

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ‘Well, the tree looks pretty healthy to me,’ Grant said looking up at the tree where Sarah had found Sammy. ‘Lots of leaves—branches don’t look dead. Does the break look right to you?’ he asked, looking where the branch had broken. He took out his phone and took a photo of the break.

  ‘Now that you mention it, something about it doesn’t look quite right,’ Millar said looking up. ‘Top two thirds of the break looks way too uniform. The bottom third is kind of splintered, but the top almost looks like it’s been sawn.’

  ‘Where’s the branch?’ Grant asked. Looking around, he saw where Millar had moved the branch earlier. ‘That’s a big branch. No way I’d be able to break this, even if I was hanging off of it, and I’m a lot heavier than Sammy. Look how thick it is.’

  ‘That’s almost seven inches across,’ Penner said. She looked at the end that was connected to the tree. ‘That break really looks too clean. I know I haven’t seen a lot of broken tree limbs, but I don’t think they would break like this. Take a picture of this, too,’ she said to Grant.

  ‘One way to find out,’ Millar said. He looked around some of the nearby trees, checking out the low hanging limbs. He found one where the branches were only a few inches thick and around six feet from the ground. He reached up and grabbed onto one of the branches. ‘Here goes,’ he said, lifting his feet of the ground. There was a large cracking sound as the branch broke and Millar landed on his feet.

  ‘The break definitely looks different,’ Grant said, examining where the branch was still attached to the tree by a small strip of bark. ‘So, it looks like it broke at the top, then kind of peeled back along the branch. It’s not a straight up and down break like Sammy’s branch.’

  ‘Hey, check this out,’ Penner said, kneeling down by the original tree. ‘Is this sawdust?’

  Millar bent down, looking at a small area of dirt covered with wood dust. ‘Now, that’s weird,’ he said. He moved over to the tree he had just broken and examined the ground under the branch. ‘Nothing like that here.’ He looked around at the trees in the immediate area as Grant took more pictures as possible evidence. ‘Let’s have a look around—see if there are any trees that have had branches cut with a saw. Maybe someone was out here looking for firewood, and for whatever reason, they started cutting that branch and left before they were all the way through.’

  They wandered around for several minutes, checking out the trees in the area. ‘None seem to have been cut, either partially or all the way through,’ Grant said. ‘So, either Sammy just happened to choose the only branch in the area that had been mysteriously sawn or…’

  ‘Or this was staged,’ Penner said.

  ‘So, what are we thinking?’ Grant asked.

  ‘Well, maybe someone lured Sammy out here, bashed him on the head, knocking him down to the ground. Once he was down, they tied the rope around his neck, laid the branch over his back and that was that,’ Penner said. ‘They figured he was dead and left.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll buy it. But why try to kill him and make it look like a suicide?’ Millar said.

  ‘My guess is, the same reason they killed Jonny. Publicity. Using a local tragedy to get national attention for the poor conditions here.’

  ‘But, if that’s the case, why cut the branch first?’ Grant said. ‘Why not actually hang him like they did with Jonny? That would make it more believable, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘What if there were two of them the first time? I think we can agree that a single person wouldn’t have been able to get Jonny up in the tree after strangling him,’ Penner said.

  ‘I’d say that’s a fair assumption,’ agreed Grant. ‘When I helped get him out of the tree, it was shocking how heavy he was.’

  ‘So maybe, for whatever reason, there was only one person who attacked Sammy last night,’ Penner said.

  ‘Pretty much everyone from the reserve was at the feast last night,’ Millar said. ‘So maybe we are looking for someone from one of the neighbouring communities.’

  ‘Hopefully Sammy pulls through and he can fill in some of the blanks, because, if not, I really don’t know what else we have to go on,’ Grant said, walking around the tree with the cut branch. ‘You smell something?’ he asked, looking around. ‘Oh, great,’ he said, looking at the bottom of his shoe. ‘I stepped in crap.’ He started rubbing his shoe on the ground, trying to clean off the sole.

 
; ‘Bear?’ Millar asked, looking around, worried. ‘Remember I found a print just over there when I was gathering branches.

  ‘No, too small for bear,’ Grant said, looking down. ‘And it’s not just a pile like bear scat. It looks like dog crap. Look at this,’ he said, reaching down.

  ‘Eww, are you picking it up?’ Penner said. ‘That’s gross.’

  ‘No, this,’ Grant said, holding up a wooden match after photographing it. ‘This is the second match I’ve found today out here.’

  ‘Sarah and I found one when we were over by the pond, too,’ Penner said. ‘Coincidence?’

  ‘Maybe. But I’d say it’s one of the best clues we’ve got right now,’ Grant said, picking up a stick and trying to dig out the feces from the tread on his shoe. He suddenly stopped. ‘You don’t think. Nah, couldn’t be.’

  ‘Think what?’ Penner said. ‘You really need to finish your thoughts if you want us to follow along.’

  ‘Well, the wooden matches and dog crap,’ said Grant. ‘You think Travis could have had something to do with this?’

  ‘Travis, the band manager?’ Penner asked, surprised. ‘Why would he try to kill kids from the reserve?’

  ‘Well, what if he’s trying to garner attention for the water problems here,’ Grant said. ‘He has said that he finds it frustrating that he can’t get any assistance from the government. The note found on Jonny mentioned the water. Plus, when Travis lights his pipe, he always uses wooden matches. And he has that dog. Maybe he followed Sammy out to the pond, then told him Chewie had gotten loose. Sammy went with him, helping him look for the dog. Once they got around the tree, he whacked him on the head and made it look like an attempted suicide.’

  ‘You really think he would do something like that?’ asked Penner. ‘He seems so nice.’

  ‘He does. Well, he is. But…’ Grant stopped, starting to doubt himself. ‘It doesn’t make any sense, does it?’

  ‘Right now, we really don’t have anything else to go on,’ Millar said. ‘Is there any way to compare the matches? Can we tell if they’re the same brand as he uses or anything?’