by RB Schalin
Chapter 36
"Do you see anything?" asks Hawk.
Holmes is standing on his shoulders, looking through one of the windows on the side of the cabin. The window is set unusually high on the wall and the only way to look inside was her standing on his shoulders.
"Nothing interesting, just a living room, with a sofa, chairs and a TV. There is a kitchen to the left and two bedrooms ahead."
He lowers her and they walk together around the cabin and behind it they find the shed. The door is locked and there is no window, so they can't see what is inside.
On the other side of the cabin there are two more windows and when Holmes has a look inside she confirms that they are bedrooms.
Back at the porch, they sit down in the two chairs and Hawk puts his feet up on the table.
"So, what have we learned?" he asks.
"Nothing, Kerry is a family man who likes his privacy. Having the trail in two parts is good for home security, less chance of someone finding it and breaking in."
Hawk nods his head, "I guess he is not the killer."
She sighs and says, "we have no evidence that says he isn't."
"And nothing that says he is. Let's go back to the station and think this through."
They begin their walk along the trail back to where they parked the car. Kerry watches them make their way through the undergrowth and smiles as they disappear behind the trees. He stands up from behind the tree he was lying behind and follows them on a parallel line, but fifty yards above. He had parked the Quad and hid it from view and then he ran up the hill and waited.
Hawk and Holmes reach the car and when they drive towards the road on the trail, Kerry walks down and backtracks until he reaches the hidden Quad. He then drives back to the cabin and makes sure the policeman and the woman hasn't been inside. When he is sure he goes inside and after a while appears with a bag in his hand. He has taken his clothes off and stands naked in the sunlight.
After returning the Quad behind the cabin he takes off into the woods with his sloping gate, the bag is thrown over his shoulder and soon he disappears among the shadows.