Discovered

Home > Other > Discovered > Page 4
Discovered Page 4

by Chant, Daniel Marc


  “Couldn’t it have been eating this guy?” the chief asked. “I mean, that’d account for the missing chunks of flesh.”

  “Normally I’d say yes,” Devon admitted, “But the wounds aren’t right for an animal, no animal that I know of, making a meal out of our friend in there. There’s not enough tearing to the flesh around the wounds. If I’m completely honest it looks like the flesh has been hacked away with a blade or something, not torn off like a predator would do.”

  “Are you saying that a person did this?” the chief asked after a moment’s pause. “That… someone, here in town, killed this man?”

  “I think so,” Devon said sadly. “The markings are too regular and precise to be an animal. None of them cross over each other. Animals claw and bite and scratch in any pattern that they want. They go after limbs and the throat. They have no specific aim but it looks to me like a lot of the damage was done to hit the major arteries. I’m afraid that you’re probably looking at a human culprit.”

  “Probably?” the chief asked. “I thought you were staking your reputation on this?”

  “I am,” Devon said, “But I’m still human. I could be wrong but I don’t think I am.”

  The chief hung his head and gave a heavy sigh.

  “Ok then,” he said. “I guess we need to go and tell everyone.”

  “Now?” Devon asked in surprise. “Won’t they be in bed?”

  “Dr. Childs, you really don’t know small towns do you?” the chief said, as though he were talking to a child. “The news will have spread by now and everyone in the village will be waiting outside for us to come out.”

  “Oh…” Devon said. “Right…”

  “I can go and tell them myself if you want?” the chief said, a little more kindly. “You can go back to your room and get some sleep.”

  “No, it’s ok,” Devon said, pulling off her protective equipment. “I doubt I’ll be able to get much sleep now anyway. It’s one thing when an animal does this, they’re just following instinct. But a human…” she shuddered. “That’s deliberate and knowing someone can do that to another person…”

  “I know what you mean,” the chief said, joining her in removing his gear. “Let’s go and face them then.”

  Just as the Chief of police had predicted they were met with a mob of people when they exited the funeral parlour. They were all shouting out questions, barely held back by the few officers that formed a line between them and Devon, the Chief and the doctor. A box had been brought over, long and wide enough for all three of them to stand on, side by side. The Chief climbed up and helped Devon up beside him.

  “Alright everybody,” he called out. “Settle down, settle down!”

  “We don’t wanna settle down!” someone shouted. “We want answers!”

  “Someone’s been killed by the monster!” another person shouted. “What the hell is that woman still doing here? She’s the one who pissed it off!”

  “That’s enough!” the Chief shouted. “I asked Dr. Childs to assist in our investigation due to her expertise. That is why she’s here. Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with me.”

  He stared at the crowd for a long time, not saying a word, just staring. They slowly settled down and fell quiet.

  “Good,” he said firmly. “Now, according to the good doctor here the man was murdered and died because of his injuries. But according to both the doctor and Dr. Childs here these injuries were not inflicted by an animal of any sort. They were made by another person. And I am inclined to agree with that assessment.”

  “Bullshit!” someone shouted. “It was Nessie and you know it.”

  “It needs to be caught before anyone else dies!” another shouted out.

  “Our children play in that loch, do you want them to be killed too?” someone else called. “Do something!”

  “Very well, very well,” the Chief said, holding up his hands to quieten them. “I ask you to keep your children out of the loch for the time being. I am sure that it wasn’t the monster of the loch but whoever did this likely tossed the murder weapon into the water. Starting tomorrow I’m going to have a specialist diving team up here to search the water and look for anything that may help us to bring this man’s killer to justice. I want to speak to anyone who might have seen or heard anything to do with this murder.”

  The crowd grumbled but said no more. The news of a potential murderer amongst them seemed to have sombered them up and calmed their anger at Devon. The chief turned to her.

  “I’m assuming that you’ll want to oversee our dives?” he said knowingly to her.

  “You assume correctly,” Devon said. “I’ll watch from a distance if that’s ok, but I will be on the loch’s surface. I have to continue my search after all.”

  “Ok,” the chief said, a little reluctantly. “But if you find anything…”

  “I know,” Devon said with a smile. “I’ll call you and your men over straight away.”

  “Good,” the chief said. “Now, you better go and get at least some sleep before tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a long one.”

  Devon nodded, agreeing with him. She climbed down from their makeshift podium and made her way back to the B&B. She tried to ignore the stares and glares at her back and the mutterings that followed her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The next day was cold with a brisk, sharp wind that came in from the sea. Devon was glad that she’d brought her thick winter clothing as she stood shivering on the deck of Arthur’s boat. The divers had begun to prepare for their work and she was watching as they piled equipment into the police boat. Arthur hadn’t said a word to her when she arrived, simply nodded and helped load on some of her equipment when she’d asked. He was pale though and the dark bags under his eyes suggested that he hadn’t slept much at all the night before. It wasn’t a surprise though, everyone in the village looked like that.

  Devon’s phone rang then and she turned away from the other boat and rooted through her many pockets to find them. She stared at the name on the screen and gave a heavy sigh.

  “Mr. McCallum,” she said when she answered. “What can I do for you?”

  “Please, call me Jack,” McCallum repeated. “And I heard about what happened last night, the death of that poor man.”

  “You mean murder Mr. McCallum,” Devon said, ignoring the man’s invitation for familiarity. She didn’t want to be any closer to this man than she had to be. “He was murdered McCallum, by another person.”

  “That’s not what the papers are saying,” McCallum said. “They’re saying he was ripped apart by Nessie, the media’s abuzz with the news.”

  “I saw the body myself sir,” Devon said firmly. “The poor man was not killed by any animal alive or dead that’s ever existed.”

  “That’s terrible,” McCallum said. He didn’t sound upset though. “Of course everyone’s talking about Loch Ness now. There’s so much attention being sent its way. People want to know what happened, I’ve already got room requests coming in at the resort!”

  “Well hopefully we can get it wrapped up before too long,” Devon said tonelessly. “Having a murderer on the loose might put people off.”

  “Of course, of course,” McCallum said quickly. “Good luck and god’s speed and all that.”

  He hung up. Devon stared at the phone in her hand and shook her head.

  “The man’s insane,” she muttered. Then she called out to the boatman, “Arthur! How’re things looking?”

  “They’re good lassie,” Arthur said. “Everything’s all set and we just need to get moving to get the readings.”

  Devon smiled and nodded. She turned back to the police boat. It looked like the divers were getting ready to go in. They were lined up, sitting on the side of the boat and paying attention to a stern looking man who was pacing back and forth in front of them, talking. Devon couldn’t catch what was being said. Arthur started the engine and began to head towards the other boat. Devon checked on her equipment, that
the monitors were working and the sonar was pinging back to them like it was supposed to. Everything seemed to be ok. Arthur poked his head out of the small shed over the helm and called out to her, trying to be heard over the sounds of the engine.

  “The chief’s asked us to help with the search,” he shouted. “He says your sonar’s far better than anything that they have on board and they want an extra set of eyes down there. The water’s too dark to see clearly without it.”

  “Ok,” Devon shouted back. “Keep pace with the police boat and stay parallel to them if you can.”

  Arthur nodded and ducked back into the shed. The boat shifted and started to slow. It drew up alongside the other boat and stopped there, bobbing in the water. The stern man in the other boat nodded at Devon and she waved back. She watched as one by one the divers dropped over the side and into the brackish water. Almost instantly their silhouettes pinged up on the sonar screen and she shifted the ring with her controls until the shapes were in the centre of the screen. Then she waved over at the stern man who nodded again.

  The divers headed deeper and deeper into the dark water. It was cold, chilling to the bone and there was silt and sediment floating everywhere. They could barely see a thing. It didn’t take long though for them to reach the bottom of the loch, where the light could barely reach. Their underwater hand torches did the trick though and they could quickly see that there was so much silt in the water that the extra light wouldn’t do much good. Still they arranged themselves in a line and began to slowly swim along the bottom of the loch. Their fins churned up the muddy silt of the loch floor and visibility dropped to near zero levels. The only thing that many of them could see was swirling mud and beams of light trying to cut through it all. One cried out, the sound muffled through his mask, when something brushed against him.

  Above, on the surface, Devon stared at the screen and gave a soft cry. The sonar screen was covered in large shapes that changed position constantly. They completely surrounded the divers down below.

  “Sir!” she called out to the man on the police boat. “Sir, there’s something on the sonar. There’s a lot of them all around the divers. They’re large and fast moving. They seem to be circling.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” the man called back. “They’ve not seen anything yet so they’re staying down.”

  “Sir,” Devon shouted out. “With all due respect, it is my professional opinion that those men get out of there! That is the behaviour of predators preparing to attack!”

  “Nonsense!” the man shouted. “There’s nothing dangerous in these waters. The men can handle themselves.”

  “Arsehole,” Devon muttered, turning back to the screen.

  She bit the nail of her thumb as she watched the monitor. The shapes were definitely circling, drawing in closer and closer to the divers. She felt Arthur coming up beside her to watch the screen too.

  “You really think they’ll attack?” he asked her quietly.

  “Yes,” she said firmly. “I’ve seen this before, in sharks and killer whales.”

  “You told the captain over there?” Arthur asked.

  “Of course I did,” she muttered. “He’s just ignoring the fact. He’s going to get those men killed.”

  “They know what they’re doing lass,” Arthur said. “I know some of these men. If there’s trouble they’ll get out of there.”

  “What’s that?!” Devon said. She leaned in for a closer look. “There!”

  She pointed at the monitor. There was a massive shape on the screen, bigger than all of the others. It was moving quickly, heading straight for the divers and the two boats.

  “Oh my god,” she cried out, stepping back. “Captain! Captain, something’s coming!”

  She raced to the edge of the boat, trying to be heard by the men in the other craft. They weren’t paying attention to her. Something bumped against the bottom of her boat, making a tremendous crashing noise and sending them rocking. She clung on to the railing and kept calling out. The other boat was set rocking, she could hear the thud of a collision. The men on the boat rushed around, back and forth. They scanned the water.

  Gradually both boats stopped rocking and everything seemed to have gone still again.

  “Dr. Childs,” Arthur said. “It’s still here.”

  Devon glanced at the monitor, still clutching the railing. She only got a brief glimpse of a large shape between their boats before suddenly the water in the gap between them erupted into the air. She was thrown away from the railing, back on to the deck and on her back. She heard a grunt from Arthur who had been thrown against the far railing. The boat kept rocking, hard. She could hear shouts from the other boat, cries of fear and alarm. All she could do though was hold on tight as she slammed against the railings. She kept her grip, one arm wrapped around a post. The boat rocked from side to side and she kept her eyes fixed on the water. It was frothing with white foam, churning like something was thrashing around beneath the surface.

  Gradually the boat’s rocking slowed and she tentatively let go. She could hear Arthur swearing behind her as she climbed to her feet and the shouts and calls from the other boat. Her eyes were fixed on the water. Dark shapes were beginning to erupt along the surface. It was the divers. They began to scramble to get out of the water, grabbing on to the ladder that led to the deck of the other boat.

  “There’s something down there!” one of them shouted. “It brushed right past me, sent me spinning.”

  “Did you see the size of that thing?!” another cried. “I didn’t get a good look at it but I bet it was bigger than a double decker bus!”

  “And the other things!” a third diver cried. “They were everywhere. They were massive.”

  “They were fast!” the first interrupted. “Sorry sir but there’s no way I’m going back in there, no matter how much you pay me.”

  “You can’t see a thing in there,” the second one said as they all pulled off their gear. “The whole thing’s pointless.”

  Devon started to tune them out. They were terrified, she could hear it in their voices. She wondered why they’d even sent in a dive team. Everyone knew that visibility in the loch was close to zero, sending in divers had just been a waste of time and money. She looked down at the water between the boats again. It had started to calm and settle down, turning back into a black plain only disturbed by a few ripples. Then a few air bubbles began to pop up, just one or two at first but they came faster and faster. The water churned once more. The boats stayed steady though. Devon held on anyway, clutching the railings so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were fixed on the water.

  Then a dark shape emerged. It burst through the surface and almost flew into the air before it settled there, floating. Devon frowned and cocked her head to the side. It looked like a person. The noise from the other boat stopped. She glanced up to see the divers and crew gathered at the edge, staring at the shape. One of them got a boat hook and hooked it. With a bit of twisting and turning they were able to turn it over. It was a body. It was a body just like the last one.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “I am Jacqueline Rogers, reporting for Highland News,” the news reporter said as she stared at the camera, microphone held beneath her mouth. “Today a second body was pulled out of Loch Ness by police divers. They were in the water searching for evidence involved in another death discovered late last night. Police are treating it as suspicious and looking for anyone with any information to come forward. Locals however are convinced that this is the work of the infamous Loch Ness Monster, angered by current building works on the other side of the loch. Here’s some footage that we managed to acquire, showing the dive team’s attempts and panicked abortion of the dive.”

  The news reader relaxed as the controller back at the studio began to roll the tape they’d been given by a local. Devon watched and shook her head. She turned and walked away. She spared a moment to give a brief wave to the police chief who was holding an impromptu press conference
near the dock.

  They’d found the body an hour ago and already news crews and reporters were pouring in. Devon kept her head down and kept walking, wanting nothing to do with any of it. She didn’t like publicity and didn’t want her name attached to this in any way. She spotted Arthur by the local pub, well out of way of the reporters. He was wrapped in a blanket as he sat on the bench outside and was sipping from a glass of amber liquid. A kindly looking woman was stood beside him. He nodded at Devon and beckoned her over. She hurried along towards him.

  “Here lass,” he said, handing her another glass of the same liquid. “I think you probably need this.”

  “You poor dear,” the woman said. She picked a blanket up from the seat beside Arthur and slung it around Devon’s shoulders. “You just sit here and calm down. Terrible thing that’s happened, nice young girls like you don’t deserve to see that sort of thing. No one does.”

  Devon smiled and took the blanket and the drink. She settled down beside Arthur and put her laptop on the table, opening the lid and turning it on. Arthur sat and watched.

  “I can’t believe we found another one,” he said eventually as Devon typed away. “How do two people just get murdered and no one notices?”

  “Did you know him? Either of them?” Devon asked.

  “Nope,” Arthur said with a shake of his head. “None of us did, never seen them before in my life. Then again, we get so many strangers through here it’s not really a surprise.”

  “Well from what I saw…” Devon said. She paused. She took a deep breath and continued. “Arthur, it looked just like the other man, the one they found last night. They were both ripped to pieces. They were just found in different places.”

  “You think it was the same thing?” Arthur asked. “You think it was Nessie?”

 

‹ Prev