by Cindy Bell
For once Kerri didn’t argue. Her instincts told her that whatever they found would not be something pleasant. As he crept forward, she followed close behind him. Even with the flashlight’s strong beam, the woods were foreboding. Outside the cone of the beam’s illumination, the thick darkness throbbed forward, as if waiting for the chance to swallow them whole. Kerri shivered at the thought.
“There it is.” George spoke in a low voice. “A tree.” He swung the flashlight across the thick width of a tree that spread across the forest floor. “It’s huge.” He played the flashlight beam along the trunk, then suddenly stopped. “Oh no.”
“What?” The tone of his voice sent a ripple of fear through Kerri. She followed the length of the beam and noticed a bright purple sleeve. She lunged forward just as her grandfather did, and together they moved farther down the tree.
Kerri took in the sight of a woman pinned beneath the fallen tree. A woman she recognized from her shop the day before.
“Pam!” Kerri gasped as she looked down into her eyes. “Oh Grandpa, she’s not breathing.”
“No, I’m afraid she’s gone, Kerri.” George crouched down beside Pam and checked her pulse. “Nothing.” He sighed as he rocked back on his heels. “I’m sorry, Kerri, but I don’t think you’ll be getting your peaceful camping trip.” He pulled out his phone. “Oh no, there’s no service.”
“Grandpa, what are we going to do?” Kerri knelt down beside Pam and gazed at her. “We have to let someone know.”
“The ranger station isn’t far. I have a flare gun back at camp. Come with me, I’ll grab it.” He stood back up and turned towards the trail.
“No, I’ll stay.”
“Here.” George handed her the flashlight and turned the one on his phone on. “I’ll be right back.” He stared at her for a long moment, as if he might change his mind, then took off through the woods.
Kerri shined the flashlight between herself and Pam. She wondered how the tree had fallen, and what Pam had been doing out in the woods in the middle of the night. Her curiosity overcame her grief. She cast the light along the trunk. At the base of the tree, she discovered something unsettling. There were no jagged splinters, only a solid, even cut. The tree hadn’t broken and fallen, someone had cut it down.
Suddenly, Kerri wondered if she was alone. She swung the flashlight pointedly through the trees that surrounded the area. The leaves rustled in a mild breeze. Something skittered across branches. In the distance, she heard an animal that she couldn’t identify cry out. But there was no sign of any other people. Still, she shuddered. Someone had been there, and not long before. Someone had cut down the tree. Was it to kill Pam, or was it just a terrible accident? She recalled Elm, who she’d met not far off in the woods. He’d claimed to be exploring. Had he actually been planning something?
“Oh Pam.” Kerri sighed as she looked back at the woman beside her. “I don’t know why this happened, but I promise, I’m going to find out.”
Kerri heard a loud pop, then saw a flare shoot up into the sky. Soon, help would be on its way.
Chapter 5
George plodded back through the trees and emerged not far from Kerri.
“I fired the flare. Someone should be here soon.” He looked over the tree again. “Maybe we should wait back at camp.”
“Grandpa.” Kerri stood up and handed him the flashlight. “Look at the bottom of the tree.”
“Huh? Why?” George pointed the flashlight in the direction of the base of the tree. “Wait a minute, that can’t be right.”
“That’s what I thought.” Kerri crossed her arms and again surveyed the surrounding trees. “This tree didn’t just fall, someone cut it down.”
“But why?” George turned to look at her. “To kill this young woman?”
“Pam, her name is Pam.” Kerri blinked back tears as she recalled her warm smile and the young man she was with, who wanted to keep his gift a secret. How had all of that come to an end, just a few hours later? “She was in my shop earlier today.”
“Kerri, I’m sorry,” George said.
“Who’s out there?” A flashlight swung through the trees in the distance. “I’m Ranger Bancroft. Is someone out there?”
“Here! Over here!” George’s voice boomed through the quiet of the late hour. He waved his flashlight to give the ranger a direction to travel in.
“Folks, is everything all right? I saw a flare come from this area.” The short man ran down the trail towards them. What he lacked in height he made up for in muscle. His thick frame stretched his uniform to the point of surrender. He shone his flashlight at the two of them, then turned it towards the tree.
“We’re okay.” George cleared his throat. “But she’s not.” He pointed his flashlight at Pam. “We’re camping just over there and heard the tree fall. The cell phones don’t work out here.”
“Oh no!” The ranger almost dropped his flashlight as Pam’s face was revealed. “I have to get someone out here right away.” He barked into his radio, then gestured for the two of them to step back.
Kerri followed his instructions, but everything began to swirl around her. Nothing seemed real. Within minutes engines could be heard in the distance. She could hear her grandfather speaking to the ranger, but she couldn’t focus on his words enough to understand them.
Flashing lights painted the trees and foliage around her, from a dark green, to glowing red and blue. She closed her eyes against the flickering and counted down in her mind. It helped her to stay focused when she had a problem on her mind. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Detective Colleen Carver on her way over. In her late fifties, the detective still moved with a confident swagger. She had earned it. Even though Kerri had limited contact with her, in Kerri’s opinion she was a great detective. Her dark hair was pulled back tight at the back of her head, and her dark eyes flitted across the scene at a swift and determined pace. Her grim expression matched the way that Kerri felt inside. There was no good way to look at this, no silver lining. A young woman was dead.
“My point is, this was no accident.” George raised his voice enough that Kerri’s attention was drawn to it.
“We don’t know that yet.” Ranger Bancroft held his hands up in the air. “Let the police make their assessment.”
“Oh, so trees just cut themselves down these days?” George rolled his eyes and turned away from the ranger. As his shoulders lifted, and his lips drew into a tight grimace, he locked eyes with Detective Carver.
Instantly, Kerri’s awareness sharpened. She could sense that her grandfather’s patience was thin. While she’d drifted off in a muddle of thoughts, he’d tried to reason with the ranger about what might have happened. Now he was faced with Detective Carver, who was not exactly a friend, and not exactly a foe. Kerri’s instincts told her that she might need to intervene as Detective Carver took a step towards him.
“George. You and Kerri are caught up in this?” She glanced back at Kerri, who had taken a few steps closer. “Do you want to tell me what happened here?”
“I’d love to tell you that, but I don’t know exactly. What I do know is that someone killed this young woman.” George shot a brief look of impatience at the ranger, then looked back at the detective. “And I tried to tell the ranger here that this place needs to be treated like a crime scene.”
“What makes you so sure?” Detective Carver glanced over the scene. Her eyes held to the deceased woman for several seconds before they shifted back to George.
“The tree tells the story. Actually, Kerri was the one who pointed it out.” George tipped his head towards his granddaughter. “She noticed that the base of the tree is cut evenly. There’s no way that a tree just happened to break that way.”
“Hmm.” The detective studied the cut on the tree trunk as George illuminated it with his flashlight. “That does seem odd.” She pulled a notepad out of her pocket. “Do you want to tell me how you happened to be in the vicinity of this crime?”
“I happened
to be camping.” George turned fully to face her, his shoulders lifted and lowered again, his lips tensed.
“We were camping.” Kerri stepped up beside him and placed one hand on his arm. “We both heard a sound that woke us up, and when we investigated it, we found Pam.” Her voice trembled.
“Pam? You know the victim?” Detective Carver turned her full attention on her, though her gaze flitted back towards George once, then settled on Kerri.
“Not well. I met her earlier today in my shop. All I know is her first name, and she was with a friend. His name was Colin I think.” Kerri frowned as she swept her gaze over the tree. “I have no idea what she was doing out here.”
“You only spoke to her once?” Detective Carver’s pen flicked across the pad.
“Yes. She was already deceased when we found her.” Kerri pressed her hand against her stomach as it twisted.
“All right, let’s try to start from the beginning.” Detective Carver took a deep breath and looked into Kerri’s eyes. Her tone became soothing as she spoke to her. “Tell me the first thing you remember. Tell me about the sound.”
“I think the cracking sound was what must have woken me up. It was one crack, and then another. I got out of my tent to see what it was.” Kerri winced as she recalled the sensation of her heart leaping up into her throat.
“So, when you got out of your tent, George was already outside of his?” Detective Carver tapped her pen lightly on her notepad and eyed Kerri with the same scrutiny that had always made her a little uneasy. It felt as if the woman could see as far as she pleased into Kerri’s psyche, her memories, her fears. But she knew that was just her imagination.
“Uh, yes, he was.” Kerri frowned and glanced over at her grandfather. “He heard it, too.”
“Heard what?” Detective Carver took a step closer to Kerri. “Focus on me, I need all of the information that you can give me.”
“Right, sure.” Kerri shook her head. “The tree falling, we both heard it. It woke us up.”
“It woke you up, and you left your tent to investigate it? That’s when you saw George?” Detective Carver’s voice evened out.
“Yes, that’s when I saw him. He was looking for the source of the sound, too. He pointed out which direction it came from.” Kerri’s head swam with the recollection of her life no more than thirty minutes before. Back then, she was just someone camping, now she was a witness in a homicide investigation.
“So, George was alone outside of his tent before you came out of yours?” Detective Carver shot a glance back in his direction.
“Yes, I guess so.” Kerri frowned.
“Are you sure that what you heard was the tree falling?” The detective scribbled another note on her pad. “Could it have been something else?”
“I don’t really know.” Kerri shrugged. “What else could it have been?”
“Did you hear any voices? Any other sounds, like footsteps? Anything to indicate that someone else was nearby?” Detective Carver’s intense gaze returned to Kerri.
“No, nothing.” Kerri crossed her arms as she realized how little the detective had to start an investigation with. “I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you more.”
“It’s a start.” Detective Carver’s lips curved into a faint smile as she looked into her eyes. “Who knows when her body would have even been found if it weren’t for the two of you being out here.” She glanced over at George. “I’m sure that some things might come back to you over time, if you think of anything at all, please let me know.”
“I will.” Kerri bit into her bottom lip as she tried to pick through the seconds that followed after she woke up. Had she heard something else? Had she been too drowsy to comprehend it? Then she remembered Elm. “You know there is one thing that might be of interest. I’m not saying he had anything to do with this, but I did run into a man not far from here. It was this afternoon. A logger.”
“That may be of help, anyone who was in the area might know more about what happened.” Detective Carver focused on her notepad. “Did you find out his name?”
“Elm, Elmer. He said he was on a break.” Kerri swatted a mosquito from the curve of her elbow and sighed. “I’m not sure that he’ll know anything about this, but he could I suppose. Oh, and like I said she was in the shop today, along with her friend. He paid with cash though, they both did, so I don’t have any more information about them.”
“That’s all right, all of this is very helpful. I’m sure that someone will be looking for her soon.” Detective Carver snapped her notepad shut. “Thank you for your time, Kerri.” She glanced at George again, who remained stoic as he returned her gaze. “George.” She nodded at him, then turned towards the other officers. As she joined the group, George took a step closer to Kerri.
“She’s going to look at me for this.”
“What?” Kerri’s eyes widened as she looked at her grandfather. “That’s ridiculous, she wouldn’t do that.”
“And why wouldn’t she?” George raised a thick eyebrow and skimmed his hand back through his silver streaked hair. “You know Detective Carver has it out for me.”
“That’s because you’re always toying with her, Grandpa, maybe if you were a little more polite, she wouldn’t be so quick to suspect you.” Kerri frowned as she observed the police in action. “I should check on Cashew.”
“We should both head back. Standing here isn’t going to do us any good.” George guided her towards the trail.
Chapter 6
“Kerri?” Steve pushed through the crowd of police officers and raised his hand to get her attention among the floodlights that pointed at the crime scene.
“Steve!” Kerri’s heart lurched at the sight of him. Somehow his presence made everything feel more relaxed. As she approached him however, she could see the way his eyes widened as he tried to make sense of the scene before him. It was fresh to him, still a shock, while she’d had time to adjust to what she’d seen.
“Are you okay?” He slung his arm around her shoulders as he paused beside her. “I heard what was happening, and knowing you were up here, I just had to come and check on you.”
“I appreciate that.” Kerri’s heart fluttered, but the sensation faded. She couldn’t concentrate on Steve, when the reality that someone had been murdered set in. “I hope it didn’t interfere with you getting your article done.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Steve’s sharp blue eyes met hers. “You matter.”
“Thanks.” Kerri glanced away as her cheeks warmed in reaction to his attention. “I just want to get back to camp and check on Cashew.”
“I’ll walk with you.” Steve fell into step beside her.
George moved ahead of them, giving them some privacy.
Steve took her hand in his and spoke softly. “I can drive you home if you’d like.”
“It’s all right, Grandpa has his jeep here.” Kerri tightened her grasp on his hand. Just his presence gave her some comfort. “Really, I just want to get home and start figuring this out.”
“Figuring what out exactly?” Steve paused beside her as she unzipped her tent.
“Cashew’s still sound asleep.” Kerri smiled some as she gazed at the dog, then looked back at Steve. “I need to find out what happened to Pam, who did this.”
“You mean it wasn’t an accident?” Steve’s eyebrows raised. “On dispatch it was reported as an accident.”
“No, it wasn’t an accident.” Kerri glanced back at the flashing lights barely obscured through the trees. “Someone killed her, and I want to know who.”
“Are you sure you’re not just getting ahead of yourself?” Steve frowned as she zipped the tent up again.
“No, I don’t think so. I saw the cut in the tree, and so did my grandfather. That wasn’t a natural break.” Kerri watched as George began to take down his tent.
“Is he okay?” Steve tipped his head towards him. “He hasn’t said a word to me.”
“He’s all right.” Kerri gritted her teeth
and held back the truth. She didn’t want Steve to know that her grandfather was worried about being a suspect. Although the two of them had begun to get along, their relationship hadn’t always been stellar, and she didn’t want anything to impede the progress they had made. “Thanks for checking with me, Steve, but we’ll be fine.” She wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug.
“I’ll help you get packed up.” Steve began to gather the cooler and a few other items scattered around the camp. For a moment she watched him. She didn’t always find it easy to accept help, but he was so gracious and insistent about it, that she didn’t mind when he offered it. She joined in on cleaning up the camp, then unzipped her tent and carried out a sleepy dog. Cashew opened her eyes, gazed up at her, yawned, then fell right back to sleep. The afternoon and evening in the woods had worn her out. Kerri handed Cashew over to George who carried her to the jeep, while she and Steve took down her tent.
“I’d like to help you figure all of this out, if you’ll let me.” Steve grunted as one of the tent poles was stuck in place. He managed to free it, then continued on to the next one.
“Good, because I think I’m going to need it. There isn’t much to go on just yet. Maybe once I find out more about Pam, I’ll be able to figure out what she was doing out here, and who might have been with her.” Kerri worked with him to roll up the tent and stuff it in its bag.
“Anything I can do.” Steve nodded. “I’m going to stick around here for a while. I’ll let you know if I find out anything new.”
“Thanks, Steve.” Kerri gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then started to head towards the jeep.
“Wait.” Steve caught her by the hand and tugged her gently back towards him. As he sought her eyes, his expression grew serious. “When I heard that call over dispatch, all I could think of was you, Kerri. I’m sorry, I should have been out here with you.”
“Steve, I appreciate the sentiment, and I’m sorry that you were scared, but I can take care of myself.” Kerri gazed back at him.