LANDON AND CHIEF TERRY DROVE TOGETHER.Landon headed straight for me after exiting Chief Terry’s vehicle.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his hands landing on my shoulders.
“Fine,” I assured him. “We weren’t hurt. We didn’t see anything.”
“Someone must’ve seen something,” Chief Terry argued. “Why else would you call us?”
“Well, the truck being abandoned the way it was in the middle of the road would be enough reason to call you,” I hedged.
“Fair point.”
“Evan went into the woods,” I replied. “He says there are three men dead in there.”
Landon’s eyebrows winged up. “Dead how?”
“It’s better if you see it,” Evan replied. “I’ll take you in.”
Landon pulled out his flashlight, and he and Chief Terry moved with Evan toward the side of the road. I followed without invitation. “Where are you going?” Landon demanded when he realized I was following.
“Oh, don’t even.” I wasn’t in the mood. “I have to see what’s in there.”
“She does,” Evan agreed. “The rest of them can stay back.”
“You’re not the boss of me, Skippy,” Aunt Tillie countered. “You don’t get to say what I do and don’t see.”
“I’m good staying here,” Clove offered. “You guys have fun with the bodies in the woods.”
“Yes, that’s a great idea,” Thistle agreed. She’d moved toward the trees with the rest of the group. “We’ll go into the woods and see the bodies, three men who were obviously killed within the last two hours, and you stay here alone and hold down the fort.” She shot Clove a sarcastic thumbs-up. “Have fun.”
Clove was moving before Thistle finished speaking. “Wait for me!”
Evan led the way through the woods. We found ourselves in a clearing, and at first, I wasn’t certain what he wanted us to see. Then I realized the bodies he’d found were strapped to the trees,eyes open and unseeing, mouths gaping in silent screams. There was blood, but it was impossible to see where it had come from.
“Oh, holy hell.” Chief Terry viciously swore under his breath. “How did this happen?”
That was a very good question. “I need to see the bodies up close.” I started toward the nearest one, but Landon stopped me.
“You can’t touch them, Bay.” He shook his head. “We obviously have to call this in.”
“Right.” I made a face. “Shouldn’t we wait until we know what we’re dealing with?” Something else occurred to me. “Who are you calling it in to? Chief Terry is the one in charge.”
“Look around, Bay,” Landon said in a low voice. “This is not a normal case.
“The truck was stopped in the middle of the road,” he continued. “That means they either saw something that made them stop or they were overcome and went into the woods of their own volition.”
“What would make them do that?” Thistle asked. She didn’t look as distraught as Clove at the sight of the bodies. “Could they have seen something in the woods?”
“It wasn’t Bigfoot, Clove,” Aunt Tillie snapped when my other cousin shifted. “Bigfoot didn’t string them up in the trees like that.”
“Which makes me think they didn’t do it to themselves,” Landon added. He rolled his neck. “Even if one did it to the other two, how did he get himself up there?”
“Which means it was done to them,” I sighed. “There’s something out here.” My gaze immediately went to the trees.
“I don’t sense anything close,” Evan countered. “Landon is right, they couldn’t have done this to themselves. Somebody else did this, and it feels as if there’s some sort of message involved. I think someone drew on the trees in blood. I can kind of see it.”
“We need lights out here,” Chief Terry said. “We’ll have to call your mother and tell her to go on with dinner without us.”
“Aw.” Clove’s lower lip came out to play. “I was looking forward to dinner.”
