Price snorted. “Believe me, that’s the best we had at the time. My cousin Dwayne tried the whole parking-in-the-middle-of-nowhere thing and somehow had the entire law banging on his Ford’s windows before the clock even struck nine.” He shook his head again. “Give me Old Man Becker and him raising his voice at me over seeing someone with a badge holding a flashlight outside of my car door any day.”
Liam wasn’t sure which option was worse to him and decided it wasn’t the time to get into it. Not with what they had to do next. He glanced up at the darkening sky and felt the wind try to bite into his jeans. It was only a matter of time before the rain came in and made things more difficult. A sentiment that Price seemed to agree with. He dropped his humor and secured his flashlight at his side.
“Ready when you are, boss.”
The Becker Farm was the largest piece of acreage owned by a resident in the entirety of Seven Roads. The woods that took up the back end felt just as expansive. Once inside the tree line and it felt like another world.
A world that all the teens of Seven Roads at some point tried to sneak through to get to the bridge.
Stretching across one of the only major drop-offs on the property, the bridge stood over what used to be a deep creek. That creek had long since dried out. Which made the drop from the worn wood above so deadly.
Ten minutes later and Liam stopped just outside of the first plank with a sigh that pulled all of him down.
“Did you know Missy?” he asked when Price stopped next to him.
The younger man was quick to nod.
“I met her at a few birthday parties that my daughter, Winnie, went to when she was younger. Though Missy was there as friends of the older siblings since there was an age difference. I’m more familiar with her father.”
That wasn’t a surprise considering Jonathan Clearwater had run the tractor auction and supply business that had employed close to fifty people in town before he had sold it off, something that had happened way before Liam’s time in town but that he’d heard about still. Seven Roads had less than one thousand residents. Things like fifty jobs leaving town was a big deal, even after the fact.
“It gives me a cold stomach thinking about it,” Price added on. “Death is sad enough. Add in the fact that I have a picture with Missy and my little girl enjoying a birthday party at the arcade, and it hits different, you know?”
Liam didn’t dispute that.
He did, however, get down to business.
“Let’s go ahead and take the pictures Doc Ernest is asking for. You want the high ground or low?”
Price was quick.
“High.” Liam’s eyebrow went up at that. Price explained with a small smile. “Old Man Becker might have caught me full moon in his barn, but there isn’t a kid who grew up in Seven Roads who hasn’t navigated this bridge a hundred times at least. I know all the soft, squeaky parts. It’ll be safer if I take the pictures up here. Trust me.”
Liam snorted.
“You locals sure know how to party.”
Price shrugged.
“Not all of us could be so cool as to grow up in a city. Us country folk had to make do.”
Price pulled out his phone and was off. Liam took a beat before he took the path to the left. It led down a slope that hurt his hip but wasn’t all that unmanageable otherwise. A few careful feet later and he was at the flat rock and dirt-covered ground beneath the bridge. It was an odd feeling being there again. He’d been the first one to arrive after the call was made, and while he’d seen horrible things during his deployments, seeing Missy had been different.
A young woman who had been pushed around so much that she’d found herself over the edge.
Cases like this never got easier.
Liam took out his phone and started snapping pictures of the area. Their medical examiner had asked for more pictures of the scene after the area had been cleared. He wasn’t sure why, but he trusted that the good doctor had a reason.
So that’s what Liam did for the next few minutes. He walked the area around and beneath the bridge, mindful of the details.
That’s when he saw it.
Partially buried in the dirt, blending in next to some rocks. A slight shine to it, dirty silver.
On reflex Liam pulled out the pair of gloves he always had on him during work. He put them on and picked up the small object.
It was a USB drive. There were no markings on it, but there were two letters written in marker on one side.
