Page 9 of The Catcher
The forest closed around them, the dense undergrowth obscuring their view as they forged ahead. Callie couldn’t shake the unease that settled over her.
It was still baffling that she’d been sent out. After her short suspension for misconduct, Sheriff Rivera had made it clear that she was going back to patrol. Her days of working alongside Detective Angus McKenzie and rubbing shoulders with State Police investigators were over — or maybe they were on hold. She couldn’t recall herexact words. Most of it was white noise buried under grief from losing her sister.
After an eternity, they finally reached a remote clearing where the crime scene awaited. Callie’s heart pounded in her chest as she surveyed the area, her instincts on high alert.
“It’s just over there.”
With a gesture from Jake, they disembarked from the ATV and approached the scene. A couple of crime scene investigators were already on site, their presence marked by the flashes of cameras, the careful collection of evidence, and the meticulous securing of the area.
The scene was a stark contrast to the tranquility of the surrounding forest. The deceased, a muscular white teenager of roughly eighteen, was hunched at the base of a ravine, his body in a crumpled position, blindfolded, wrists bound tightly behind his back with rope. He wore nothing but a pair of boxers.
As Callie moved past Jake to get a closer look, she felt a familiar sense of detachment wash over her. It wasn’t her first time encountering a dead body, and while the sight still elicited a twinge of unease, she remained composed, her focus on the task at hand.
Pulling on a pair of latex gloves, Callie surveyed the scene, her gaze sweeping from the body to the tree branch. “Anyone bagged any evidence yet?” she asked, her tone professional yet assertive.
One of the plainclothes ranger agents shook his head. “We’re not amateurs,” he retorted.
Callie met his gaze. “And you are?” she countered.
“I could ask the same.” The agent’s glare intensified as he turned his attention to Jake. “I thought we requested a detective, not a uniform,” he muttered.
“Chill, Danvers, it’s all they sent for now,” Jake interjected, coming to Callie’s defense. “She comes highly recommended.”
The agent’s expression softened slightly, though the tension remained. “Odd choice,” Danvers remarked. “Just don’t go fucking up our crime scene.”
Callie felt a surge of anger rising within her. While she had worked alongside seasoned detectives like Angus and Noah in the past, she was still considered a rookie by many in the department; her rank and experience were often called into question by those who had climbed the ranks through years of service.
“Is the M.E. on the way?” Callie asked, eager to redirect the conversation away from her perceived inadequacies.
The agent chuckled condescendingly at her question before turning his attention elsewhere, leaving Callie to grapple with an uneasy sense of displacement. Jake, sensing her discomfort, offered a reassuring smile. “Don’t mind him,” he said quietly. “Once they’ve shed the Forest Ranger uniform, they think they’re in a different class.”
Callie nodded as she absorbed what he said, her mind already piecing together the puzzle of the scene before her.
“The body couldn’t have been out here long. He still has his eyes,” she noted, her voice calm and measured. “What do we know so far? Is there any ID?” she inquired,her gaze scanning the area as Jake leaned against a nearby tree.
“We’ve been able to nail down a rough timeline. The guy who found him was here the afternoon before. He said he smelled nothing on that day. He didn’t see anything unusual. Two families reported their teenagers missing last night. They were supposed to be out to see a movie. Never came home,” Jake said, his expression grave. “Right now, until we can get confirmation, we’re going on a hunch that this is Pete Landry, seventeen, based out of High Peaks. We’ve been unable to locate his girlfriend Hailey Matthews. But that’s what the search team is here for. Hopefully, she’s still alive. They’re searching nearby.”
“Unless she wasn’t brought out here,” Callie replied thoughtfully, her gloved hand gently touching the body as she assessed the evidence. “A cut to the lip. Swelling on the orbital. No blood on the skull. There is no bruising of the neck, and vessels in the eyes aren’t burst, which could indicate strangulation. No signs of a fatal injury, gunshot, or knife wound. Huh.”
“Yeah, we figure he died from hypothermia, but toxicology should be able to tell if anything was in his system,” Jake added.
Rising to her feet, Callie surveyed the landscape, her trained eye taking in every detail as she moved with calculated precision. “What about footprints?” she asked, glancing around for signs of disturbance in the forest floor.
“There was a set from those who found the body,” Jake confirmed, gesturing up toward the top of the cliff.
“And these tracks?” Callie observed, her brow furrowing in concentration.
“Our team has already taken a snapshot of that.”
As she continued to examine the body, Callie noted lividity, indicating that the victim had likely died in this location rather than being moved here post-mortem. She carefully touched the skin, her senses alert as she noted blood covering his chest and legs.
“That’s odd,” she remarked, bringing her finger to her nose for a closer inspection. It pungent. Fresh. Exactly what could be smelled from a distance.
“Sure is. There is too much of it. It doesn't appear to be his. Possibly his girlfriends or animal blood? Maybe an attempt to draw in wildlife. Have you seen anything like that before?” Jake inquired, his expression mirroring Callie’s sense of intrigue.
“Odd crimes, yeah. That? No,” Callie replied, her mind racing with possibilities as she continued to piece it together. “It’s almost like whoever did this wanted to ensure he suffered. If he were conscious and managed to escape his restraints, he’d have to deal with Mother Nature.”
“The elements. Animals. Yeah,” Jake said.
