The Serpent and the Crow

Book 2: Chapter Three

Coyote Hills again. Nez tried not to think about what ordeal Halonie might pass through and if she too would ascend a mountain like this. Douglas stared at Wade. He was resting.

"You seem to beat for a Marine. Were you a Jarhead before or after you met Michelle?"

"At boot camp. She was my spotter."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Snipers work in teams. They never go all sniper wolf. One has the rifle. The other has binoculars, to spot and range targets that a sniper can't seek in their peripheral."

The summit was absent of crows. It smelled like of pigs. SPPD stationed there a couple of police officers, sitting next to the police cordoned tape.

"Detectives always show up at the scene after the crime."

"I guess you're right, Elmore. It's a bitch of a hill, ain't it, Detectives?"

"Patterson and Elmore, this is Wade Scofield. You boys observed anything suspicious?"

Patterson said, "You mean on this shift? Not really."

Wade examined a bunch of flowers placed at the base of the ponderosa pine. Patterson and Elmore turned back to discover what he was doing.

Elmore said, "Locals wanted to hold a vigil."

Wade said, "You shouldn't have let them enter the crime scenes, genius."

"Oh, those," Patterson said, "That was that guy, that Hunter. Um... Dean? Disco?"

"Dale?" Wade asked.

Patterson nodded.

Douglas said, "Well, tell Dale it's off-limits next time."

Elmore said, "You should've passed him on the way up."

Douglas asked, "Did he say much?"

Elmore shook his head. He said, "He looked a bit..."

"... Yeah, he did, didn't he?" Patterson carried on Elmore's sentiment.

Elmore said. "Like a stag caught in a spotlight."

Wade stared at the tree trunk and lifted the flowers placed as a vigil. They were Crimson Roses. Douglas and Wade canvased the area.

Wade examined where Kit Coulson fell to his death. He felt an eerie chill, as if his blood still carried on the wind.

Wade climbed the rope ladder that emergency services failed to take down.

Douglas scoured the ground, remembering that there were no footprints before. But he looked at a boot mark now. He whistled to Patterson and Elmore and pointed to the print.

Elmore exclaimed, "Ain't us, Bub."

"Dale's," Patterson confirmed.

Douglas measured the marks; they looked military.

Wade looked at the blood-stained platform. The image of the little girl seared into his memories.

"What binds were on the girl?" Wade asked Douglas.

Douglas shouts, "Hemp. Nothing special. You can get them all over the state."

Wade turns around and sees a mark carved into the tree. It looked like a crescent moon and a bird.

"Hey," Wade shouts, "Did forensics or anyone pick up a symbol?"

"No," said Douglas, "Why?"

"Elmore, Chuck up a pen and paper."