The Canyon Creek Murders

*Chapter 24 *

Hank paced up and down outside the station, rage burning away inside him. How could he do such a thing to him? Dustin Moorland was someone he considered a friend. How on earth could he betray him in this way? Or perhaps, maybe had just been pretending to be a friend just to get close enough to him to obtain the information he was after? Who knows?

His face went as white as a ghost when he contemplated what could have happened. He sat down on the steps outside the main door and took out his cell phone. If anyone could talk him out of this, it would be Beverly. He dialed the number and braced himself for what could be a very difficult conversation. One he very much wished he could have face-to-face.

After he ended the call with his wife, Hank took a deep breath to compose himself and then calmly stepped back into the station. Just as he did Sarah let go of Sam's hand and jumped back into her seat. Sam bolted upright, dropping his hands down by his side.

"Oh, come on you two," Hank bemoaned, his frustration still evident even after talking to his wife. On top of the news that was dropped, and even with the reassuring sound of his wife's voice, he didn't want to see two adults play games. He just wasn't in the mood for it.

"What?" Sam asked, trying to play it down, clearly ignoring the fire still raging in Hank's eyes.

"You don't need to hide that stuff from me. I was there, remember? I might have been hungover that morning, but I haven't forgotten you trying to sneak out of Sam's apartment," he added, his heated gaze locking on Sarah. "Besides I know him better than anyone," Hank continued, pointing towards Sam. "He was buzzing for days after that! You can't possibly tell me nothing happened that night! Don't make me out to be a fool."

"We aren't," Sarah told him, hearing the heat still in his voice. Sam and Sarah then looked at each other giggling silently, slightly embarrassed but also kind of relieved at the same time.

Hank glanced between the two, his anger deflating a little more after venting. "Anyway, that's immaterial now," he added further. "That look you both have in your eyes right now, yeah, you don't need to be a detective to know what that holds."

Sam knew that Hank was just lashing out. The news about Dustin Moorland was quite a shock to him so he imagined it probably hit Hank rather hard. No doubt he was angry and was hitting out as a result. That being said, he also knew that he was right. There was no point in hiding this anymore, or at least not from Hank anyway.

"So how are you? Are you OK?" Sarah asked Hank quietly, while still blushing a little.

"Honest answer, I don't know," he told her rather calmly. "What I do know though, as I've just been reminded just recently, whatever happened back in Eustice or whatever allowed it to happen, I got the outcome that I needed. And in truth, I only got that thanks to you two. I need to put that shit behind me now and look and move forward. So, with that in mind and before I get too soft on you, I know this is only coffee and hopefully, we'll get to do this later with a proper drink. But I'd like to raise a toast if I may. To the three of us. And to look forward not back," he added, lifting his cup into the air.

"Hell yeah, I'll drink to that buddy," Sam beamed.

"Me too," Sarah added as she got up and walked over towards Hank's coffee pot. "May I?" she asked.

"Of course. Please do," Hank responded. Without saying another word, Sarah poured two cups of coffee, one for herself and one for Sam, exactly how he liked it, giving Hank cause to smile further. 'I knew it,' he thought to himself. This wasn't just a fling. They had a connection between them. Even if they hadn't admitted it themselves yet.

Sarah handed Sam his drink and then repeated Hank's toast. The three of them chinked cups together before finally taking a sip.

"So, looking forward then," Sam offered up. "I believe you are here to compare two cases?"

"I am, yes," Sarah responded cheerfully. "Although I think that can wait until tomorrow now. It's getting late and I'm getting hungry. Is there anywhere around here we can go and get something to eat?"

"Sure," Sam smiled. "We know just the place."

The following morning, while Sarah was back in her hotel room, Sam and Hank had a few hours before she arrived at the station. Sam continued plowing through the pages of the missing persons reports, hoping to find a second potential match. While Hank prepared and sent away the personal items, they had collected from Willsdale the previous day. Hopefully, a successful DNA sample from that would then provide them with a match and therefore the first named victim.

As soon as she did arrive, though, they got stuck straight into the task at hand with Sarah giving the guys a lowdown on the other case that was being compared to theirs. "It's a fair way from here and the victims have been discovered having been thrown into a nearby lake rather than a canyon but apart from that the similarities are quite striking," she began. "First of all, the biggest standout is the body parts themselves.

"Once the victims are deceased, they are being cut or dismembered in the exact same way as the ones you have found here. The hands and feet are removed and then the limbs are severed at each joint, making two further parts. Finally, the torso itself is quartered into four more pieces. Each of these pieces are then packaged up in a very similar way to the ones you have discovered.

"The only difference here is the addition of a heavy weight which had been added to allow the package to sink to the bottom of the lake. Obviously, that wouldn't be necessary here," she added, glancing in turn at the two detectives. "Another similarity is the lack of heads being found. I know you are yet to find any here and at Lake Coldar they have sent several diving teams in and even dredged the bottom of the lake out. They are very confident they have found everything that had been disposed of in that lake but not one single head was recovered."

Sam was quite taken aback by that. It was true they hadn't found any heads, but he hadn't even realized or given it any significance. He had been so focused on what they had found he hadn't given much thought to what they hadn't. Besides, there was no pattern for what was being found in the canyon, he just assumed more parts would be discovered as and when.

"Which brings me to the one anomaly with the Coldar case," Sarah spoke up again. "As previously stated, the authorities there are very confident that they have recovered everything they possibly can from that lake. Enough parts to confirm and complete a total of five victims: with one exception. There is one body currently lying with only three-quarters of its torso."