The Canyon Creek Murders

*Chapter 25 *

Sam closed his eyes and exhaled sharply before getting up out of his chair and making his way to the filing cabinet. He took out a file and dropped it in front of Sarah. "Welcome to Canyon Creek," he told her as he made his way back to his own seat.

Sarah frowned as she looked down at the file, slowly opening it up. Shock was written all over her face as she began to read its contents. "What....why.......but......where......" She tried to speak but each time she did, the file details grabbed her attention once more. Astonished by what she had seen, she allowed the file to drop and looked straight at Sam. "You know what this means right?" she asked.

"Like I said," Sam reaffirmed, "Welcome to Canyon Creek." The file had been the one Sam had kept a copy of, which contained the details of a piece of a quartered torso he and Barry had discovered with the drone. It had been found in such a state that no identification could be found. It also had been allocated its own case number due to its age, condition, and the fact it had been initially discarded along with a metallic object. Even though this had been ultimately separated from the rest of the evidence, it had left behind a large amount of rust. This was clearly the heavy weight Sarah had previously referred to allowing or causing the package to sink.

"I mean, I'd have to get our guys to look at it to confirm but wow. This could well be the last piece they have been searching for." Sam nodded his agreement while Hank, who knew nothing about it, looked on. "Where did you get this? Why is it not in with the rest of the file?" Sarah asked slightly confused.

"We have no forensic capabilities here, so anything we find needs to be sent away for analysis. This was found in the early days here," Sam began to explain. He may have been answering Sarah's questions, but he was trying to inform Hank of the details as he did so. "When we sent it away, it was believed there were too many inconsistencies, so it was marked as origins unknown and given its own case number. I kept my own copy here but kept it separate from the main files just in case," he explained to both Hank and Sarah, who both seemingly understood what he was saying.

"So, the remains are being kept in storage I take it?" Sarah asked.

"They are, yes. They're in a facility over at the state capital," confirmed Sam.

"No problem. We've got all the details for it here, so I'll pass those on to our forensics guys and then they can pick them up or have it sent directly to them. Once they have analyzed them, we'll know where we are going with this," Sarah added. "Although I have to say this looks rather ominous don't you think?"

"We do," Sam said as Hank nodded in agreement.

"Chances are, this was the last part to have been dumped. Or at least intended to be dumped in the lake. By the time our perpetrators had gotten there, the first piece of evidence had been discovered and the local PD were all over the area, preventing them from finishing the job off," Sarah summarized.

"Yeah. They then headed out west to look for an alternative dumping site and discovered an entire canyon in which to do so," Sam added, picking the story up.

"And quite possibly felt rather pleased with themselves for finding it too. They then ended up moving into the area in order to continue their reign of terror," Hank rounded off. The three of them laughed ironically between them.

"That sounds very plausible," Sarah added. "In fact, I wouldn't mind betting we're either close to or absolutely bang on the money with that." The three of them all shared a smile as a possible pattern began to emerge.

"So, once the forensics are done," Hank spoke up, "assuming they do match and confirm the link between the two cases. What happens next? You move into the Creek and take over?" he asked. It was a valid question and something that both Sam and Hank had pondered but the bluntness in which he had put it suggested that despite his previous toast, Hank was still struggling to come to terms with the earlier revelation.

"Well, moving in or relocating closer to the area absolutely yes, and I'll certainly want to be more involved. But as for taking over, I don't think there will be any need for that. I think, or at least hope, that we have been through enough with each other now to be able to pull together and work as a team on this," Sarah told him.

"I'm not going to argue with that," Hank responded as he poured himself a fresh coffee and finally returned to his seat.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Sam agreed.

"Great, that's that sorted then," Sarah smiled. "Now I'm not telling you what to do in any way, shape, or form. But the drone you requested is still in the trunk of my car. If you want to familiarize yourselves with that or take it straight out even. I'm told it's pretty straightforward. You give it the dimensions of the area in which you wish to search, and it does the rest for you, I believe," she explained. "I've got a few things I need to do here but saying that, if you have any research or background checks or anything like that that you need a hand with, I could always help out there?"

"Actually, yeah, that would be great," Sam replied. "I've been looking into missing persons reports trying to cross-check the dates they went missing along with the estimated time of death on any of our remains."

"Oh, I see, yes. If we can figure out where the victims are being taken from, we might be able to get a rough idea of where the killer or killers are staying. That shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure I can help you out with that," she told the two of them once again, making and holding eye contact. Hank shook his head and sighed to himself before swallowing the rest of his coffee and making his way outside. Sam and Sarah both followed shortly after. They then transferred the drone from one car to the other before Sam and Hank shot off in the direction of the canyon once more.