The Canyon Creek Murders

*Chapter 37 *

In truth, Hank's demeanor was giving no cause for alarm at all. Considering his personal circumstances, he was actually coping rather well. He may have been upset, he may have even been angry, but they were all feeling that. Hank wasn't really displaying any characteristics or emotions that Sam or Sarah weren't experiencing themselves. If he was more demonstrative with it, then well that was just Hank being Hank. In fact, Sam in particular would have been a lot more concerned had he not reacted.

While the two detectives had built up a deep, connecting, and genuine friendship between them personally, they couldn't really have been much further apart. Back in their days as young rookies, they had both been highlighted as having the skill sets to go a long way. But there were, however, some concerns raised. Particularly amongst the hierarchy over whether either of them had the personality to make the grade.

Sam had been marked as being "too nice" and there were fears that he would possibly be seen as a bit of a pushover when it came to difficult decisions such as funding or equipment. Without sufficiently fighting his own corner, or speaking up about things, he would possibly be pushed to the back of the queue. With senior officers and other departments, instead, helping out or processing applications for those who protested a little more vociferously.

Hank, however, was seen as being at the opposite end of the scale. He was marked as being "too aggressive and over demanding", something which could also see him being overlooked by colleagues. They could possibly be opting to help and assist those who had been perceived as being more friendly and approachable. When the two of them came together, however, the magic began to happen.

Chances are, they both helped each other out. Maybe Sam's withdrawn nature had taken the edge off of Hank's aggression. And maybe Hank's pure drive had lit something of a fire in Sam's belly. But between them, they somehow found a happy middle ground. With Sam's calm, collected, and methodical approach now being backed up by Hank's sheer grit and solid determination, the two of them achieved quick success.

The more they got to know each other, the greater that success became. With those very same skills and attributes now being honed and polished over many years of working together, the pairing had become a rather formidable team. Not that any of this had happened by accident. They had been deliberately assigned and pushed together with those very hopes and thoughts in mind, by what could now only be described as a master stroke by a former and rather Eagle-eyed commanding officer all those years ago when the two young officers were attempting to forge a career in law enforcement. Having confirmed that each of them was happy and ready to proceed, the three of them discussed which actions needed to be taken next.

"As things stand, Wayne Kiffler is still our main suspect," Sam suggested. "But we know very little, if anything, about him, or what he's been up to since his move away from Oakridge." Hank and Sarah both acknowledged that they were in agreement.

"You're right. I think it's important that we stay on him and improve the information we have on him," Sarah mentioned. "But Christy Norwood though...," she paused, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah. That's arguably even more important right now. I mean we have absolutely nothing at all on her," Hank added thoughtfully as he rose to his feet.

"Exactly. And given that we all believe there are two people involved in this, it would be logical to start with the partner," Sarah continued, letting them all think about the next angles they wanted to work out.

After a brief pause, it was Sam who picked the conversation up again. "Even more so given the way that these body parts are being found. I mean, whoever is doing this, unless they have some sort of secret facility to complete the job, I'm not sure how you could possibly cut up and wrap a human body in the way that these have been done without anyone else knowing. It sure can't be done in a small space. Nor could it be easily hidden for any length of time. Someone would be bound to see it."

"Especially the person you are living with," Hank tossed out, returning to the table with a freshly poured coffee.

"Besides, with the two different cuts that Hank spotted on the bones, we can be confident that whoever did do this wasn't working alone anyway," Sarah suggested, raising a wry smile from both detectives.

"Decision made then," Sam summarized. "We need one of us to stay on Kiffler and find out what he's been up to recently, with the other two attempting to build up a file on Norwood."

Sarah offered to be the lone investigator looking into Wayne Kiffler's activity while Sam and Hank took on the task of discovering just who Christy Norwood actually was. The two of them, in turn, split up further with Sam checking out her more recent lifestyle while Hank peered a little more into her past. With all three of them engrossed in their own individual tasks, the station itself had fallen quiet. Even the arrival of Sheriff Shanahan hadn't distracted them from what they were doing.

It was Hank who broke the relative silence though a little later, almost choking on a mouthful of coffee as he spotted something rather startling. "Oh, my word. You are not going to believe what I've just discovered," Hank announced, gaining the full attention of his two colleagues. "Back in Oakridge Christy Norwood found permanent employment at an online distribution warehouse. Packaging and sending purchases out to customers. She was ultimately fired from her position there after being caught stealing what they describe as a large amount of parcel tape and an industrial bag of zip ties. Shortly afterward, a full but eventually unsuccessful appeal against her sacking was lodged after a certain Gregory Venton had offered to pay for the offending items."