Henry

Chapter 7

            …In the mind of Blake…

            I looked at the officer in disgust and disbelief. “What the hell do you mean you haven’t located her yet?”

            The officer held his hands up as if to attempt at calming me down. “Mr. Holland, the Willamette Forest is very large. Trust me, I’ve got all the men I can get out there looking for your wife.”

            “She’s not my wife yet, and she never will be if you don’t find her! We called you four days ago! How could you not even have found a clue?” I demanded, slamming my fist down on his desk and smashing his doughnut.

            “Don’t say that like it’s a predetermined thing! From what you described it sounds as if Ms. Pierce has the ability to survive in the wild for several days. I’m sure she’ll be alive and well once we find her,” the officer said calmly, but I hinted a little anxiety in his voice.

            I nodded slightly in agreement. Aggie was always good when it came to nature and survival. “But what about leads? It’s been days… you’ve got to have something!”

            The officer grunted. “Possibly,” he whispered, afraid of angering me more. “At your campsite we found several samples of hair. We’ve taken it to a lab to have it tested but it doesn’t match any known species in the area—the entire world, actually.”

            My mind wandered to what Joy had said the other night. Her opinion was that a Bigfoot had stolen Aggie from us. I thought it was ludicrous. There was no such thing as Bigfoot, there is no such thing as Bigfoot, and there never will be such thing as Bigfoot. Bigfoot is simply a mythical creature that people through the years have used to make quick and easy money on television shows when they find “evidence”.

            A young man came bursting through the door beside us, holding out an evidence bag with a large rock inside. The officer took the heavy bag and studied it.

            “Captain, we found traces of blood about seven miles away from the origin of the attack,” the man said as he wiped his forehead of sweat with the sleeve of his shirt. “We might have found a definite place to begin another search for Ms. Pierce. More of that untraceable hair was found in a closer proximity to each other and there are trails of blood in the same area as the hair.”

            The officer nodded encouragingly and handed the evidence back. “Good work, Lieutenant. Bring any blood samples back to the lab and have them do an electrophoresis test with the evidence and Ms. Pierce’s parents’ blood samples.”

            “Will do, sir.” With that, he turned on his heel and bounded out of the room.

            “Well, Mr. Holland, I do believe it’s your lucky day,” the officer said while sitting down in his chair, using his long and lanky legs to swivel it back and forth. “It’s too late now to start a new search but tomorrow at dawn we will launch a new one. If you’d like, you and your future brother-in-law are welcome to help since it seems we have a strong scent now. You’re a hunter, aren’t you?”

            I nodded and whipped out my phone. “That would be perfect, sir. Thank you so much. I’ll meet you at the campsite at five tomorrow morning.” I turned and walked through the door, lifting the phone to my ear.

            “Blake,” Neil talked into the phone.

            “Listen, they’ve got a strong lead. They think they may have found the area where Aggie is. They said you and I can come along. Do you hunt?” I asked as I checked the back of my car for my guns.