Cry Wolf 4: Higher Ground

Chapter 5: An Arm For A Finger

2 hours later...

California State Hospital,

Ben and Wolf walked down the hallway looking for Nate's room.

"Do you find it odd that we can't find Mark Cooper?" asked Wolf,

Ben nodded,

"I do but sometimes when such a traumatic event happens people hide away as a way of dealing. Some people, such as my self try to bury the trauma in our work," replied Ben.

They were dealing with two possible scenarios as to how Nate survived; It's possible that Nate took advantage of the fact that the Chainsaw Killer had an injured right arm. The other is that Mark Cooper could have interrupted.

When they found Nate's room they knocked quietly then entered; Nate's head was covered in bandages, stitches and a lot of bruising and swelling.

"My God Nate, what did he do to you?" gasped Ben in shock.

Nate smiled a bit and held up his right hand; his ring finger was missing.

Ben noticed Nate's wife and sixteen year old son sitting by his bedside.

"Diane...Pete...this is Sergeant's Ben Starsky...and Wolf Bourdon," moaned Nate as he pointed to them.

Diane stood up and walked up to them,

"So you're the two that's helping Nathan with the case?" asked Diane,

Ben and Wolf nodded and took a seat beside Nate.

"Nate if you're up to it we need you to tell us what happened; the mess in the tea room isn't much help," explained Wolf.

Nate sat up as best he could,

"I was working late and decided that I was in need of a coffee," began Nate, "before I could even turn the light on in the tea room I was grabbed from behind around the neck. He wanted to know how much I knew about the Chainsaw Murders. I remember being thrown into the wall and... He turned the light on...6'4", blond hair couldn't see his face...he had on some sort of custom made welders mask."

Ben and Wolf looked at each other; the description wasn't much to go on but it was a start.

"Nate, your partner Mark Cooper found you, He's too traumatized to say anything and we can't find him. We think he was the one that interrupted the Chainsaw Killer," added Ben.

Nate took some time to recollect what happened.

"After I saw the killer, he pulled out a chainsaw. I tried defending my self, lost my finger in the process but I remembered about the dog bite on his right arm; I slammed it on the bench in the tea room, He slammed my head on the bench and that when it gets fuzzy. Must have blacked out cause' the next thing I remember is waking up here," explained Nate.

After a few more questions Ben and Wolf left; in the car Ben was thinking, some of the information didn't add up. He dialed Bryan's number and waited for an answer,

"Bryan, it's Starsky, can you run a background check on Mark Cooper," said Ben.

"Ben, he's an Agent; we don't have the clearance, we wouldn't get clearance unless we had a very good reason," replied Bryan.

Ben sighed a bit,

"I think going off grid is a valid reason," explained Ben, "Just find a way around it," There was silence for a bit then Wolf spoke up.

"It's just a thought but we could ask David if he knows anything about the Chainsaw Murders," suggested Wolf.

Ben looked out the side window,