Haunted in the Night

Chapter Twenty- Part Two

“Thanks, it’s just not uncommon for a unknown subject to inject him or herself into the investigation" she told Harvey who nodded understandably.
“Oh god not again" Tony suddenly groaned from upfront and Claire and Harvey exchanged curious glances before making their way up to where Tony and Jared stood, Bob behind them.
It had been just like yesterday when they had found the dead kangaroo only this time there was more, at least two kangaroos, a wombat, couple of rats and a bunny were all dead, ripped to near shreds.
“Meat been taken again?” Harvey asked as Tony and Jared inspected the corpses.
“Yep, we’re getting closer, I’m sure we’ll find even more up near the mountains" Tony replied and Claire sighed sadly, she hated seeing the sight of dead animals.
“Cruelty to animals is on the list for psychopaths right Claire?” Jared asked her loudly and all she could do was nod, trying to keep her eyes off of them as they moved the animals off to the side.
“Don’t just assume that Jared, out this far whoever this is they are doing it for food" Tony snapped at Jared, hating that Jared was trying to play detective rather than do his actual job.
“Let’s keep moving, we don’t want to be caught out in the open when night falls" Tony said as he stood back up straight after dragging the last animal off the trail, his body was tense, his eyes stern, seeing his discomfort only caused Claire to be more paranoid.
Every now and then they would stop for 5 minute breaks, have a drink, maybe some snacks to help keep them going and on every one of these breaks Tony would inspect the trees around them, he had obviously started noticing something but hadn’t mentioned it to them yet, it was making Claire unsteady.
The further into the woods they travelled the more she began to question the people they were travelling with.
Harvey had been pretty straight forward with her, telling her both his own and Jared’s background stories, then there was Jared who seemed more interested in solving his own idea of the case to prove that he should be in Bob’s and Claire’s professions and lastly there was Tony.
He had been acting stranger and stranger the further they got into the woods, noticing something but keeping it from them and Claire realised that she didn’t know his background story, only Harvey’s and Jared’s and she began to wonder, just how much could they trust him?
He would be easily capable of overpowering someone and taking them deep out into the woods, especially because he knows that this trail is never used, he’d also know how to gut the animals that had been killed out here and strip them of their meat.
But there was the question of if he is the kidnapper, why would he bring them out here to look?
Claire however had a few answers for that question but none that made her feel comfortable.
He could be leading them out here to kill them, perhaps make it look like the kidnapper attacked, make it so it looks like he was the only one to crawl out alive, the next option was that he could know that there is nothing up in those mountains so he knows it’s safe to take them there, that they won’t find anything, or he could be helping someone, a second offender, perhaps a female, after all there had been female footprints outside her cabin one night.
However there was too many questions and once again no answers to them so Claire decided she might pry a little, maybe talk to Harvey and see what he knows about Tony, after all he didn’t seemed to mind to talk to her about his fellow rangers.
However Harvey was at the back of the group, Tony and Jared were at the lead, Claire behind them with Bob after her and Harvey last, so she slowed her pace, Bob walking ahead of her and he sent her a worried glance, obviously thinking she was getting too worn out but she offered him a small knowing smile that he realised what she was doing and he kept walking and Claire ended up next to Harvey.
“Are you alright Claire? Do you need a rest?” Harvey asked her, thinking the same thing that Bob had done.
“No I’m alright, just want some company" she said and she saw him wonder, probably thinking about why she didn’t choose Bob to keep that company.
“So how long have you known Tony and Jared for?” she asked, making sure to ask about Jared as well as to not make it bluntly clear that she was only curious about Tony.
“Well I’ve only known Jared for about 2 years now but Tony I’ve known for 5” he told her, sending her small glances but still made sure to watch where he was going, he had obviously been taught to try and keep eye contact when your speaking to someone.
“How did you guys meet?” she asked, it wasn’t really what she wanted to know but she had to make it look like she was just asking normal curious questions, she couldn’t just come out and say do you think Tony could be a killer.
“I first met Jared when he signed up for the rangers, I was the one who had to show him the ropes, we would go out camping for the weekends, teach him everything he needed to know" he told her.
“Why didn’t Tony go?” she asked, looking up at him slightly, he had to be a good foot and a half taller than her.
“He was too busy at the time" vague, not the kind of answers Claire liked and she knew she couldn’t ask what he was busy with, that would be way too obvious.
“So how did you meet Tony?” she asked, he had only said how he had met Jared, not telling her about the one that she really wanted to know about.
“He came upon me and my son out camping one night, we had been gathering firewood and I was showing my son how to start a fire, Tony had been impressed, asked if he could camp with us, when we got back to town he said I showed skills as a ranger and offered me a job" he said proudly and Claire smiled, happy for him but it didn’t give Claire much of a background.
“So you guys are like brothers then" she said, it wasn’t a question, it was clear that they would be close, going out camping all the time.
“Yeah it’s really good, helps take the pain away from losing my family, these guys are like my family now" Harvey said and Claire felt a pang of guilt in her chest, she felt bad for using him to get information about his friends when they were really all he had left.
“What about their families?” Claire asked, it made her feel worse that she kept pushing but she had to get some answers, she needed to know who she was out here with.
“Jared has his mum, his dad passed away when he was little, cancer, I think his trying to hook up with the waitress at the little cafe in town" Harvey told her and Claire gasped, almost shocked.
“Coral?” she asked, disbelief in her voice, she was shocked, she had only known that Coral wanted to get out of here and move to America, she hadn’t imagined anyone here attempting to woo her.
“Yeah, he hasn’t had much success though, she has her eyes on guys with lots of money, sadly that’s not guys like us" Harvey told her and she nodded.
“Does Tony have any family?” she asked, pushing slightly, once again he had only said about Jared, she wondered if he felt uncomfortable talking about Tony for some reason, perhaps he is scared of him, maybe he knows something about Tony that his not meant to.
More questions popped into her head, ones that she couldn’t ask out right and get answers for.
“Yeah his parents, he has a wife, they’re currently trying to get pregnant" Harvey replied and she nodded, not exactly what she had been expecting, but it’s not impossible for a offender to have a family and a good life, actually she had been surprised at the number of cases she looked at.
Many rapists had spouses and kids, even murderers, psychopaths, everything and they managed to hide it so well from them that they had no idea who they were living with.
“Why are you so curious anyway?” he suddenly asked her and she gasped, caught off guard, she didn’t know how she was going to reply to that.
“Just trying to make conversation" she told him, it was the only thing that she could come up with but the look he gave her told her that he didn’t fully believe what she was saying.
She didn’t ask him anything more after that, she knew she had reached her limit but still hadn’t gotten much useful information from him.
A few more hours passed, the path out here was really hard to see, a couple of times Tony had to stop, to look hard to tell which way it went and Claire worried that he was going to get them lost, especially if it was going to be on purpose.
The trail twisted and turned, rocks and tree roots making it hard to see, and to walk on, for a little bit they actually had to walk on the awkward rocks, Claire had nearly lost her balance a couple of times but thankfully they all made it through but when they did they were buggered.
“We have to set up camp, we’ll never make it to the mountains tonight, not with our legs and feet aching like they are, we’ll have to reach them tomorrow" Tony told them, however the trees and bushes were too thick, there was no place to set up camp.
“But how are we going to do that?” Claire asked worried, they couldn’t stay out in the open with no fire or tents when night fell.
“I don’t know, Jared and I will spread out and try to find a clearing, we’ll be back in ten minutes, Harvey you stay here with Bob and Claire" Tony said as he grabbed out two rolls of twine, handing one to Jared.
“What’s that for?” Claire asked Harvey, concerned that they were the kidnappers and that they were going to tie them up with the twine.
“They attach it to a tree and walk with it through the trees, that way when they need to find their way back they just follow it right back here" Harvey explained to her and she took a deep breath, being out here made her so much more paranoid and she hated it.
Claire, Bob and Hervey rested while they waited, Bob was snacking on pretzels and Harvey was on guard.
It only took them the ten minutes they had said before Tony and Jared reappeared, a happy smile on Tony.
“I’ve found a spot, not two minutes from here, I left the end of the reel there so we can follow it, just don’t pick up the twine, we’ll need it tomorrow morning to get back to this spot" Tony told them.
Claire looked nervously at Bob, she didn’t feel all that comfortable leaving the trail, she feared that she might never see it again.
“Come on Claire" Harvey said to her, noticing her hesitation, Tony, Jared and Bob had already began entering the trees away from the trail, Harvey held out his hand for her.
Claire looked down at the trail, almost desperately, not wanting it to leave her sight before she looked back up at Harvey who was watching her with concern.
“Claire it’s alright, we’ll get back here in the morning" Harvey told her, figuring out her anxiety and tried to comfort her, still holding his hand out for her.
Slowly she took it and he helped her climb over a log before they began following the twine through the brush.
It didn’t take them long before they came upon the small clearing and they began setting up the tents while Claire and Bob collected firewood, Bob collected the bigger logs while Claire gathered the kindling.
Once they were all set up they sat down for dinner around the fire, more soup, and every few minutes Claire kept looking at the twine left tied to a tree, just to make sure it was still there, as if it would suddenly disappear and she’d be lost to the woods forever.
These woods had haunted her nearly all her life, she had dreamed of the woods many times since she had left here, dreamt that she could hear her parents calling out to her, she would run in trying to find them but never could and she’d get lost, lost in the emptiness of the trees.
“It’ll still be there in the morning Claire, and even if by chance it’s not we have other skills that help us find our way, don’t stress" Tony finally said to her, apparently they had all been noticing.
“We’ll get to the mountains tomorrow, I just hope we’re all prepared for what we might find" Bob told her and she nodded.
“Oh and by the way Claire I know that you were asking Harvey about me, next time you want to snoop into my life I’d appreciate it if you asked me directly next time okay" Tony suddenly snapped at Claire who gasped in shock, the death glare he was giving her sent shivers down her spine.