The Fall (A Lake Superior Mystery Book 1) by Trevor Scott

Author:Trevor Scott [Scott, Trevor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Calabria Publishing
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

14

The next morning, Romano picked up Vic with her Bay City Police rig, an older Chevy SUV that had seen significant salt damage from the harsh Minnesota winters.

“I think you could use a new rig,” Vic said as he buckled himself into the front passenger seat.

“Tell that to the city council,” she said, pulling away from the Bed & Breakfast parking lot.

“Why don’t you just drive the Chief’s vehicle?”

“That’s yours to drive.”

“I’ll stick with my truck,” he said.

“What if you have to go Code Three?”

“Then I’ll have to go without lights and sirens,” he said. “Unless you have a portable light for me.”

“I’m sure we can find one in storage somewhere from the old days.” She tried not to smile, but it came through, nonetheless.

It took them less than fifteen minutes to travel out of town to the location where Chief Schuman had parked his police vehicle the night he was murdered. Romano parked in the exact spot the Chief had used.

They got out into the early morning cool air. Birds were chirping loudly in the deep woods, but the most prominent sound was that from the crows nearby.

“Do you know what they call a group of crows?” Vic asked Romano.

She shrugged.

“A murder of crows.”

“Now you’re making things up,” she said.

“Look it up.”

“No cell service out here.”

“Where was the Chief’s stand?”

She pointed to a spot in the thick forest.

“Lead the way young lady,” he said.

She headed off into the forest. Heavy dew swept against Vic’s pants and he knew he would be soaked by the time they exited the woods. He couldn’t believe how thick the woods were here. Vic imagined it would be easy to get lost out here without a compass.

Eventually, they came to a small downward grade. He could see the tree stand below in what must have been a natural funnel for deer. In fact, as he got closer, he could see that two deer trails seemed to cross just in front of the Chief’s stand.

Vic stopped and Romano hesitated, glancing back at him.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

“Is this about where you first saw the Chief hanging from the tree?” he asked.

“Yeah. As soon as I came over the rise. Why?”

“Just getting a picture of the scene. Were the crows this noisy then?”

“More so,” she said. Then she swept her arm toward the treetops and added, “They must have smelled death in the air.”

They continued down the hill until they stood below the tree stand.

“Will someone take that down?” Vic asked.

“I don’t know. Since it was part of the cause of the Chief’s death, I guess they decided to leave it there.”

Vic glanced about the area and saw immediately why the Chief had set up his stand here. He climbed up the steps of the ladder until his head was even with the base of the tree stand. The Chief’s safety harness flapped in the light breeze. Vic could see where someone had sliced the nylon strap to release the Chief from the harness.

Glancing down to Romano, Vic said, “Where did you first see the other hunter?”

“Danny Carlson,” she said.

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