Gabriel Hawke Novels Books 1-3 by Paty Jager

Author:Paty Jager
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Northwest Mystery, Native American Master Tracker, Game Warden Mystery, Remote Settings mystery, Mystery with a twist
Publisher: Windtree Press
Published: 2020-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

Rattlesnake Brother

A Gabriel Hawke Novel

Book 3

Chapter One

Two large objects wrapped in brown sacking hung in a pine tree twenty feet off the dirt road. Two bull elk heads leaned against the base of the tree. A lone camp trailer, closed up as if no one were there, sat thirty feet from the pine with a fire pit between the camp trailer and hanging carcasses. There wasn’t a vehicle in sight.

Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Gabriel Hawke stopped his vehicle. He started to type the trailer’s license plate number into his computer. No signal. His right hand settled on his radio mic at his left shoulder. “Dispatch. This is Hawke. I’m about five miles from Coyote Springs on Forest Service Road forty-eight-sixty.”

“Copy.”

“I have a lone camp trailer and two elk hanging in a tree. Trailer license is Oregon- ...” He called in the number and scanned the area waiting for the dispatcher’s reply.

“The trailer belongs to Duane Sigler of Eagle, Oregon.”

Sigler. The man had a penchant for poaching. “Copy.”

Hawke turned off his vehicle and stepped out, putting his cap on his head. He tucked his head down in the fur-lined collar of his coat. The first of November in Wallowa County always had a bite in the air. At this elevation, three inches of snow covered the ground.

No one appeared to be in the camp trailer. There wasn’t the hiss of a propane furnace. No sound, no movement. He knocked on the door just in case someone was sleeping.

No answer.

He scanned the area. Two folding chairs leaned up against the trailer. Two elk, two people, that was okay. But then why were they out driving around if they’d already filled their tags?

The antlers were a three-point and a four-point. Either one would make a nice trophy of the hunt on a wall.

Hawke walked over. There were tags tied to the base of the antlers. Just as required. That was a good sign, considering one of the hunters liked to not play by the hunting rules.

He untied the string around one tag and opened it. The month and date hadn’t been notched out. Not a good sign. He glanced at the name on the tag. Duane Sigler. That matched the trailer license. He tied that tag back on and untied the other one.

Again, the tag wasn’t notched out. Benjamin Lange. Hawke stared at the name. The county district attorney wouldn’t be hunting with a known poacher, would he? It could be someone with the same name.

A glance at the address and he was pretty sure it was the district attorney. The D.A. lived on the west side of Wallowa Lake and that was the address listed.

Hawke replaced the tag and decided he’d wait for the hunters to return.

«»«»«»

Thirty minutes later as Hawke finished off a cup of coffee, Sigler’s pickup slowly drove up the road. There had been two pickups with hunters and a jeep come by while he waited. He’d talked to the people in each vehicle and wrote them down in his logbook.

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