SHERIFF LOU LISTENED to nature's masterpiece filling the air with a mix of blue jays, mountain chickadees, yellow-headed and red-winged blackbirds. The pleasing symphony soothed her hangover. She smiled as she heard a red fox yelping, a bobcat yowling and the distinct bugling of an elk. The calls reminded her of why she never moved away from Big Beaver.
Chad pointed to the tree where Beau had taken a piss.
Lou carefully walked around the tree and noticed several different kinds of sneaker prints in the dry earth at the base of the trunk and what looked like deer print or some other large mammal.
"Let's see your sneakers, Chad."
Chad looked down at his sneakers and lifted a foot for Lou to take a closer look.
"Stop being a dufus, Chad. Take one of them off so I can get a close look."
Chad shrugged as he removed his right sneaker and handed it to Lou, hopping on his left foot.
"We kinda thought Beau might still be here . . . you know, like hiding from us, like he often does."
Lou placed a sneaker carefully over a print. It matched, but the other prints had to be Beau's and the other teenagers' as the tread marks were different. She sniffed the sneaker in her hand and wished she hadn't. Her nostrils detected the strong smell of animal musk that pervaded the surrounding area. She coughed.
"Smells like some animal's been marking its territory," Lou said with watery eyes.
Chad held his nose as he took the sneaker from Lou's hand.
"Jeez . . . that smells real gross, like skunk and cooked grizzly turds," he said as he slipped on his sneaker.
Lou nodded in agreement and wondered what kind of animal had been spraying around the base of the Douglas fir. She frowned as the smell seemed not too dissimilar to the serial bather case.
Chad glanced warily at the surrounding trees and thickets. He heard a rustling and shivered.
"Maybe it was a grizzly?"
"Maybe," Lou said with a troubled look on her face.
Chad pointed out, "But if a grizzly got him, where's Beau's body parts . . . and I don't see blood all over the place." He glanced around with a mix of horror and glee on his face. "Maybe the grizzly's buried him and plans to eat him later?" The teenager looked wide-eyed at Lou. "They do that, you know." Chad searched the area with a keen eye. "But there should be some blood, don't you think, Sheriff?" He grimaced, delighting in the gruesome scenario. "Yeah, lots of blood all over the place."
Yeah, there surely would have been some sign of Beau being taken by a grizzly, thought Lou. She gave Chad a disparaging look for reveling in what might have happened to his friend. It wasn't a joking matter, anymore. She surely had to take Beau's disappearance seriously now. But something didn't quite sit right with her. She felt it in her gut. Something was off-center about the whole thing.
She gave Chad a questioning look. A part of her was hoping Beau and his friends had concocted this little charade to catch her and her deputies for the third time. The alternative that Beau had actually been taken by a grizzly or even by some nut job was a very disturbing thought indeed. Her stomach started to churn over. Of course, Beau could simply have run away.
"If this is some kind of prank, it's time to call it quits, right now," Lou demanded in a stern voice. She softened her tone. "You and the others won't get into trouble . . . I'll let you off with a warning, is all."
Chad shook his head vehemently. "It's not a prank, Sheriff, honest to God. Someone or something really has taken Beau this time."
Well, thought Lou, if Chad was messing with her, he was putting on a good act. He seemed genuine by the look on his face. Her head began to throb again. She felt a little queasy at the prospect of finding a mauled, possibly half-eaten Beau in a bear dig. She instinctively put her hand to her sensitive stomach in an attempt to quell her urge to puke. She sniffed. The musky animal spray didn't help matters.
She sighed and shook her head. She knew when she first took this job that there would be a distinct possibility of gruesome scenes where hunters had shot each other by mistake or got mauled by a bear, but thankfully, up until now she'd had it easy. Nothing much ever happened in Big Beaver, and that was fine with Sheriff Lou.
Sure, her town had its fair share of trouble, especially Saturday nights when the locals would get rowdy with tourists. But a few knocks and bruises was all that amounted to. And there was the occasional breaking and entry, car thefts by drunken teenagers, family squabbles that ended in makeup tears, juvenile trouble and last, but not least, the practical jokers-but no major crimes. Lou was kinda proud of that.
Her town was a nice amiable place to live in or to just take a vacation in. Some people in town still kept their doors unlocked at night. Her town was a good place to raise kids. It was a place where tourists came by the bus load to do some sightseeing, get a glimpse of Bigfoot, or do some hunting and fishing.
Sheriff Lou heard the approach of a vehicle's engine not far away. It was the sound of a four-wheel jeep. Who could it be? It sounded like MB's Cherokee. Could be wrong though, thought Lou. If so, the last thing she needed was someone coming to Little Beaver for a nice picnic only to find Beau's dismembered body. What would that say about her town?
She knew she'd better go and see who'd arrived. If it was just someone out for a picnic she didn't want them trampling about the place, messing up the crime scene, if there was a crime scene. She heard the vehicle's engine stop and a door slam shut.
"You think maybe some axe-wielding nut's got him?" Chad asked excitedly. "Maybe we'll find Beau's head stuck on a branch . . . that would be awesome."
Lou didn't reply. She gave Chad a quick, disparaging look then turned to leave and headed for the clearing.
Chad looked around at the vast forest with a hint of fear. He quickly followed after the sheriff.