The two kids sitting outside his office were scared out of their minds.
After all they had been through, plus another two hour scary hike back waiting for another attack; who could blame them.
Hank yanked open the ammo drawer, snatched three cartons of shotgun shells, and shoved them into his vest. If they were going up against ole’ Barnabus, he wanted as much firepower as they could carry. It was going to be dark in a couple of hours so he also grabbed an extra flashlight and clipped it to his vest. After what had happened to him in the Rakewell building, he wanted as much light as he could carry too.
The kid, Horatio, had done most of the talking. Hank was hopeful of finding survivors, but he’d read the unspoken truth in Emma’s shattered expression. He had been in law enforcement long enough to know she wasn’t telling him the whole story, but considering what she’d been through, he decided not to press her for now.
Jeb entered his office with two hunter types trailing behind him. They both wore camouflage pants, stained hunting vests, and heavily worn hiking boots. One was pushing fifty, the other about half that. Judging from their similar builds and facial structures Hank guessed them to be related.
“I knew this would happen. I been saying it for years,” Jeb said, as he guided the hunters into his office. “That old bear ain’t been right in the brain ever since people started fillin’ him with lead. And now those poor geologists had to pay the price.”
“Any luck on raising reinforcements?” Hank asked, still loading up his vest.
“Ophelia’s put a call to the troopers but the nearest one is at least two hours away, and she said that’s only if we’re lucky.”
Jeb must’ve seen Hank staring at the two men behind him for he added, “Oh, right. Now Hank, as much as I’d like to take a shot at old Barnabus myself this ole’ body a mine isn’t up for the trek, but I’m sending you with the two best trappers in HavenPort.” He patted the older man on the shoulder. “This here’s Yuri and his son Petor.”
The older man sneezed loudly into his hand.
“Bless you,” Hank said, dryly.
The Russian hunter nodded in thanks as a long oozer dangled from his nose. He wiped the snot on his hand and then offered to shake. “Nice to meet you, Sheriff McCarthy.” His Russian accent was thicker than the mucus in his palm.
Hank shook the mucus-ridden hand without hesitation and forced himself not to grimace while doing it. He immediately disliked the two Russians, although he couldn’t explain it; Hank never figured himself for a racist. When he glanced over at Petor, he caught the younger man staring appreciatively at the photo of his wife in a picture frame on his desk; staring a little too appreciatively.
“Petor, was it?”
The boy remained silent and merely nodded. Regardless, Hank returned the nod and forced a warm smile.
“There’s a lot of bear traps in those woods.” Jeb explained. He rolled his eyes to the two trappers. “There’s not supposed to be any on the trails, but there are. These fellers will be able to help you steer clear of them seein’ how they put most of them up there in the first place.”
“I do not know what Jeb is talking about.” The elder Russian replied disinterested. Clearly this was an ongoing thing between the two men. “He is crazy person or something.”
Jeb snorted, and then continued. “You’ll be able to reach the campsite by going in the back way; these boys know the way. The route’s a lot longer than the trail, but this way you’ll be able to ride in on four-wheelers and get up there a lot faster. Watch out for snow on the ground and the road will be icy in places, but you’ll be able to carry out any survivors on the wheelers.”
“I’d like to go with you, Sheriff.”
It was Emma. The two kids had crept up in the open doorway and must have been eavesdropping. Before he could answer, Horatio, presumably her boyfriend, said to her, “Uh, Emm, maybe that’s not such a good idea.”
Emma shot him a look that clearly stated he was not her boyfriend and she could do what she wanted. Turning back to Hank she meekly asked, “Excuse me, Sheriff?”
When the two had first arrived, Emma had barely said a word. Turning his full attention towards her, he asked, “What’s the matter, Emma?”
“I didn’t say anything before…”
Here we go. Now we’re getting to the nitty-gritty.
“…but I don’t think it was a bear that killed those men.”
Jeb scoffed. “What do you mean, girl. What else could have killed those geologists like that?”
“Emma, don’t,” Horatio interjected, but he was ignored.
“I saw a man.”
Hank took a step closer towards her. “Did you see him well enough to get a description?”
“Uh, I think so, but I’m not very good with describing people.” The young girl before him looked as though she might come apart at any moment. She was literally trembling. Whatever she’d seen hadn’t been pretty. Hank knew he had to slow down or she might clam up completely. “Emma, you’re safe now. You know that right? No bear or anyone else can hurt you. Just take your time and tell me what you saw.”
Emma nodded solemnly. She took a deep breath that seemed to steady her.
As Hank fished for the small notebook he always kept in his shirt pocket, Jeb blurted out impatiently, “Nationality, height, weight, hair color; that sort of thing.”
Emma shot back, “You mean aside from the fact that the guy was naked and trying to kill me with an axe?”
Hank jerked his head up. A chill ran down his spine. “Did you say he was naked?” He remembered full well the first day on the job when he had his own run-in with the naked man in the Rakewell building: the bloody severed head, the smiling jack-o-lantern grin, the ax dripping with blood.
But Jeb still wasn’t convinced, “Horatio, did you see this naked guy?”
This time Emma answered for him. “Horatio was busy climbing up the ladder. I’m not crazy. I know what I saw.” Her fists clenched at her sides.
Jeb waited for Horatio’s answer. Horatio avoided Emma’s gaze and sighed before answering. “No, Jeb. I only saw Barnabus when he stuck his head over the ledge.”
Emma shot Horatio a look. She seemed a touch heartbroken at his betrayal; then that heartbreak turned to an expression of anger. Horatio finally noticed and added weakly, “But Emma was the only one who set foot on the ridge. Just because I didn’t see him, doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”
Jeb appeared as shocked as he likely was, but Hank felt vindicated. Another eyewitness. It wasn’t possible for both of them to be crazy. The jack-o’-lantern guy was real.
The older hunter, Yuri, glanced between them, “Well, if there was naked man up on ridge in these temperatures either bear ate him or damn fool would be frozen to death. Either way, we should go now.”
Hank eyed the two untested hunters. They had Jeb’s recommendation and their equipment appeared well used though serviceable, but for some reason, he just didn’t trust them. If he thought his old “coffee-talk” pal and avid outdoorsman, Doc Clemens, was up for the journey, he would’ve preferred to take the doc with him instead. Deciding the two hunters would just have to do, he turned to Jeb and said, “Okay, have Ophy call in the doc and tell them both to meet at the trail head with the ambulance. Tell them to be ready for wounded.” Turning to the hunters he asked, “You sure you boys are up for this?”
“Da, Sheriff. Back home we seen more than our share of bodies.”
That didn’t exactly give Hank the warm fuzzies.
Both men headed for the door. Emma filed in behind the two trappers as they made for the well-used four-wheelers parked outside by the curb.
Jeb blocked Emma’s path, “Whoa, whoa, where do you think you’re going little lady?”
Hank saw the expression on Emma’s face; she liked being called little lady about as much as she liked Horatio not backing up her story. Staring at Jeb she said, “Sheriff, would you please tell your deputy to move his arm?”
For a moment, Hank actually considered Emma joining the rescue party. She was young and inexperienced, but she seemed fairly levelheaded, she seemed to be managing her shock well, and he certainly could use an extra pair of hands. If he didn’t have the trappers to guide him, and a good location on the victims, he might’ve taken her. The reality was he didn’t have enough manpower to search for survivors and protect her — if it came to that.
Finally he answered, “Thank you Emma, but you’ve done more than enough. We’ll take it from here.”
“I wasn’t asking for permission, Sheriff,” Emma fired back.
Horatio stepped forward, “Emma, let the sheriff do his job.”
Emma shot Horatio a venomous glare. That boy was batting a thousand today. Emma was also probably wondering why Horatio wasn’t volunteering to go too.
Hank took a less aggressive approach. “Emma, do you even have a four-wheeler?”
Before she could answer, the younger Russian Petor stuck his head back inside and offered a tad bit too enthusiastically, “Girl can ride with me, Sheriff.”
Emma looked back at the sheriff with a smug expression and raised eyebrows.
Hank remembered the young man ogling his wife’s picture and answered Emma, “Yeah … I don’t think so.”
Emma spun around on her toes and headed after the trappers. She stopped only to give Horatio a dismissive glance.
Horatio wore a look of shame but clearly he had no intention of joining them, and then he too filed out the door.
Despite the extra weight, Hank grabbed one more box of ammunition and stuffed it inside his coat pocket. He slammed the drawer closed and moved into his outer office. Perfect. He should have known these past few weeks were too good to be true. A multiple homicide. The only silver lining of this latest nightmare is at least now someone else had seen the naked man.
From the reception area he heard Emma call his name and he was surprised to see everyone standing stock still, all staring intently through the front window.
When he switched his gaze from them to the street outside he saw a man strolling down the center of Main Street.
He was naked.