Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“That’s what we thought would happen,” Koen pointed out. “That’s why we sent you the short way so you could go home.”
“Well, I didn’t see her. So I’m coming back down. I’ll wait in my truck in case you need me.”
I hooked the radio back to my belt and headed to the right on a hunch.
The bottom part of the trail led to a really great meadow that I’d seen several animals drinking out of the creek beside it.
Maybe she was…
My snowmobile coughed, sputtered, and died.
“Fuck,” I grumbled as I tried to start it up.
It didn’t so much as catch.
“Fuck.”
The state issued us all snowmobiles to use while working, and the one I’d gotten had been the shittiest of them all. It died on a regular basis, and was so inconsistent that there were times that I felt it was easier to set out in waist-high snow than hop on this machine.
Now was one of those times…
“Dammit to hell,” I sighed and got off.
It was a good thing that it died, though, because had I not been contemplating my life, I wouldn’t have seen the fresh tracks through the snow leading to where I knew the best crossing of the creek was located.
I followed the tracks and came to a standstill when I saw Cody standing there, unharmed and aimed at a moose, standing there as pretty as could please, drinking water from the creek. That moose was very unaware of being watched, so focused on drinking that it didn’t see the danger.
Even worse, Cody had a spotlight on the moose, and she was pulled back, ready to shoot it.
“Do not shoot that,” I growled loud enough that she jolted.
The moose took off into the brush, heading straight for the light.
One second it was on one side of the creek, and the next it was barreling toward Cody who was now staring at me.
“Get out of the way!” I snapped loudly.
She whirled around just in time to see the moose lift its front paw and strike her with it.
Seconds later, it trampled her as it took off into the clearing and beyond my eyesight.
“Shit,” I growled.
Cody was unconscious, and I gently turned her head so she wasn’t facing the snow and saw the huge knot on the top of her forehead.
“Fuck,” I groaned. “Shit, piss, and hell.”
I pulled out my radio and called it in, asking for help carrying her out.
Cody lay unconscious the entire time as we waited for help to arrive.
And since I was worried she might’ve broken something important, I left her exactly where she was until a snowmobile and a stretcher showed.
Hux and Koen followed right behind the snowmobile, marching through the snow chaotically as they hurried toward Cody.
“What happened?” the medic that got off the snowmobile asked.
“Moose trampled her,” I explained.
“Great,” the medic said. “Probably several bones broken.”
We got her bundled up and on the snowmobile, and the medic rode her back to the trail head where an ambulance would be waiting.
Meanwhile, I explained exactly what I’d found to Hux and Koen.
“So when she recovers, she gets to go to jail,” Koen guessed.
“Yep,” I confirmed. “And now that I’ve seen her doing that, I can use the fletching off her bow”—I raised the bow in question—“to compare to the other moose kills in the area.”
“Other moose kills?” Hux asked.
“There’ve been six,” I said. “Along with several bear kills and one mule deer.”
“Oh, this should be fun…”
“She’s in there likely paralyzed, and you want to arrest her?” Grace, Vito’s wife, screeched.
“All the fletchings off the dead moose we’ve found lately match hers. And I literally caught her red-handed,” Major answered instead of me.
I’d done that, but Major decided that it should be him who takes the credit for this to keep me out of the spotlight.
I was thankful that I’d called in reinforcements because Grace was really starting to piss me the hell off.
“She’s not paralyzed,” a doctor added helpfully. “She has several broken bones, but none that should prevent her from leaving the hospital tomorrow morning.”
Grace whipped her head around and hissed, “Stay out of this!”
“Just adding she wasn’t paralyzed.” The doctor shrugged. “Also, she’s awake and ready to talk, officers.”
Grace stood in front of the door, barring it as if her tiny body would stop us from going inside. “You’ll wait for her lawyer!”
Major shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”
Grace looked like she was about to explode.
Grace stood at the door like a sentinel as Major and I moved to the side of the room, out of the way but still within eyesight of the door.
“What else did you find?” I asked quietly.
“Nearly every shoe print at the scene we were able to get fits the boots she was wearing,” Major explained. “Her fletchings match. Why she didn’t think to just take the arrow out of the animal, I don’t know. She even had these special pink ones that were made through a local vendor. The vendor confirmed that he was the one who made them, and that the only person he sold these particular colored arrows to lately was someone in state, and in town—Cody. Her vehicle was seen at almost every trailhead, but we dismissed it because it looked like she was clearing out the snow for the locals to park. With you finding her red-handed today, she’s going to jail for a while. There’s no way that she’s going to be able to talk herself out of this.”