"So what even is this thing? We've seen three corpses, two locat-"Bennet was interrupted before he could finish his sentence by the man angrily shaking two pieces of pancake at his face, sitting across from him at Truth, Montana's only diner.
"I saw three bodies, you saw the photos." Nea said, his tone almost angry through the mouth stuffed full of pancake.
"Fine, whatever," Bennet said, lifting his hands from the table. "All we've seen are things that point to a serial murderer, not something that you were suggesting on the plane. This isn't a werewolf, or even random sporadic Bigfoot encounters could explain, let alone be considered to be plausible leads for this case."
"Sporadic bigfoot encounters? No, no, no, Bigfoot are normally g-"
"I don't care Campbell, because all your Bigfoot statistics are beside the point. I faxed the images from the victims you took the day before, to a colleague of mine who works as a contractor for the FBI. They said that these are all marked with clear intent: Precise and calculating. Because of that these are ritual killings, the type some creep does naked in the woods to bring him good fortune. Our suspect is probably someone well known in the community."
"Wait, wait, wait…You're saying you think this is just some psycho killing people because the full moon asks him too?" Nea asked, eyes wide in disbelief as if Bennet had just told him he didn't believe in gravity.
" I'm not saying that that's not completely impossible, but from what we've seen of the dump sites there is no reason to suggest that anyone of those unrealistic idea can easily fall through." Bennet responded rather rationally.
" I don't have to take this from a man who puts no cream in his coffee." Nea said taking a sip of his coffee.
Bennet had almost spit the drink of coffee he had taken. "How does that relate to what we're talking about. "
"It relates perfectly, I'm just saying that most serial killers drink their coffee black." Nea said.
"That's a bunk statistics," Bennet chided.
"Getting back on subject," Nea moved his had as if to fan away the discussion of Bennet having the makings of a serial killer in him. "How could you possibly know a human could have done it?"
Bennet bit back a sharp response on the subject of the supernatural, giving him a self a second to gather his thoughts. "I told you, I called a damn expert on the subject last night! I even faxed h-"
"Wait, you faxed someone while I wasn't in the room!That phone call! You lied to me! I can't believe it! You weren't talking to a girlfriend at all! You're single aren't you?" Nea faked being extremely offended to the point of turning away from Bennet completely.
Bennet held a very straight unamused face as the man played his act. Ignoring Nea's question and accusation, he moved on. "I am almost certain that this is a serial wacko getting his shits and giggles out here in the middle of nowhere."
A waitress came over and began to refill their coffee cups, just as Nea was about to jump into another rant about how probably bigfoot could have committed the crimes.
"Would you gentlemen like anything else?"
"No, thank you," Nea said, not looking at her.
"Alright then, I'll come back with your bill," She walked off.
Nea was about to continue his point when his cell phone rang. Bennet gave him a snide smirk as the other man picked it up, and without the other man to entertain him, Bennet began to zone out looking around the café, boring decor for a simple little town, typical. Waitresses in almost full fifties uniforms aesthetic, wearing aprons and sneakers to make it easier on them and keep the look.
"Right, we're on our way…" Nea muttered before closing the flip phone in his hand and quickly standing up. "We're going." He pulled a few bills and left them on the table, chugging his sugared coffee and grabbing the last pancake off the plate and eating it in hand like a savage.
Bennet stared at him. "Can I not finish my coffee in peace?"
"There's been another body…"Nea said, and without hesitation Bennet left his seat taking a last sip of his coffee, which wasn't even half finished.
After a bumpy care ride and Nea's sticky table syrup hands grasping almost desperately to the last bite of pancake he had. Bennet glanced at his so-called partner getting fussy about the syrup still on his fingers, trying desperately not to wipe it on his pants. How was he a functioning adult?
"Just wipe it on the grass!" Bennet shouted. Under his breath, he added, 'moron', before they move on.
Police tape marked off a small area near a lake. Snow covered almost everything and in the distance, a few cabins sat on the same road. However, towards the police tape and between some trees , about twenty police officers standing over something, and between them, Bennet caught a glimpse of a foot. A shiver when down his spine as Nea had already begun to walk forward. Bennet staggered behind, giving enough room between Nea and himself. Instead of walking towards the body Bennet chose to interrogate one of the first responders, and pulled aside a young police officer.
"Do we have any clue on what happened?" Bennet whispered, letting the panic and concern of the first responders rise around them.
"A man walking his dog found him…One, Jacob Hampton…He lived in the neighborho-"
"Bennet, come look at this," Nea called, interrupting the officer. Bennet could see the gloves on Nea's hands, and a man presumed to be the coroner. The color of red stood out harshly against the white and brown of winter's cold grasp. A cruel color of heat.
"I'm fine over here," Bennet said back, refusing to move already feeling generally queasy about his distance from the body. Nea gave him a look of displeasure.
After a few hours of arguing, they had end up back at the Sheriff's office. Papers scattered about as well as disposable paper cups.
"Jacob Hampton, A teacher at the high school. Reports say there were no people who even generally disliked him, except you know the normal high school dropouts that dislike most teachers," Bennet said, watching Nea pace around, highlighter in hand in some attempt to make sense of everything.
"Three completely random victims, three locations scattered around town...towns…cause god forbid there be more than one sheriff department out in this godforsaken place," Nea muttered drinking what had to be his fourth cup of coffee that day. "All with bite marks."
"But the humanoid creature Ms. Miller told you about had yet to appear…surprise," Bennet droned,leaning back in his chair as he looked at the photos of Mr. Hampton's remains. The coroner had told Nea that the bit marks weren't exactly human, yet they weren't far enough from human to be anything else but.
"Nea, We have no suspects, not motive, I'm afraid this set of murders will have to be set will be have to be put in the cold case files."
"No," The other man said not looking back at Bennet.
"No? We've been here for days! The local police department doesn't have any leads! WE don't have any leads!" Bennet stood up slamming his hands on the table, making Nea and the paper cups on the table jump a little.
"What are we going to tell them, that we wasted, hundreds of dollars' worth of taxpayer money so we could freeze our asses off out here?"
"There has to be something! There has to be!" Nea said, his eyes determined and calculating, staring straight at Bennet.
"Let's face it…We have nothing but some bodies and the snow." Bennet said.
"I know…I KNOW DAMNIT," Nea shouted. "But there still is a chance…The coroner, he should be looking over the body right now… so maybe…"
"You have until tomorrow afternoon to come up with some kind of proof before I call in and have us pulled out of this town in the middle of butt fuck nowhere." Bennet said.
"I realize you weren't sent to be my partner…They sent you to keep me in check right?" Bennet froze, and Nea gave a dry smirk. " Ha….It's written all over your face, you can't even deny it. I know you're not here to be my friend, hell even to assist me, But please have some faith in me, that even if. Even if it's a serial murder as you say, that I can solve it. So please…."
"You have until tomorrow afternoon." Bennet spoke firmly before leaving the room.
Nea hung his head leaning against the table for support.
Bennet looked back at the office, He felt a little annoyed at the guilt that coursed through him. He sighed. It was days like these he really wished he hadn't quit smoking so long ago.
Bennet hastily pulled his coat on and walked outside into the cold sun of the Montana winter. He pull out his phone once again, holding the flip phone up to the sky, even going through the effort of pulling out the stubborn antenna from the phone. He walked carefully down the street slight, watching out for people driving carelessly or large trucks. He wanted to go back to Washington. Suddenly his phone rang.
"Hello? Hi, did you find anything? Uh, great…There was another body found…yea. I'll fax the pictures to you if you don't mind. Yea, uh-huh, thanks." Bennet hung up the phone and automatically turned around and returned the police station.
He looked into the room where Nea still stood, completely engulfed in finding any connection between the victims, too preoccupied to notice Bennet reentering the room. Swiping photo documentation of the bite marks off the table he went to the police station's fax machine, punching a familiar 10-digit code and sending them away. Only to receive back a few minutes later copies of the photographs that had been sent the night before. Writing was visible in the black and white distortion and coloration of the copy.
Reading over the notes, he began to immerse himself in the details that were laid out in plain English. The fax machine made a sound only for a copy of the recent picture come out. A Note in the margins was the only thing on it.
They're the same.
He froze. Then another came from the fax machine.
I don't know what you're going up against but this is some freaky shit. From these shitty pictures, I say you are looking for a human. This is some cannibalistic shit, be careful out there and watch for anyone who may be behaving, in a manner that's not completely sane.
A shiver went down his spine. He took the papers and walked back into the office. Setting the newly faxed pages on the table. Bennet then quickly removed his jacket.
"Any word from the coroner?"
"Yea he called a little bit ago…" Nea stated. "All the tests were inconclusive. But the teeth marks were the same as the last victims...Why do you have black and white copies of the crime scene and autopsy photos?"
"Remember that colleague of mine?" Bennet asked as he spread out the faxes on the table. "They sent these. They said from what the photograph even at this quality, are probably human marks, see the notes here and here. The most likely reason as we, I've stated before is Cannibalism. So we have a motive now."
"Food," Nea said. "Our victims what connects them? Victim number one, male, about thirty to forty years old found up the lake… Next a female, forty years old, found here…Ms. Miller's Neighborho…."
"It's not the old lady; before you even go there…she would have eaten us." Bennet said. "Next, a man, twenty years old…in this location, just off the highway…"
"And lastly, the man from this morning. Found up near the lake, off the residential road. Wait… All these bodies only had parts of them bitten out of them and then hidden in areas, that aren't visible from main roads."
"But Mr. Hampton wa-"Bennet started.
"First responders had moved the body after they photographed it. They only thought to alert us about the incident, after they had move the body up out of the brush." Nea said. "You would have heard that if you hadn't stayed back to interview people."
"I got enough information thank you." Bennet said automatically defensive.
"Uh-huh, sure…" Nea said. "Again, he was bitten and then hidden out of sight…"
"Wait…It's been a long time since my last biology class…but don't wild animals store their kill for later?" Bennet said.
"You're right…It could be a Wendigo." Nea said.
"A what?" Bennet asked the skepticism in his voice rising.
"A Wendigo, a cannibalistic spirit or monster depending on who you ask. They eat people, because they're perpetually starving. They come from Algonquin tradition." Nea said.
"I don't feel like you're doing their beliefs justice." Bennet said.
"I'm not but it's been a long time since I've come across anything similar." Nea replied.
"Even so, where are the Algonquin people from?" Bennet asked.
"The Northern Atlantic." Nea said starting to lose interest in the conversation and beginning to engross himself in the notes.
"We are in a desert, in the middle of the boundary between the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. So I'm going to say No."
"We need to go back to the murder site." Nea said almost shooting up from the hunch position he had taken in over the table, startling Bennet in the process.
"Nea, it's a quarter to five, by the time get out there the sun will be down."
"Get your coat." The man practically ran past him.
"You're going to Freeze your nads off!" Bennet shouted after him, then muttering, " oh for the love of…" as he grabbed his coat and hurried after him.