Page 36 of The Catcher (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #5)
I t seemed too easy. Noah furrowed his brow as he examined the Adventure Lab interface.
This one seemed remarkably straightforward, unlike the previous geocaches that relied on solving puzzles and riddles.
Clicking the start button, he was presented with a map displaying five red dots scattered throughout High Peaks, with the first one at the museum highlighted with the title “Olympic Museum.”
Curiosity piqued, Noah clicked on the “see details” button and was taken to a page featuring a photo of the museum’s exterior, surrounded by flags fluttering in the wind.
A brief description of the location accompanied the image and a distance indicator.
However, what caught Noah’s attention was the greyed-out and inactive “ANSWER” button at the bottom of the page.
Above it, fine print instructed him to get closer to the location to unlock and answer the challenge question.
As Noah moved toward the flagpoles, he noticed the distance indicator on his phone decreasing steadily.
Clicking on the compass button at the top right of the screen, he gained a clearer view of his proximity to the target and the direction he needed to head.
“It’s northeast,” he noted, guiding their path.
With each step closer, Noah felt a vibration in his hand, signaling they were nearing the challenge question. Glancing down at his phone, he saw that the answer button had become active, indicating they were within range. With anticipation, he clicked on it and read the question aloud to Callie.
“How many flags are there?” Noah repeated, his gaze scanning the rows of flags surrounding the museum.
Noah and Callie stepped back slightly, their eyes sweeping over the array of flags as they began to count.
Working their way methodically around the museum, it took a little while for them to reach a consensus.
Noah entered the answer of 37 into the field provided before submitting it with a press of the button.
Noah’s anticipation grew as he was immediately taken to a completion screen, displaying a close-up of the flags they had just counted. A large “CONTINUE” button beckoned at the bottom of the screen, and Noah clicked it without hesitation .
The map reappeared, and the second red dot was highlighted, indicating their next destination: High Peaks Cemetery, located 1.1 miles south. Noah studied the directions provided, his mind racing with thoughts of what awaited them at their next stop.
The Jeep’s engine growled as the speedometer ticked up. Noah was on the phone to McKenzie. “Yes. Just go to the location. It will unlock with a question once you get there. Use the GPS.”
“Aye, I can barely make sense of phones at the best of times,” McKenzie replied with a hint of frustration.
“Just do it, McKenzie. Contact us and let us know what you find and what the question and answer were,” Noah instructed before hanging up, his heart pounding with anticipation.
Callie glanced over at him, her brow furrowed with confusion. “I don’t get it. Why would our perp make it this easy at the end?”
“Maybe because it is the end,” Noah mused, his thoughts racing.
“What?” Callie pressed for clarification.
Noah made another phone call, this time to Natalie Ashford, but it went straight to voicemail. Frustration crept into his voice as he tried again, leaving an urgent message for her to call him back as soon as possible.
“Natalie, please call me as soon as you get this. I need you to contact your nephew. ”
He sighed, disconnecting.
“Why are you calling her?” Callie inquired.
“To get the number for Tyler Ashford. He was the only other friend of Landry’s that my daughter mentioned.
Everyone else is either dead or in critical condition,” Noah explained, his mind racing with possibilities.
They couldn’t have known what would happen to the others.
Although the families of Pete Landry’s friends were aware of the unfolding situation, there had been no indication that the perp was going after specific individuals.
“Just look it up. How many Ashfords in High Peaks can there be?” Callie suggested pragmatically.
He didn’t answer.
“Noah.”
Noah hesitated, realizing the simplicity of the solution. “I don’t know her brother’s name.”
“So ask Luther,” Callie urged, her voice steady with determination.
He squeezed his eyes tight.
“Noah. This is bigger than whatever personal issues you have with them.”
Noah paused, grappling with his emotions, before finally relenting and dialing Luther’s number. He was connected to the secretary.
“Hi, this is Noah Sutherland, BCI investigator from State Police. I need to speak with Luther.”
“I’m afraid he’s away from his desk right now.”
“Tell him to get on the phone.”
“I’m sorry, sir, he isn’t here.”
“Please contact him and ask him to get back to me with Tyler Ashford’s number or at least find his grandson and keep him safe.”
He hung up, a sense of unease settling over him. “You think our perp has got Nicholas and plans to go after Tyler next?” Callie asked, her voice laced with concern.
“If McKenzie’s right, Nicholas is the perpetrator, and he has Tyler,” Noah responded, a spike of fear and confusion rushing through him at the implications of their conversation.
Callie turned down Power House Lane.
They couldn’t help but feel a sense of solemnity descend upon them as they approached.
With over 1,000 memorials, the cemetery stood as a testament to the lives and legacies of those who had come before.
Nestled behind a hotel near High Peaks Municipal Electric, it was hidden away, surrounded by a grove of trees.
“Park over there,” Noah instructed, gesturing towards a spot as he watched the compass and the number of feet decrease on his phone.
They exited the Jeep and began to walk among the gravestones, which seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance.
“You are searching for a large upright gravestone. Several family members have been buried around it,” Noah read from the app’s blurb about the location.
He tapped the photo at the top of the screen to get a better look, studying the surroundings for any familiar landmarks.
“It looks like so many others,” he remarked, furrowing his brow in concentration as he tried to compare the trees in the background and some of the other gravestones. He returned to the compass, watching how close they were getting. “Seventeen feet, northeast,” he noted. “Twelve feet, northwest.”
Suddenly, he stopped, a sense of frustration washing over him. “Shit, I must have gone by it.”
“Let me take a look,” Callie offered, her eyes scanning the surroundings as she studied the photo on the screen.
They continued moving until they were only six feet from the target location. “It has to be one of these,” Noah said, feeling a growing sense of urgency.
“Noah, look at the image. See the design on the gravestone; it looks like an open book. Over there is the only one with an open book,” Callie pointed out, her voice calm and decisive.
As they approached the gravestone adorned with fresh flowers and numerous trinkets, Noah’s phone vibrated, indicating that the question button had unlocked. “That’s it,” he confirmed, his eyes scanning the screen as he read the question. “What is their name?”
Without hesitation, Noah crouched down and looked at the name engraved on the gravestone. “Elizabeth Anderson,” he stated confidently, his fingers moving swiftly over the screen.
The completed screen showed a close-up of the gravestone with a blurb below it that read: “She didn’t deserve to die.”
Noah again lifted his eyes to the gravestone and read it:
In Memory of Elizabeth Anderson. 2005 – 2022
In an instant, his mind flashed to one of the geocaches they’d found at the phone booth and the riddle. He muttered it under his breath so quietly that not even Callie could hear:
“In the year 2024, a mystery unfolds,
Two years prior, a life foretold.
At seventeen, they met their fate,
Now, tell me, friend, what was their birth date?”
It had been 2005. His eyes drifted down to the gravestone. Forever in our hearts. Loving daughter of Anna Anderson and Joshua Anderson.
“She was only seventeen when she died.”
Callie crouched beside him, her brow knitting together thoughtfully. “Huh. I remember her.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, it was before you arrived. Two years ago, a teen from the high school took her own life. Her parents said that she’d been the target of bullying.
It couldn’t be proven. Tragic really. Ironically, her father is the current school guidance counselor.
” Even as the words left her mouth, Noah’s mind connected the dots: the meeting with Mia and the counselor at the beginning, the photo on his desk, and his conversation with Noah before he left after asking him if he’d been drinking.
“Drinking? God, no. I learned my lesson from my father. You go down that road and... well, let’s say it doesn’t end well,” Noah had interjected.
Anderson had nodded again. “You’d be right there. But tell that to the kids of today. More and more are falling off the edge of a cliff every day.”
Noah stood up, fishing out his phone. “Let’s go. ”
“The others are being handled, Noah.”
“The rest are a ruse. It’s not Nicholas who did this, it was Elizabeth’s father.”
As they hurried back to the Jeep, Noah immediately connected with McKenzie, his voice urgent.
“McKenzie, listen. It’s Joshua Anderson.
He’s killing them in an act of vengeance for bullying his daughter.
She took her own life a couple years ago.
We found the headstone. I’m heading over to his property now.
You’re going to need to call into dispatch. ”
“I will, but it might be difficult to get anyone to respond. Terry has gotten it into his thick head that Nicholas is behind it. I just heard over the radio that they're sending cruisers to the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex. A boy in distress was seen on top. They think it’s Nicholas.”
“Shit,” Noah muttered under his breath, his mind racing. He ended the call and dialed Felix to get Anderson’s address.
With Callie flooring the gas pedal, the Jeep careened around corners as they raced towards Anderson’s property, their pulses increasing at the thought of the impending confrontation.