Page 8 of The Catcher (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #5)
“Everything is important, McKenzie. Details! Phone him, ask, and get back to me. Also, can you have him come to the station today? Her too. I’d like to speak to them both.” He paused for a second. “Oh, why is there no mention of any cell phones found? Teens are never far from them.”
“You know, Porter from your department is working on this case. You should speak to him. The state hauled away the teen’s truck for inventory. It could be in that stash. They also interviewed both of them yesterday.”
“Well, it never made the report.”
“No surprise there. Porter is a jackass, and this is High Peaks; everything moves at a snail’s pace except for crime.
But don’t you worry your cotton socks, my little Sutherland, McKenzie won’t drop the haggis.
I’ll get back to you.” He hung up, leaving Noah shaking his head.
McKenzie had a way of speaking about himself in the third person.
It was beyond odd, but he’d come to expect it.
He often wondered how long ago he lost his marbles.
Noah turned back to the location where the geocache container had been found.
He walked the scene, observing the photo of the size 12 footprints that had been found.
He played out various scenarios; nothing could hold up in a court without substantial evidence.
While he waited on McKenzie’s call, something that could take a while if anything distracted him, Noah texted Callie to see if she had come across the gadget .
The response from Callie came back fast.
I was told photos had already been taken.
Noah stared at his phone and then tapped out a response. But did you see the note under the container lid?
I did, but like you, I assumed they had it.
I wasn’t there to collect evidence; I was just sketching out the scene, taking notes, and asking questions for McKenzie.
He couldn’t be there. By the time I got out there, the DEC crime scene investigators were already hard at work.
One of them was a jerk. State arrived after.
And cell phones for the teens?
Ask Porter.
And there it was again. There wasn’t going to be any way around it. It had been a while since Noah and Declan Porter had last spoken and worked together. Noah tapped the contact and took a breath to steel himself for the conversation. Fortunately, it went directly to voicemail.
Thank God.
He left a message and then hung up.
Noah pocketed his phone, cupped his hands, and blew into them. Now that fall was well underway, the temperature was dropping. He wasn’t looking forward to another brutal winter and plowing his way out of his driveway. That was the downside to living in the middle of the sticks.
A moment later, his phone jingled in his pocket.
“McKenzie. What you got?”
“The laddie said that he never put a gadget in the geocache. Some of the items found weren’t his.”
“What do you mean?”
“He created the geocache a long time ago. It’s hard to explain.
I barely understood what he was talking about.
But either way, he doesn’t recall that geocache having a gadget but that if someone else put one there, you would usually find it nearby.
He advised looking around, checking the ground, up in the trees, they’re often attached to things. ”
“But what is it?”
“Some way to hide coordinates. You have to interact with it.”
“That’s it?”
“Uh-huh. Like I said, I couldn’t make heads or tails of what he was saying, but he said the same thing about my accent. Anyway, I have him coming into the station in the next hour.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “All right,” he muttered before thanking him and hanging up. He turned to some of the deputies who were nearby, waiting to take him back to his truck. “Have you seen any gadgets around here? Anything attached to trees?”
They shook their heads.
Noah began looking, lifting his gaze up and down trees.
As Noah ventured through the dense foliage, the crisp fall air nipped at his skin.
His footsteps echoed through the forest, the fallen leaves crunching underfoot with each step.
Nearby, the chatter of police radios filled the air, intermingling with the rustle of leaves and the distant call of birds.
After a few minutes of careful exploration, Noah’s keen eyes caught sight of something unusual protruding from a nearby tree. It seemed to blend into the natural surroundings, partially obscured by fallen leaves, unnoticed by any casual observer. Intrigued, Noah made his way closer.
The box was reminiscent of a small fuse box affixed to the tree trunk. Spray-painted in black on the front was a geocache symbol, indicating its purpose. Below the emblem was a warning sign against unauthorized access, labeling the box as a
“Climate Control Monitoring System.”
A metal wand was attached to one side of the box while a padlock secured its contents.
Noah glanced down at the photos in his hand, confirming his suspicions: the key to the padlock was contained within the geocache.
Cursing under his breath, Noah realized that the evidence he needed had already been bagged and taken back to the station.
“Aaron!” Noah called out, his voice cutting through the forest ambiance.
“Yeah?” Aaron’s response came from nearby .
“Gonna need a bolt cutter or something to get this lock off,” Noah shouted back.
Aaron gave a thumbs-up in acknowledgment before disappearing briefly into the foliage. Noah waited patiently, the anticipation building with each passing second.
Noah rubbed his arms to ward off the chill, the cold seeping through his jacket despite his efforts to stay warm. After what felt like an eternity, Aaron reappeared with a bolt cutter in hand, ready to assist.
With a swift motion, Aaron severed the padlock with a satisfying click. Noah wasted no time opening the metal box door, revealing a small blank screen and an opening with a connector for a rectangular 9-volt battery.
“You got a battery?” Noah inquired, turning to Aaron.
Aaron nodded and hurried off again, disappearing into the surrounding trees for the requested item. Left alone with the mysterious device, Noah examined it closely, trying to make sense of its purpose.
“What the heck is this?” Noah muttered, his brow furrowing in confusion as he studied the peculiar contraption.
Ten minutes later, Aaron returned with a battery and offered it to Noah. “Have you ever seen anything like this?” Aaron asked.
“I didn’t know what a geocache was until today,” Noah admitted, accepting the battery and connecting it to the device. As the battery made contact, the screen lit up, pulsing with lettering that formed a message before Noah’s eyes .
TO FIND THE NEXT STAGE, YOU WILL
NEED IT TO BE 40 DEGREES HOTTER OR COLDER. USE THE PROBE AND YOUR SOURCE OF HEAT OR COLD TO GAIN THE COORDINATES TO STAGE TWO.
USING FIRE WILL MAKE THIS GADGET FAIL.
READY?
Noah’s eyebrows furrowed as he read the next message on the screen. It gave him the current temperature of 22 degrees fahrenheit and it said the probe was 21 degrees fahrenheit.
“Hold this a second,” he instructed Aaron, handing him the probe. With a determined expression, Noah began to blow warm air into his hands, rubbing them together vigorously. Once he felt they were warm enough, he grasped the probe and focused on the screen.
The numbers on the screen fluctuated as Noah held the probe, the digits gradually increasing. 24, 28, 32, 41... “Strange as hell,” Aaron remarked, echoing Noah’s thoughts.
“Always is,” Noah replied, his attention fixed on the screen. The temperature on the probe continued to rise, climbing steadily until it reached 52 degrees. Noah’s brow furrowed in concentration as he rubbed the probe between his hands, coaxing it to reach the required temperature.
“Come on, baby,” he muttered, willing the temperature to reach 61 degrees. Finally, another message appeared as the digits on the screen aligned with his target .
“Congratulations,” Noah read aloud the message, relief flooding through him. “The next stage can be found at the coordinates GC7R8B1.”
Aaron frowned, perplexed. “That doesn’t look like coordinates. What the hell is that?” he asked.