Chapter 19
"Noah?" The voice belonged to Dispatch Supervisor Linda Hayes. "We've got a hunter reporting a body in the woods behind the old Hale property."
Noah's stomach dropped immediately. "What's the hunter's name?"
Noah was already pulling on clothes, his mind racing through the logistics of processing a crime scene in weather that would complicate evidence collection and destroy trace materials with every passing minute.
"Get McKenzie and Callie on the line. Full forensics response, and contact the State Police crime scene unit. "
“They’ve already been notified."
Heading to the Hale property took Noah through downtown High Peaks, past businesses that were just beginning to show signs of morning activity. The rain had intensified since he'd left his house, turning the streets slick and reducing visibility to the point where streetlights were still necessary.
Route 3 wound through forest that had been transformed by the weather from autumn beauty into something more ominous.
The mountains that usually provided a dramatic backdrop for the community were hidden behind low clouds and driving rain, while the trees that lined the roadway seemed to lean inward like spectators at a tragedy.
Noah's radio crackled with updates from responding units.
Gary Brennan waited in his pickup truck at the trailhead, engine running and windshield wipers fighting a losing battle against the torrential downpour.
He was a man in his sixties with the weathered appearance of someone who'd spent decades in Adirondack forests, but his usual outdoor confidence had been replaced by obvious distress at what he'd discovered.
"Officer." Brennan climbed out of his truck, pulling a rain hood over graying hair.
“Where’s the body?” Noah asked.
“Follow me.”
“You want to tell me what were you doing out here?” Noah asked, pulling up the collar on his jacket.
"Hunting. I've been using these woods for thirty years, and I've never seen anything like what's back there."
Noah introduced himself while studying the trailhead that led toward the abandoned Hale property. The original house had been demolished years ago after the murders, but the foundation and surrounding forest remained as a kind of unofficial memorial to Rebecca and Jacob Hale.
"How far in is the body?"
"Maybe half a mile, just past where the old house used to sit. There's a clearing back there. I hope you have a strong stomach, it’s not pretty." Brennan paused, seeming to gather himself. "Whoever did this wanted it to be found. Wanted people to see what they'd done."
The trail was already turning to mud under the constant rainfall, making footing treacherous and guaranteeing that any footprint evidence would be destroyed within hours.
Noah radioed for tarps and portable shelters to be brought to the scene, understanding that preserving evidence would require a lot of effort under the deteriorating conditions.
McKenzie arrived, bringing additional personnel and equipment that would be essential for proper crime scene documentation. Deputy Thorne followed minutes later
"Have we confirmed if it’s him yet?" McKenzie asked, checking his equipment while rain streamed off his jacket.
"Unknown male, apparent homicide, staging that suggests connection to the original Hale murders." Noah started up the trail, his boots already caked with mud that made every step an effort. "Brennan thinks the body's been there a while as it had signs of animal predation."
The hike through the forest felt like traveling through a tunnel of gray water and skeletal branches.
The rain had stripped most of the remaining leaves from the trees, leaving bare limbs that reached across the trail like grasping fingers.
Visibility was limited to perhaps twenty feet in any direction, creating an atmosphere of isolation that made it easy to understand why someone would choose this location.
The foundation of the original Hale house appeared through the rain like a ghost from the community's traumatic past. Concrete blocks and overgrown landscaping marked where a family had lived and died, where a double murder had shattered the illusion of mountain safety and introduced darkness that had never been fully resolved.
Gary Brennan stopped at the edge of what had once been the backyard, pointing toward a grove of mature pines that stood about fifty yards from the house foundation. "He's tied to that tree. I saw him from maybe thirty feet away and got out of there as fast as I could."
Noah approached the grove, every sense alert for details that might provide crucial evidence. The rain made observation difficult, but even from a distance he could see the pale form that had been positioned against the largest pine tree in ways that were clearly deliberate.
Landry's body had been secured to the tree with climbing rope, his arms pulled behind the trunk and bound at the wrists.
His head hung forward at an angle, and his clothing—the same vintage band T-shirt and jeans he'd been wearing when he disappeared—was soaked through and darkened with substances that weren't just rainwater.
“Shit,” McKenzie breathed, stopping beside Noah as they took in the scene. "What a mess."
The staging was unmistakably deliberate, designed to echo elements of the original Hale murders while adding theatrical components that suggested someone with intimate knowledge of the previous investigation.
Pierce's positioning against the tree, the proximity to the site where Rebecca and Jacob had been killed, every detail pointed toward symbolic rather than practical considerations.
Noah radioed for additional crime scene tape to establish a wide perimeter around the grove, understanding that evidence might be scattered across a much larger area than was immediately visible.
The rain was complicating everything, turning potential footprints into muddy soup and threatening to wash away trace evidence before it could be collected.
"Callie, get those tarps and portable shelters up immediately. Every minute we wait in this weather is destroying potential evidence."
“Will do,” Callie replied, coordinating the arrival of additional personnel who were struggling through the muddy trail with equipment designed for controlled indoor environments rather than outdoor crime scenes in driving rain.
As they established the crime scene perimeter, Noah studied Pierce's position for details that might reveal information about his killer's methodology and motivations.
He crouched, rain dripping off him. The rope work was competent but not professional, demonstrating someone with basic skills rather than specialized knowledge.
The tree selection seemed random unless the specific location held significance that wasn't immediately apparent.
But it was Pierce's wounds that provided the most disturbing evidence of the killer's intentions.
His throat had been slashed. There were multiple stab wounds visible through his torn clothing, concentrated around the neck in patterns that suggested frenzied violence.
The wounds appeared to have been inflicted without care, designed to cause death fast rather than slowly.
Along with that were multiple bullet wounds.
"McKenzie, document everything before we move the body. Positioning, rope configuration, wound patterns, anything that might get compromised during transport. Then let me know when Ozzy is here."
The crime scene photography was complicated by lighting conditions that made detail work nearly impossible without artificial illumination.
Portable floodlights had to be rigged under tarps to prevent electrical hazards, while generators fought against rain that seemed determined to defeat every technical solution they attempted.
Noah's radio crackled with updates from the command post being established at the trailhead. The state crime scene unit was en route.
"Sutherland?" McKenzie approached the crime scene perimeter, his expression troubled by something beyond the obvious horror of discovering a murder victim.
"I just got done chatting to one of the neighbors. Jill Myers. She’s been living across the street since Rebecca was here.
There's something else you should know about this area back here. "
"What's that?"
"This is where Rebecca Hale used to bring her sons to play when the weather was nice. There was a swing set here. She remembered seeing them back there, before..." He gestured toward the house foundation. "Before what happened to them."
The revelation added another layer to Pierce's murder, showing the killer's knowledge extended beyond crime scene details to intimate familiarity with the victims' personal habits and family history.
The choice of location wasn't just connected to the original murders—it was connected to the specific places where Rebecca and Jacob had lived their normal lives before violence destroyed their family.
Pierce's killer wasn't just recreating elements of the previous murders; they were demonstrating knowledge that could only come from someone who'd been part of the original investigation or closely connected to the victims themselves.
"Callie, when you brief media, make sure they understand we're dealing with someone who has insider knowledge of both the original case and current law enforcement procedures."
"What are you thinking?" McKenzie asked as they supervised the transfer of Pierce's body to the waiting ambulance that would transport it to the medical examiner in Saranac Lake.
"I'm thinking someone wanted information from Pierce before they killed him. Wanted to know what he'd learned, who he'd talked to, how close he'd come to exposing whatever secret got him murdered.”
"And then they staged his body to send a message to anyone else who might be asking similar questions,” McKenzie added.
Noah nodded, studying the crime scene one final time before releasing it to the state forensics team.
The rain continued to fall with relentless persistence, washing away evidence with every passing minute but also creating conditions that reflected the growing darkness of an investigation that was spiraling beyond local law enforcement capabilities.
As the crime scene teams completed their initial processing, Noah's phone buzzed with messages that confirmed his fears about the expanding scope of the investigation.
Authorities were requesting briefings on all aspects of Pierce's disappearance and murder.
Media outlets from across the Northeast were sending reporters to cover what was being described as a connection between current homicide and unsolved murders from a decade earlier.