Chapter Twenty Four
Sheriff Hobbs was on the scene along with two of his best deputies. Bob was found hanging from a tree nearby, Cindy’s bloody cell phone was laid down at his feet smashed against a rock. Cindy was stabbed and beaten to death.
“Alright what do we know so far boys?” the Sheriff asked.
“Well there appears to be signs of a struggle near the water,” Deputy Johnson said. “From the looks of it the woman was dragged out of the water kicking and flailing her arms about. The killer stabbed her in the chest first, puncturing her left lung, then her body began to go limp and he began to stab her, from our count about twenty-seven times. He then tossed her naked, lifeless body here, at this log, and then went back to the camp site, grabbed her cell phone and with her blood on his hands.”
The Sheriff picked up the cell phone with his gloved hands, read the text messages and shook his head.
It was a sad ordeal; here was a young couple in love whose lives were cut short because of a single drunken mistake.
The deputy went on.
“After he killed the girl he must have realized what he done as he sent off a single text from her phone saying
“I’m sorry, please forgive me” to the number in the conversation.
“Alright then find out who was the recipient of those messages and get them in for questioning.” Hobbs said.
This was going to be a long day he thought to himself. His deputy continued to describe the crime that had taken place.
“Apparently stricken with grief he then tied a rope up there to that branch, climbed up to this spot, presumably with the girl’s cell phone in his hands, and fell to his death, dropping the phone beneath his body.”
They were still gathering up evidence when one of the deputies noticed something strange. “Sheriff sir, the young man appears to have a head injury to the back of the skull; it looks like someone hit him with a blunt instrument.”
The Hobbs went over to investigate. Sure enough it did look as though he had been struck by something.
“Are there any signs he have hit his head on that fallen tree over there where we found the girl? It’s possible she might have pushed him back during the struggle.”
The cops continued their investigation. The Sheriff was not buying into it, all signs pointed to a jealous boyfriend killing his girlfriend in a fit of rage and then taking his own life in a bout of remorse. There was certainly physical evidence that suggested that was in fact the case. Still the Sheriff had a gut instinct telling him there was more to this case than that.
He hated that feeling, as a police officer he knew you can’t always trust your instincts, there has to be facts, evidence, things have to add up. What he hated about the murder-suicide thing was it was too neat, and crimes were rarely neat. Still he was hoping he was wrong and the investigation would turn up that it was in fact simple case of jealousy.
Stephanie Bri 