Detective Byrd's walk out of Jennings Forest was closer to forty-five minutes than the thirty he had expected. By the time he saw Highway 218 looming ahead, it was clear that Deputy Littlepage hadn't understood him through the static of the cell phone call. Otherwise, someone would have been there by now. At last check, there was still no cell reception. Littlepage was probably beginning to wonder where Byrd was. At least he was back on pavement. If he wasn't able to get a couple bars on the cell phone soon, he'd have to knock on some doors in the area in hopes of using a landline. Out here in the boonies, that was just as likely to get him shot as get him to a phone. Especially at this time of night.
As he approached the intersection, good fortune smiled on him. He saw the unmistakable silhouette of a police car coming west on 218. He ran out into the road waving his arms to flag it down. The car slowed to a stop, turned on the blue lights and shined a spotlight on him as he held up his badge. The officer stepped out of the car and asked, "Can I help you sir?"
Still a little breathless, Byrd responded, "I'm Detective Byrd of the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office. My car is buried in sand up to the frame about 2 miles down this road. Can you call someone to winch me out?"
"I'm Hendler -- Deputy John Hendler. Weren't you at the station earlier?"
"Yep, that was me, Deputy," said Byrd as he put his badge back in his pocket.
Hendler let out a chuckle, "Can I ask what you were doing out here?"
"Working on the same investigation."
"The Body? This is on the opposite side of the forest from where that was found."
"Look, can you call a truck to get me out?" he said, growing impatient. "Then I'll tell you about it while we wait. Okay?"
"Fine," he said, climbing back into his vehicle.
It took another hour for the truck to arrive and pull the car out of the sand. While waiting he amused the deputy with the story of how Quantence had managed to lure him into the sand and get him stuck. He also managed to get a message relayed to Littlepage, who messaged back that he would be waiting at the office for Byrd's return. Was there some news about the case?
Once his car was retrieved from the sand, he drove back to the office, near downtown Jacksonville. At this time of night the traffic on Blanding Boulevard was mercifully light so he made good time. Still, it was well after midnight when he arrived. He found Littlepage waiting in his office with his feet propped up on the desk. Byrd suspected the deputy had been snoozing. Why not? He had put in an eighteen-hour day too.
"So, what do we have?" Byrd asked.
Littlepage was a little startled but responded, "We've got lot's of big news." He swung his feet off the desk and stood up. "We hit pay dirt with the pictures of that hat. You remember Karen Crist?"
"Wasn't she that Missing Persons case?"
"That's her. The one we think might be connected to our case."
"And?"
"Her Mother ID'd a diamond earring in the hat. She thinks it might be one that Karen wore in her navel."
Byrd rolled his eyes, "Might be?"
"Well, it's not exactly a unique piece of jewelry. It's just a diamond stud. But it is a diamond and it is the same size and the same kind of setting."
"I guess that's something."
"Here's the beauty part," Littlepage continued, "If we can get the diamond, we can get a positive ID. Mom has all the information from the Jeweler where the girl bought it. Registration Stuff. Apparently, it's a nice stone. Cost a couple grand. Anyway, a jeweler should be able to tell us whether it's the same diamond or not."
"We'll be able to get a warrant with Mom's ID of the diamond," Byrd said.
"Now, if we just knew where that diamond was. Seems we lost track of it," he chuckled.
Byrd shrugged and gave an embarrassed smile, "Hey, it's not like I'm driving the 'General Lee' here."
"So what do we want to do to reacquire the guy and get our hands on that diamond?"
"I assume you've got someone at his house?"
"I didn't just fall of the melon truck, of course there's someone watching the house. He ain't been there though," he said while shaking his head.
"Let's get the warrant and put a bulletin out on his car. It'll turn up. What else do you have for me?"
"This geocaching thing..."
After a lengthy pause, Byrd probed, "What?"
"I've been surfing their sight. It's really something."
Another pause, "And?"
The deputy reached into his pocket and pulled out a little yellow electronic device. He dropped it on the desk and said, "I got one?"
With eyebrows raise the Detective asked, "What's that thing?"
"It's a GPS. It's strictly entry level but it works. I borrowed it from a guy I know at lockup. He uses it fishing. I went and found three caches tonight while I was waiting for you."
"Where?"
"Right around here. There's about half a dozen within a half mile of here."
"No kidding, right around here?" Byrd asked as he picked up and examined the device.
"Yeah, come on I'll show you. It's pretty cool," Little page said as he retrieved the unit from Byrd's hand. "There's one just around the corner."
Being too tired to protest, Byrd followed the deputy down the hall and out the door. When they stepped out of the building, Littlepage extended his arm to hold the GPS skyward; the unit's backlight glowing in the darkness.
"It takes a minute to get a signal," he explained. After a few moments, he began to lead the way down the street. Motioning with the device he said, "It's only about eight hundred feet that way."
The men silently followed somewhat of a zig zag pattern in the appropriate direction. The moon was bright and there were plenty of streetlights but it was a little chilly. After what seemed like much further than 800 feet, Littlepage stopped and said, "Oops, I think we passed it." He turned, backtracked a few yards, and began looking around.
As they glanced aimlessly in every direction, Byrd asked, "What is it we're looking for?"
"I'm not really sure. The page said it was a 'Regular'. From what I've seen that could be anything from an old ammunition box to a Tupperware dish. The ones I found earlier were micros. One was a magnetic key holder and the other two were little film canisters."
"So where is it?"
"The thing says were within 25 feet of it."
Byrd looked around and was surprised by his surroundings. They were in a vacant lot between two buildings. However, it wasn't just a vacant lot. It was a little park like area with a beautiful flower garden. There were a few benches and a little gazebo. The detective shook his head and said, "I've worked in that office, barely two blocks away, for 20 years and I never knew this place was here."
"Neither did I. Ain't it cool?"
"It sure is. So where would you hide something?"
"I'd say under the gazebo," offered Littlepage as he strolled over to the small structure, got down on his knees and began to feel around underneath.
Meanwhile, Byrd walked over to the gazebo's steps and began to search beneath them. "Bingo!" he said after a few minutes, pulling out a shoe box size Tupperware container. He set it on the top step and opened it. Inside were a couple of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys, some key chains, a ball, a pair of dice and a couple of bungie cords. A little notebook lay right on top.
Littlepage picked up the notebook and said, "This is the logbook. We need to sign it."
"Sign it?"
"Yep, you need a "geo-name'. Mine is 'JaxPosse'." He smiled and began writing in the book, "I've got one for you." When he was done he held the book out for Byrd to read the signature.
"Luke Duke? Funny guy. Why not Bo?"
"Luke was prettier," he smiled, "It'll work for now. Isn't this kinda cool?"
"I guess so," Byrd shrugged.
"I think it might also be important to our case."
"How?", Byrd asked with skepticism.
"Let's get back to the office and I'll show you."
They silently strolled back to their building. Both men were tired from the log day and took a few moments to relax in the night air. Once back in Byrd's office, Littlepage opened up his laptop and said, "Let me show you Jennings Forest." Within a few moments, he had a map displayed and used a pen as a pointer. "This is where the body was. These little push pin icons are caches. Our guy has found all of them. This one right here, just a short distance from where the body was found is called 'Forest Thicket'. Our guy hid that one himself just the other day.
"We already suspect he's using geocaching as a cover. Maybe it's more than that. Maybe he's using it for stashing the bodies. Picture this, the guy goes out to the woods and finds a great place to stash a body. He might even dig a grave in advance. It can be as remote as he likes, hidden out in the middle of nowhere. Even in thick brush. But he can easily get right to it with one of these babies," Littlepage held up the GPS.
Byrd nodded in agreement.
"Not only that," the Deputy continued. "It would make it easy for him to go back and relive the good times. That's a well-established behavior of these guys. Maybe he even hides real geocaches nearby to give himself an excuse for being there. That may even explain what happened today. The Forest guy said he was driving nearby. Quantence might have been there on one of his sick little visits and been surprised to see the truck pull up. He had no way of knowing what the guy had seen. For cover, he just claimed to have found a body. Geocaching gives him an excuse for being there. That way he doesn't have to worry about getting caught in a lie. Based on his logs, he's out in Jennings all the time. I think in the morning we should go out there and take a look at these places. Maybe we'll find something."
"Yeah," nodded Byrd, "like more bodies."
Littlepage shrugged.
"That makes a little sense. Maybe it'll make even more sense after a good nights sleep," said Byrd. "I'm heading home and so should you. We'll head out there in the morning."
"This time, I'll drive," Littlepage chuckled.
"Bastard," Byrd chuckled back.
"I hate this, Maddy," said the young woman driving the Jeep Cherokee.
"I know," her sister snapped. "It's not like I'm doing it for a good time, Amy."
Amy griped the wheel and turned to glare at her passenger, "I keep wondering what happens if you get arrested. Or worse."
"I haven't been arrested yet. Quit worrying."
"I'm going to be worrying from the time I drop you off until the time I pick you up. They just found that dead girl a week or so ago. She was into the very same thing."
Maddy thought about that girl for a moment. It wasn't the first time she'd thought about such a thing. Running into crazies was an occupational hazard of her chosen profession. She hadn't encountered anything she couldn't handle yet, but it was a risk. She finally said, "She was probably killed by her boyfriend or something."
"Right," Amy said facetiously.
"Look, I'm not going to be doing this for long. I've got a real job now. This is just a part time thing until I get back on my feet. I just need to get rent paid this month."
"That's what you said last month."
"Hey, it's not like you've never done it," Maddy shot back. This much was true. It was Maddy who had introduced Amy to the business. It started with 'modeling' for an Internet porn sight. It seemed like a pretty short trip from there to being the 'entertainment' at parties and then to being someone's 'private' entertainment. After all, the only thing different was the camera and the audience. It was just 'Gettin' paid for bein' laid' as the song goes.
"That was in school. It was a fling. I never planned to make it my life's work."
"Neither do I. I'm just trying to not have so much month left at the end of the money."
"Make this the last time," Amy pleaded, gently placing her hand on her sister's arm.
"We'll see."
They continued on in silence down the interstate for several minutes. As they approached an exit ramp, Maddy pointed ahead and said, "This is the exit." Amy slowed the vehicle and eased up the ramp. At the stop sign she turned toward a large truck stop.