The Cartwright Sheriff???s Department

Carter parked the Bronco in his space in front of the Sheriff’s Department and glanced at the car he didn’t recognise parked to the left. At the top of the small set of stairs in front of the Department stood a man in a suit without a tie who Eli could feel looking at him.

“Sheriff Carter, I presume?" The man began, "My name is Special Agent Simon Temple. I'm with the FBI. My partner and I are here on orders to investigate the recent case that happened here in town involving one Julian Bishop. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

“Pleased to meet you, Agent Temple. I’m Sheriff Elijah Carter but everybody calls me Eli. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you guys. I’ve set up a room for us in back. If you want to get you partner and meet me in the conference room.”

While the FBI agents made their way to the conference room Eli looked for one of his Deputies but most where still out with the search parties. He noticed the back of Hayden’s brunette head which was buried in some paper work but he guessed she wasn’t really reading the page in front of her. It was no secret Hayden wanted to get out of Cartwright Falls and a couple of time she’d expressed interest in the FBI.

“Hayden I need you in the conference room. You’re gonna be babysitting one of these suits.”

#

Once everyone had found a seat after getting a cup of coffee and a donut from the buffet Justine the receptionist had left out Eli grabbed a long ruler and started pointing to a collection a photos, maps and documents pinned to a board in the front of the room.

“Uh… Morning everybody. Sorry I wasn’t here to welcome our guests but I was at the Preliminary autopsy of Julian Bishop. We’re still waiting on Toxi… Toxiacal… the uh… science stuff.”

He cleared his throat and pointed the ruler to the map.

“We found the body here, and have search groups in these areas. To be honest given how far away Julian was found it’s unlikely they’ll turn anything up. Gives the locals a purpose though, you know stop ‘em worrying.”

He swallowed hard and continued.

“The autopsy was the damnedest thing. Bastard cut up the boy pretty bad.”

Eli reached over and pressed the intercom button.

“Justine could you bring those files from the Doc.”

“Yes Sheriff.”

Justine entered seconds later with multiple copies of the transcript from Doctor Lawson’s preliminary autopsy. As she handed Agent Barton his file she smiled faintly.

“That’s fine Justine.” Eli said gently knowing the old woman had taken a shine to out of towners before. Last thing he needed was the FBI picking up a stalker in their first hour. She was harmless enough just a little screwy.

After they had read the report Eli introduced Hayden.

“I was thinking we should split up to cover more ground, one Agent and one Sheriff. Most of my people are out on the search teams but the tired looking one there is Deputy Hayden Montgomery, she’s one of our brightest, even going to school to be a head shrinker. She can take one of you round town while I take the other.”


He finally set the ruler down and took a swig of his coffee.

“Now the way I see it we need to conduct more interviews with family and friends. Maybe you guys can shake something loose. We need to learn more about those markings on Julian and wait for the rest of the autopsy. There’s also a bar called Choppers that’s popular with Truckers I’ve been going up there most nights and asking the freight jockeys if they saw anything. So far no cigar but I’ll keep trying.”

Eli sat in his seat and took another swig of coffee.

“Whadda you guys think?”

The young woman was rather startled when she heard Eli call to her. “Hayden I need you in the conference room. You’re gonna be babysitting one of these suits.” Hayden's face broke out into a rather large grin as she made her way into the conference room.

She listened intently as the Sheriff relayed the information that the coroner had told him. Hayden found herself thinking about how disturbing the amount of torture that Julian must have gone through. The words 'sadist' popped into her mind as she read over her copy of the report. Still, from a psychological point of view, there wasn't much to go on. The killing could have been personal, exclusive to the couple, or it could be that beginnings of a serial kill. All were too soon to tell at the moment.

“I was thinking we should split up to cover more ground, one Agent and one Sheriff. Most of my people are out on the search teams but the tired looking one there is Deputy Hayden Montgomery, she’s one of our brightest, even going to school to be a head shrinker. She can take one of you round town while I take the other.” The young woman sheepishly smiled at the compliment, it was nice to hear every once in a while. She had to shake her head slightly at Eli's use of the term 'head shrinker' though.

Hayden sat quietly for a second as the two agents talked about how'd they be splitting up. Once it seemed like the two were finished, she stood and made her way over to Agent Temple. "Nice to meet you Agent," She said, sticking out her hand in greeting. "Name's Hayden Montgomery." Sure the initial introduction by Eli had been made, but Hayden felt it was rude to not properly introduce herself. "Any place in particular you'd like to see first?"