Chapter 78: Who Is the Bait?
After receiving Theodore's assurance, the joint operation was quickly decided upon.
The next day, a joint search team consisting of thirty detectives, three rangers, and five hounds entered the mountain forest.
At Theodore's repeated request, he was allowed to join the search.
Before setting off, combining the information provided by Bernie, Theodore issued a simple profile of the killer:
"The killer is a white male, aged between 50 and 60."
"The killer is approximately 5'10" to 6'2" tall, with a thin build, weighing around 150 pounds."
"The killer has knife wounds on his left shoulder, chest, and left arm. These may have been simply bandaged or treated with hemostatic herbs."
"The killer rejects modern tools."
"The killer is extremely skilled at hunting and very familiar with his territory. He is adept at setting traps, and his methods are cruel and extremely cold-blooded."
Theodore repeated what he had said to Bernie one last time before returning to the team and setting off.
He spotted the Old County Police among the county officers, but the four round-faced young men did not participate.
With the rangers' help, they drove into the mountains, choosing a closer alternate route.
Not long after they started, Theodore called the team to halt. He had discovered car wreckage in a valley.
The wreckage was severely rusted. Even the car model was unrecognizable. The windows were smashed, the wheels were missing, and weeds had grown up inside the car.
Theodore carefully scraped the license plate, vaguely making out what looked like Dallas registration.
Someone immediately radioed the discovery outward. They hadn't gone far and could still contact the outside world.
Theodore also found a photo in the car. There were three people in it, a tall, strong man with one arm around a woman and the other holding a boy about seven or eight years old, with a large dog lying at their feet. The dog was panting with its tongue out, and all three family members smiled brightly.
Besides the photo, there was a smashed camera with missing film, and a backpack containing sunglasses, a flashlight, and other miscellaneous items.
They set these aside for detectives to collect later and continued on their way.
The Old County Police leaned over and quietly asked Theodore if this might be the family from the skulls they had retrieved.
Theodore couldn't be sure, but he thought the guess was reasonable.
They continued walking uphill for about two hours before the team stopped at the familiar valley.
On the ground, they could still see marks where Bernie and the killer had struggled, a large area of flattened plants.
Theodore searched but did not find the rope that had been around Bernie's neck. This made him even more certain that the killer was still within his territory.
He informed everyone of this conclusion. The detectives first checked the valley and wooden cabin, confirmed no one was there, then used the valley as a base, fanning out in five groups.
Theodore, however, led a team to stay in the valley and collect evidence.
Following procedure, they first photographed the inside and outside of the wooden cabin, then bagged the animal hides and tools separately, marking them with notes.
Time quickly came to afternoon.
Except for a few traps, the search teams found nothing. The teams near the edge had even searched into the adjacent mountain.
They suspected the killer had fled or was already dead.
The sun was about to set. The search ended, and the teams returned one after another, the atmosphere somewhat heavy.
Many people looked at Theodore with strange expressions. Half the people here had only heard rumors of the twin detectives and had never met them. Now that they saw him, he didn't live up to his reputation.
It was getting dark. A bonfire was lit in the valley.
At Theodore's request, they would stay here for another day and leave on the afternoon of the third day.
They couldn't understand why they needed to waste more time when they had confirmed in one day that the target wasn't here.
Theodore couldn't explain to them the importance of control to the killer. Being injured, especially by his target, was a very serious matter. This meant he didn't have absolute control over his prey.
To regain control, he had to attack as soon as possible to make everything "get back on track."
The timing depended on the killer's intelligence and patience.
Even without considering the mountain killer's emphasis on territory, the appearance of Theodore and the Old County Police would draw him back.
After dinner, everyone assigned watch duty and gathered around the bonfire to rest.
Before going to sleep, Theodore found the Old County Police and asked him to act with him tomorrow.
The Old County Police hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
The next day, the search teams set off again, continuously expanding the search area.
Theodore, meanwhile, took the Old County Police and a few others to the rocks downstream of the creek. They were going to retrieve bones.
The few people who followed Theodore were shocked by the piles of white bones in the cave. Even though Theodore told them not all were human bones, the shock didn't diminish.
They spent the entire day retrieving bones. The bones they recovered were piled next to them, reaching as high as a person, like a small mountain.
This scene shocked the returning search teams. They knew there were many bones in the cave, but they didn't expect there to be so many.
Theodore asked them about the search situation, and the County Police looked at him with complex expressions.
They told Theodore that the hounds had dug up half a wild rabbit from the ground.
Theodore asked to see the wild rabbit and observed that it showed signs of decomposition, but not severely. There were barely noticeable gnaw marks on the rabbit's bones.
Most importantly, it was a raw wild rabbit.
In addition, the hounds had also dug up some crushed medicinal residue, which the rangers identified as hemostatic herbs.
This proved Theodore's judgment was correct, the killer was indeed nearby.
But what was infuriating was that they had doubled the search area and still hadn't found anyone!
Theodore returned the wild rabbit and medicinal residue to them and told them to go back first, while he and a few others would continue retrieving for a while and should be able to finish before dark.
Members of the search teams passed by them one after another, greeting Theodore. Many people wanted to stay and help them retrieve bones, but Theodore refused them all.
Not only that, seeing that the last search team had also returned, Theodore sent half of his own team back, telling them to go back and help process the game.
The search teams would catch some game while searching during the day to make meals.
The detectives from the Felton Police Department were a bit worried, they had been ordered to protect Theodore before they came.
Theodore pointed to the creek not far away, where several detectives were cleaning game. They weren't far away.
The detectives hesitated before leaving.
After retrieving the last bone, Theodore sent a few people back to get bags.
At this point, only the Old County Police remained by his side.
The detectives cleaning game by the creek not far away had also left.
The forest suddenly became quiet.
The two men crouched in front of the bone mountain, sorting the human bones.
They waited for a while, seeing that the detectives who went to get the bags were about to return, but nothing happened.
The Old County Police leaned over and quietly asked Theodore what they should do.
Theodore thought for a moment and told him to leave as well.
The Old County Police hesitated and refused to go. This wasn't what they had agreed upon!
Theodore reasoned that the other party was injured and unable to receive treatment, and could only eat raw food, so he shouldn't have much physical strength left.
The Old County Police was half-believing, slowly walking towards the valley.
Theodore stood on a rock and looked around.
He watched the Old County Police's retreating figure, saw him meet the detectives who were getting the bags, and watched the detectives start running towards him.
Theodore exhaled, just about to jump off the rock, when a rope flew out and looped around his neck.
A huge force came, dragging him backwards.
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