Chapter 302 Departure
Early the next morning, Jack, Jane, Braxton and Corey Lambert came to the tribal police station to meet with Sheriff Ben Shaw.
Corey seemed to have regained his composure, and even took the initiative to joke with the old sheriff as usual.
It’s very cold today. I don’t know if there is such a thing as spring cold in the United States. Although it is early in the morning, the sun has risen, but the temperature still remains at more than ten degrees below zero.
The old sheriff was flanked by young Deputy Sheriff Brandt, who was leading two deputies to secure a snowmobile on a trailer.
There were many people going to the drilling camp today. The tribal police department used their most valuable equipment, a trailer and two Ford off-road pickup trucks. Four snowmobiles were loaded on the trailer.
According to the old police chief, the oil company simply built a simple road in order to save money. As early as last summer, it was crushed by heavy trucks and has not been repaired.
Therefore, on the last section of the road, you can only use snowmobiles to enter the drilling camp.
“Hey, Corey, why are you here too?”
Deputy Sheriff Brandt checked the fixed snowmobile, jumped off the snowmobile, and took the initiative to talk to Corey Say hello.
"Ben asked me to come. He wanted me to hang around and see if there were any other clues."
What Corey said was not entirely true. According to everyone's discussion, his mission was to go to the drilling camp. and the location where Natalie's body was found, looking for possible footprints.
Although today is the third day since the body was found, and there have been several large and small snowstorms, according to Corey's experience, there is a section of sparse woods and shrubs between the two locations.
If you examine carefully, you may still find some traces in it. This is his area of expertise.
The reason why I chose to keep it secret is because I don’t want the security guards at the drilling camp to hear anything in advance and know that I have become the number one target of suspicion.
Everyone made a brief introduction. Jack's identity remained unchanged. He was still a friend of the Hansen family, an FBI on leave, and a crime expert. Although his young face, which looked like he was only in his early 20s, was not very convincing.
Braxton became known to everyone as an intern hunter of the USFWS (Federal Fish and Wildlife Service), a recently retired Ma Run.
Although he did not stay in the army as long as his brother Chris, he was indeed a genuine veteran, and he established relationships with several police officers in just a few words.
Including Deputy Sheriff Brandt, these three young local police officers all have military backgrounds, and they can hardly see much Indian ancestry in their appearance.
But in this hellish place, if you want to have a future, joining the army or going to college are the only two good options.
They all have family members in the local area and chose to return to the local area to become a tribal policeman, although the treatment is much worse than that of the LAPD.
But in this reservation, their income plus the one-time retirement pay they received when they were discharged from the army is enough to support a family's quite comfortable life.
"Then what is our mission today?" Deputy Sheriff Brandt had a bit of curiosity on his face.
"Jane is in charge today, so let her do the talking." The old police chief was now extremely friendly to Jane and took the initiative to introduce him half sideways.
Jian was a little stunned and unprepared for this, "Well, okay, here's the situation. There are some cameras near this drilling camp. I hope there are cameras that can capture some of the situation at that time."
"If possible, go into the prefabricated houses where they live and see if you can find any clues." Although the rash has gone away and most of the red and swollen eye blisters have disappeared, Jane still put on eye makeup to cover it up today. For a moment, this also made the young guys present look straight in their eyes.
“Do you have a search warrant?” Deputy Sheriff Brandt looked less than forty. He must have already had a family, and he was also the calmest character among them.
"Well, I will politely ask for their consent before searching." When Jane said this, she glanced at Jack with a guilty look.
She knew that today was doomed to be fruitless, and their purpose of going to the drilling camp was purely for testing.
Corey and Braxton specially wore pure white snow suits and white cloaks. They looked like they were just hunters. In fact, they had other tasks.
After exploring the surrounding situation, the two will hide in the woods near the drilling camp and observe every move of the security guards.
"Ah, okay." Deputy Sheriff Brandt nodded perfunctorily, looking a little disappointed.
“Can’t we drive snowmobiles directly from here?”
He then looked at Corey. There were only seven people in the tribal police station. Today, more than half of them were mobilized. There are still so many A lot of equipment made him think that there was some big operation that was sure to happen, but this was the result?
Corey shook his head, "There are two canyons in the middle. I don't want to see you roll over, so I don't recommend doing this."
The old sheriff said, "Take the road to the refinery, although It’s nearly 50 miles away, but it’s still early and we have plenty of time.”
“Well, remember to treat the boys to a drink when you come back. They haven’t had a drink with such a beautiful girl for a long time. "
Deputy Sheriff Brandt couldn't hold back after all, and he said something before getting into the car.
Before Jane could say anything, the old police chief replied with a smile, "Okay, I'll buy the first round of drinks tonight, and I'll help you ask your wife for leave."
Amid laughter, everyone started their vehicles and set off towards today's destination.
Although the Wind River Valley where the reservation is located is deserted and remote, the scenery is really good. Surrounded by mountains and along the winding road, you can see extremely magnificent snow scenery.
The mountains in the distance are undulating, and the snow that never melts stretches down all year round. There are dots of green coniferous forest belts in the middle. The frozen rivers go from far to near, reflecting the crystal like diamonds in the sun. light.
In contrast to the beautiful scenery are the dilapidated farm buildings beside the road. Some of the aborigines are haggard and look like drug addicts at first glance. They gather around the burning iron buckets to keep warm, looking like they have nothing to do. look.
A small convoy consisting of an SUV, three pickup trucks and a trailer speeded by on the road. After more than an hour, a fork in the road appeared in front of them.
Leading the convoy was Corey's dark green pickup truck, which was painted with eye-catching yellow stripes and the FWS logo. He turned onto the side road and parked not long after driving, and the other vehicles also stopped.
Everyone unloaded the snowmobile, Colin rearranged the equipment, stuffed his Marlin 1895 lever-action rifle into the thermal holster on the back seat of the motorcycle, and took Braxton to Go to the woods in the distance.
The others also got into the car, and Jack took Jane along the muddy simple road to the drilling camp not far away.
(End of this chapter)