Tuesday
July 30^th 1996
0945

Hammond and McIntire had set off early to visit the car pound in Phoenix. Knight was in the conference room going over the case evidence. The rest, followed the sheriff out to the ranch, typical for July, it was going to be a hot day. Already the heat was nearly unbearable and it was only 1035. They pulled up at the ranch, it was a large affair and typical for the area.

Lee and Holly started with the main building, Carter and Bond walked around the outside. The sheriff followed bemused. The smell of the ranch was stifling, the heat making the smell worse. Pulling his shades to the end of his nose, he looked out over the fields that’s surrounded the Begay’s ranch. ‘Sheriff, they buzzards?’ He had seen enough John Wayne movies to make it a rhetorical question.

The sheriff squinted against the bright sky, ‘Sure are, probably found themselves a dying sheep. They can smell death.’ He added.

As they approached the spot the buzzards circled, they could smell it, the smell of baked rotting flesh hit them hard. Using his radio, he opened a channel with the rest of the team, ‘We have something out back. Holly you’ll need your gear for this.’

Bond kneeled down on one knee, next to the exposed flesh. Carter stood next to him. Rake marks covered the surrounding area as if something had uncovered the area. Bond had picked up the tracks that seemed to circle the exposed bodies. ‘What do you suspect made this sheriff?

The sheriff looked at Bond then remembered that these were city slickers and probably did not know the difference between a cat and dog. Bending down on one knee the sheriff looked up to Bond. ‘Coyote tracks, lots of em out here. Mighty strange though, he circled around these bodies and probably scratched the surface but he didn’t hang around.’

‘Why strange, sheriff?’ Bond did not know the habits of a coyote and did not pretend otherwise.

‘The coyote is a scavenger, lazy, if it can get food without hunting then it will do, but it has clean left these alone and wondered off that way.’ Pointing past Bond.

Looking, Bond could see the tracks leading off south. Following the tracks, they ended abruptly. Spinning round Bond thought he had possibly missed them or maybe it was harder ground here. ‘Hey sheriff, what do you make of this.’

The sheriff strolled over and looked to where Bond was pointing. He moved further ahead then returned to where Bond was standing. ‘I not sure, the tracks just stop here.’

The sheriff’s deputies were standing by with shovels. Holly had shown with a large bag in hand. She tentatively approached the scene. She hated this part of the job, at least in the lab there were extractors running to take away the smell. Carefully she started to dig around the exposed bodies and then she shouted. ‘It’s a sheep.’ She looked at the nearest person holding a spade. ‘Start digging here and move around to here.’ Two deputies approached where she had pointed too and began where she had indicated. Soon the sheep was fully exposed.

‘They had reported losing sheep over the last two months, It’s not unheard of here, the coyotes get hungry, sheep and cattle are easy targets for them as they have nowhere to run.’ One of the deputies explained dryly.

The sheep’s body pulled away to reveal another sheep but poking from underneath was a human hand. While Holly continued the excavation, she had given orders to start checking the surrounding area.

Carter and Bond started to walk back to the throng of activity. ‘What was that you said?’ Carter had stopped and turned to face one of the deputies. The deputy looked surprised, nodding and through a cornered smile, he said. ‘Perhaps it’s the coyote spirit trying to tell you something.’

Bond’s ears picked up, with his experience of the unnatural he was prepared to take gossip of this nature onboard. However, it seemed Carter was the one willing to go out on a limb here and be sucked into a tribal superstition.

‘What’s that meant to be then.’ Carter was too naive to release the deputies were teasing him.

The deputy still had a smile on his face. ‘You’d have to talk to the shamans back at the reservation for the legend, were not allowed to talk about it outside the reservation, especially with Feds.’ Carter looked sceptical and was about to pursue the matter.

‘Leave it, Carter.’ Bond said, his boss’s words coming to mind.

‘Boss, weve got more here.’ Lee shouted.

‘And here’ called one the deputies. Angel looked at Bond, a look of sympathy on her face, she now knew she had her work cut out for her.

‘Bond, I’ve nearly finished here, the locals can bag the rest up and send them up to Phoenix.’ Holly looked exhausted the sun was beginning to reach its zenith and only half of the field had been covered. Twenty two sheep had been recovered along with four human bodies.

‘Call it a day here then, take the Wagon and continue your work in Phoenix.I’ll call Mac and get him to meet you in Pathology.’ Holly let slip a smile of relief. ‘Have you any initials feelings on this?’

‘It’s to early to tell, but the noticeable thing is that the soil surrounding the them is devoid of blood, suggesting this was not the murder scene.’ Holly was objective. Little details rarely missed her trained eyes.

They excavated twenty-five sheep by the end of the day, With the final, few packed and on their way, the rest of the unit made their way back to the motel.