Read Online Caching Out by Tammy Cheatham - Free Book Online Page A

Catching
the scent of something important, the dog made a loud sound somewhere between a
bark and a howl. The massive beast took off causing a commotion as he pulled
the woman handler along with several members of the search party following at a
brisk pace. Letting out another bark-howl the dog took the same path around the
lake that Gavin had taken twice that day.
    “It
won’t be long now,” Gavin stood to go inside. “Better get inside Gav, because
you’re going to want a good seat once the show begins.” As he’d predicted, it
wasn’t long at all. He stared at his laptop screen and heard the barking dog
and people calling the kid’s name through his computer speaker. He encouraged
them as if it were a sporting event, “Just a little further. You’re almost
there.”  He got the primo seat to watch it all in living, or dying as the case
was, color. Gavin knew the exact instant that the boy had been found.
    Eyes
glued to the screen, Gavin watched the old sheriff lead the boy’s father over
to ID the body then saw the man nod his head and turn away to walk back to his
wife who stood at the edge of the clearing. The man leaned in close and said something
to her. The woman’s scream filled the small cabin and sent an excited chill
down Gavin’s back as she pulled away from the man and pushed her way past two
county officers. She fell on the ground at her son’s side, her cries tearing
into the still night.
    Gavin
gasped, mocking compassion. “How touching.” Two deputies pulled the woman up
and away from the boy’s small body and lead her back to her husband. One deputy
stood with the couple while a second deputy stepped away, pulled a roll of
yellow tape from his jacket, and then roped the crime scene off. The search
team was forced out of the clearing by one of the deputies and out of Gavin’s
limited camera view. That left only the old sheriff standing near the body, solemnly
guarding the lifeless child.
    In
the upper right corner of the computer screen, Gavin saw the man still trying
to console his wife. Reaching over to his keyboard and pushing a button Gavin
centered on and enlarged the couple on his screen. He stared at the woman, “Not
so happy now, huh?  Sorry about that, but he did take my coin.” 
    The
woman bent at the waist and rocked back and forth, one hand clasped over her
mouth, the other covered her belly. The man leaned over, said something to her
and she shook her head at him. He pulled his wife upward and wrapped her in his
arms, turning so that she was no longer facing the mutilated body of their
young son. The man closed his eyes as tears ran freely down his face. Gavin forced
the computer screen back to full view and sat back on the worn couch, “There
you have it folks. A classic Hollywood moment.”  
    With
a deputies’ help, the man pulled his wife out of the clearing and toward the
trail, away from the crime scene. As they made their exit, three people, two
men and a woman, all wearing dark-colored windbreakers stepped into the
camera’s range
    Gavin
studied them with interest. “Ah, the Crime Scene Unit has arrived!”  He grabbed
another beer without taking his eyes off the screen. “Now, they’re a busy group,”
he mumbled as the three member team split and went to work. Moving to the
perimeter of the clearing, a tall, lanky man set up spotlights in various
locations, turning each one on as he went. The area brightened with each light he
positioned, their focused beams illuminating the entire clearing.
    Lifting
his beer in salute, Gavin smiled, “My stage, my play and I directed it all.” 
    One
of them knelt on the ground away from the body and pulled a digital camera from
a bag. He snapped shot after shot of the scene and body. He then stood near the
middle of the clearing, his camera aimed and focused at the surrounding area. Turning
his body, he snapped each shot not missing one inch of the forest.
    “Panoramic,”
Gavin hooted. “Now that’s cool!  Of