Chapter 10: The Still
Chapter 10: The Still
wonderfully beta'd by chiroho
Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,
nursed a hard grievance.
-from Beowulf (86-87)
It was a gorgeous fall day, perfect for a hike. The trees blazed with color at these higher elevations, the sun shone in a cloudless blue sky, and the air was cool without being cold. Despite being pure city folk, Morgan and Prentiss should have been having a wonderful time. Unfortunately, neither of them could shake the feeling of being watched. Though the usual woods noises had resumed once they got away from the campsite, and though the day was almost blindingly bright, a general sense of eeriness hung over the small group.
Each one tried to dismiss it in his or her own way. Prentiss chalked it up to her abhorrence of nature. Morgan attributed it to "fish out of water" syndrome. JJ decided that an unknown predator in her woods should make her nervous; it was at least partially her responsibility, after all. Hotch, for his part, attempted to ignore the whole thing: he was a logical man, and he didn't believe in getting worked up over nothing.
Hotch had predicted half a day to reach the still, but it was nearly mid-afternoon before they arrived. Prentiss and Morgan knew they were slowing the other two down, but neither the Ranger nor the Chief mentioned it. The moonshiner's still was hardly recognizable, resembling nothing so much as a jumble of rusty-looking pipes and scattered broken glass that glinted in the slanting sun.
"I would've missed it completely," Morgan admitted as the woods opened around them into a natural clearing.
"This is where Dr. Reid hid his camera," JJ said. "The guy with the boots came from that way, and he picked up Penelope Garcia's camera about here." She pointed out each location, and Morgan and Prentiss studied the woods from the various vantage points. They looked like woods.
"There's nothing here," Prentiss said with a sigh. Frustration tinged her voice, and she felt a strange sense of…what? Disappointment? All the buildup for nothing, she thought. Just more trees.
"Did you think there would be?" Morgan said. "It's been a year. The woods swallowed any evidence a long time ago."
"Just like they swallowed Rossi's team." Prentiss ran both hands through her dark hair. "We came all the way to Tenne-fucking-see, Morgan. We can't go back to Chicago with nothing."
"It would be pretty humiliating," he agreed.
"So what do we do? You dragged me out to these damn woods. So far I've been nearly scared to death-twice-but we haven't found jack."
"This might be something," JJ called. She had been methodically walking the clearing, and now she stopped within the shadow of the still. "It looks like the remains of a fire. Fairly recent, too."
The other three, their footsteps muffled by a thick layer of fallen leaves, hurried to join her.
"No traffic cameras out here, I guess," Prentiss said with a wry glance at the surrounding trees.
"Not usually any traffic," Hotch replied.
"I get the feeling no one really pays attention to those rules," Morgan said. "The Hanging Tree's supposed to be off-limits, too, but Rossi and company found that."
"Maybe they wouldn't've disappeared if they'd stayed on the proper trails," JJ said with a trace of irritation. "That's how most accidents occur, and how people get lost-they wander off the marked trails and go flailing about through the woods like…like…."
"Us?" Prentiss suggested.
JJ's mouth quirked. "Something like that."
"But you knew where Rossi would be. That's how you knew where to search," Morgan reminded her.
"It didn't help much," Hotch said. "When was the last good rain?" he asked, seemingly apropos of nothing.
"A week ago. The fire's fresher than that," JJ said.
Morgan had moved away, closer to the still, and he suddenly let out a whistle. "Look at this shit. Is that what I think it is?" he asked Hotch as he waved them over.
The expression on the normally stoic Chief's face answered Morgan's question.
"That's been there longer than a week," Prentiss said. To disguise her suddenly shaking hands, she crossed her arms. Her lips were pressed into a thin line.
Sticking out of the leaves and loam was the end of a bone. A leg bone, they all guessed in that first glance. Though dark, stringy bits of muscle and tendon still clung to it, it had clearly been gnawed by something with very large teeth. The bone looked human; luckily the tooth marks didn't.
"It might be an animal bone," Morgan suggested, but he didn't really believe that.
They were gathered around it, staring down like they'd never seen a dead thing before-though of course they all had. The forest had fallen silent around them once again, as though Nature herself were shocked at their discovery.
"I'm rethinking that vegetarian thing," Prentiss said. "I mean, really; I'll never look at a chicken leg the same way again."
"And chickens everywhere rejoiced," Morgan muttered.
"I don't think it's an animal," JJ said. "It's not the right size."
Hotch rubbed the back of his neck and let out a long sigh. He pulled the digital camera from his bag and began snapping pictures of the bone and the area immediately around it. "I'll have to call this in. It's a potential crime scene. We can get someone from UT in to do the forensic work." The University of Tennessee was home to the infamous Body Farm, and its forensic anthropologists were some of the best in the world.
"How long will that take?" Morgan asked.
"A day. Two." His tone was grim, and Morgan could tell how much the delay irritated him. "They're the best, though, especially at this sort of thing. If it turns out to be animal, or ancient…." He trailed off and went back to taking photos.
"Will they be able to figure out what left those marks?" Prentiss asked.
"Yes, definitely," JJ said. "That is, if…if they have a record of the animal's teeth." She cleared her throat and looked away; she seemed embarrassed at her own implication.
Prentiss lifted a brow. "Don't they have most of the common carnivores in Tennessee?"
"All of them, as far as I know."
"What are you thinking, JJ?" Hotch asked.
She fidgeted. "Whatever Prentiss saw last night had really big teeth-teeth big enough to make marks like these."
"You can't be serious," Prentiss said.
"You're the one who saw it," the other woman shot back.
"Well, yeah, but-"
"But what, Emily?" Morgan interrupted. "You don't think it could've done this?"
"We don't even know if something was 'done!' This could be the body of our moonshiner. Or maybe somebody's grandmother who really loved her hooch, so the grandkids buried her out by the still."
"Those are both possibilities," Hotch agreed.
"Or it could be one of the people we're looking for. The guy with the boots got the camera, and he decided to finish covering his tracks," Morgan said.
"We're getting really wild with our speculations here," Prentiss protested.
"We won't even know for sure it's human until the guys from UT get here," Hotch said. "And if it's just this one bone, an animal could easily have dragged it from a grave to this location. Or, like Prentiss suggested, it could be someone buried here by friends or family. It's not legal, but neither is moonshine; considerations of legality rarely stop mountain people from doing what they want to do."
Hotch stashed the camera back in his pack and pulled the satellite phone off his belt. He raised the antenna and began turning dials and pushing buttons; a frown began to crease his forehead as he fiddled with it.
"Hate these stupid things," he muttered. Several moments passed. With a frustrated sigh he passed it to JJ. "See if you can figure it out," he told her.
She hid a smile and took the phone from him. "It's not as complicated as it looks," she said. "You just…." She trailed off, and her expression was troubled. "That's strange. Let's try mine."
"On the video Garcia told Reid they had to…how'd she put it? Get somewhere to use the sat phone," Morgan said.
"They were running from someone, Morgan. She just meant-"
"Yeah, but what if she didn't? What if the phone wasn't working out here?"
"Hotch's just has low batteries or something. Right, JJ?" Prentiss said.
"I don't…no, I don't think so. Mine's not working, either. No signal."
"Did all the satellites fall out of the sky while we were in these damn woods?" Prentiss said, using irritation to cover her sudden spike of fear.
Morgan, sure his heartbeat was audible across half the county, rubbed his chest and swallowed hard. "So we can't call out, you're saying. Where was the last place we had a signal?"
Hotch and JJ shared a glance. "The Hanging Tree for sure," he said.
"It's already after three, and the tree's six hours' hike that way!" Prentiss cried with a wild gesture.
"I could probably make it in four," JJ said, squinting up at the sky. The bright blue was darkening like a bruise.
"You wouldn't make it before dark, and we shouldn't split up. There's no way I'm letting you go alone anyway," Hotch said.
"So what do we do?" Morgan said, asking the question they were all thinking.
"We don't have much choice," Hotch said after a moment. "We'll have to stay the night here, head back at first light."
"Can't we start back now?" Prentiss said. "We could stop somewhere along the way."
"No," JJ said with a slow shake of her head. "There isn't a good stopping point along that bit of trail. It's pretty dense woods all around."
Though she didn't look happy about it, Prentiss nodded reluctant agreement. "You're the expert," she said.
"Let's get started," Hotch said. "I want the tents pitched and the fire blazing before the sun sets."
Night came fast in the high country, and none of them wanted to be caught unawares in the dark.
I know I've made a lot of promises about this story before, but I really, really mean it this time. I've got the next two chapters already written, and I'm writing a chapter a day. There will be a slight delay in posting the next chapter b/c my beta is busy for the next day or two. But, intrepid readers, your wait will soon be over! (for real)