From Deputy Big Yellow Hero:
Dark’s cell phone buzzed to life in his pocket. He answered, “Hello?” there was a high pitched yapping dog on the other end of the line for a few seconds and then the line went dead. “Strange,” he thought as he placed the phone back in his pocket. Seconds later a text message came through with the words “Cow Hoof Rock - Find Me,” the sender unknown. “This can’t be good,” he thought, as he called Constance Brielle to look up Cow Hoof Rock.
Twenty minutes later Dark and Constance were on their way to Great Falls National Park and discussing the strange phone call that Dark had received moments before the text came through. “It was a dog barking, a small yappy dog, that’s all I could tell,” Dark said and Constance looked over at him from the passenger seat, “Are we going to rescue a dog?” Constance asked. “No idea,” said Dark “I guess that’s what we’re going to find out.”
They arrived at Great Falls National Park and made their way up the River Trail to Cow Hoof Rock. As they approached they heard the high pitched yapping of a dog. It was a small white dog that looked to be well taken care of. It had been leashed to a tree. Dark reached out to look at it’s collar and found something else attached there.
Dark pulled a small tube from the collar, looked at Constance, and opened it. From inside he unrolled a Tarot card. It was The Fool. Dark looked at the card, the dog looked almost identical to the one on the card, and he wondered, was there a man somewhere around here who belonged with the dog, or am I the fool? Finally he turned the card over. Written on the back were these words “Dark - We are going on a journey, you and I - Find Me.” Dark looked at Constance and said “Call the office, we need to search the area for a body.” Meanwhile he looked again at the collar of the dog. “Bear, huh?” he gave a confused laugh and petted the dog softly behind the ear. “Well Bear,” he said “I guess you’re coming with me.”
Two days later Dark was in the office going through evidence photos of the Great Falls crime scene when he received another text message on his phone. It said “Let go, accept what is. Our journey continues. - Find Me.” Dark picked up his phone to call Constance “I got another text, but no real lead” he said. “What did the message say,” asked Constance. “Let go, accept what is” said Dark. Constance breathed a heavy sigh, “The Hanged Man,” she said “but where?”
Dark was flipping slowly through a deck of Tarot cards, his desk was filled with evidence photos from the Great Falls crime scene. Constance walked in, “Do you think we missed something? A clue to where our hanged man is?” she asked. Before he could respond his phone rang, it was the producer of the local TV station. In a shaky voice she described a video she had received “It showed a man and a woman, dead I think, naked, chained together at the neck, and there was a voice saying ‘ignorance’ over and over again.” Dark knew the card without even having to look it up, The Devil card. He headed straight over to the station to pick up the video to see what other evidence might be included with the package.
Dark arrived back at Quantico just as Constance was beginning a briefing. “All right ladies and gentleman, this is what we’ve got,” Constance said as she looked around the room.
Then she pulled up an evidence photo on the large screen.
The image showed a male, Bear's owner, laying on his stomach at the bottom of a cliff at the Potomac River after having fallen to his death.
She clicked to the next photo.
This one was a still from the video received from the television station, the couple had been identified, by IDs in their pockets, as Susan and Harold Montgomery and police were on their way to gather further evidence from the crime scene.
“What do these cases have in common? One, she clicked back to the image of Bear's owner, was committed in Virginia, at a National Park; the other, back to the video still, in Maryland. From what we gather so far the victims do not appear to have known each other. We found a tarot card, the Fool, at the Potomac River crime scene with the dog, and The Devil card was with the video evidence sent to the TV station. So it looks like we’re working with a Tarot card theory, and we’re looking for ideas, as well as fresh eyes to see if we've missed something.”
Steve Dark picked up the remote for the projector and flashed back to the first crime scene photo. “That’s Maryland right there next to his body right?” he said. Constance replied “Technically, yes, Maryland claims the Potomac there I believe. So the body was on Virginia soil, but the water next to him is Maryland...why what are you thinking,” she asked. “We never found our hanged man, what if he is there? What if we missed something?”
They headed over to a large map on the wall and began to look at it. “Here is the area where we found the first body, Cow Hoof Rock at Mather Gorge right across from,” she stopped and looked up at him. He said “We did miss something, it’s right across from Bear Island. I knew that name was weird for that little dog.” Constance said “It’s in Montgomery County no less, the last name of our second victims.”
Bear Island is a large island, but it didn’t take long to figure out exactly where they needed to go. The fire tower on the island seemed to have smoke pouring out of it like a beacon. When they arrived at the tower they found their hanged man, and something else quite bizarre.
The man was hanging upside down by his foot, he seemed to have been dead at least a day. About 30 feet north of the tower there was an odd sight. What appeared to be a cage of eight large sticks in the ground surrounding a black bear. The bear was dead, though the cause of death was not apparent. As there were no obvious wounds it would appear that the sticks had not been used to harm the bear. As Dark approached the stick formation he noticed an envelope blowing in the breeze, attached to the end of the stick closest to him. Grabbing the envelope in his gloved hand, he opened it and unfolded the letter inside, then read it.
“The tower has lead you to your answer, yet you have not found the missing piece of this puzzle. Though the bear was mighty and strong, it was full of jealousy, hatred and ugliness. The bear was blinded to the truth. The darkness inside of it acted like a sanguisuge, sucking the life blood and joy from the every day moments of quiet beauty. The bear stood within the circle of sticks and insisted they were poking and prodding him, but the sticks stood still and watched. The bear fought and fought until he collapsed full of his jealousy, hatred and ugliness. The bear died, and the world was full of peace once again. - Find Me.”
Written by Rachee and BYH
Dark’s cell phone buzzed to life in his pocket. He answered, “Hello?” there was a high pitched yapping dog on the other end of the line for a few seconds and then the line went dead. “Strange,” he thought as he placed the phone back in his pocket. Seconds later a text message came through with the words “Cow Hoof Rock - Find Me,” the sender unknown. “This can’t be good,” he thought, as he called Constance Brielle to look up Cow Hoof Rock.
Twenty minutes later Dark and Constance were on their way to Great Falls National Park and discussing the strange phone call that Dark had received moments before the text came through. “It was a dog barking, a small yappy dog, that’s all I could tell,” Dark said and Constance looked over at him from the passenger seat, “Are we going to rescue a dog?” Constance asked. “No idea,” said Dark “I guess that’s what we’re going to find out.”
They arrived at Great Falls National Park and made their way up the River Trail to Cow Hoof Rock. As they approached they heard the high pitched yapping of a dog. It was a small white dog that looked to be well taken care of. It had been leashed to a tree. Dark reached out to look at it’s collar and found something else attached there.
Dark pulled a small tube from the collar, looked at Constance, and opened it. From inside he unrolled a Tarot card. It was The Fool. Dark looked at the card, the dog looked almost identical to the one on the card, and he wondered, was there a man somewhere around here who belonged with the dog, or am I the fool? Finally he turned the card over. Written on the back were these words “Dark - We are going on a journey, you and I - Find Me.” Dark looked at Constance and said “Call the office, we need to search the area for a body.” Meanwhile he looked again at the collar of the dog. “Bear, huh?” he gave a confused laugh and petted the dog softly behind the ear. “Well Bear,” he said “I guess you’re coming with me.”
Two days later Dark was in the office going through evidence photos of the Great Falls crime scene when he received another text message on his phone. It said “Let go, accept what is. Our journey continues. - Find Me.” Dark picked up his phone to call Constance “I got another text, but no real lead” he said. “What did the message say,” asked Constance. “Let go, accept what is” said Dark. Constance breathed a heavy sigh, “The Hanged Man,” she said “but where?”
Dark was flipping slowly through a deck of Tarot cards, his desk was filled with evidence photos from the Great Falls crime scene. Constance walked in, “Do you think we missed something? A clue to where our hanged man is?” she asked. Before he could respond his phone rang, it was the producer of the local TV station. In a shaky voice she described a video she had received “It showed a man and a woman, dead I think, naked, chained together at the neck, and there was a voice saying ‘ignorance’ over and over again.” Dark knew the card without even having to look it up, The Devil card. He headed straight over to the station to pick up the video to see what other evidence might be included with the package.
Dark arrived back at Quantico just as Constance was beginning a briefing. “All right ladies and gentleman, this is what we’ve got,” Constance said as she looked around the room.
Then she pulled up an evidence photo on the large screen.
The image showed a male, Bear's owner, laying on his stomach at the bottom of a cliff at the Potomac River after having fallen to his death.
She clicked to the next photo.
This one was a still from the video received from the television station, the couple had been identified, by IDs in their pockets, as Susan and Harold Montgomery and police were on their way to gather further evidence from the crime scene.
“What do these cases have in common? One, she clicked back to the image of Bear's owner, was committed in Virginia, at a National Park; the other, back to the video still, in Maryland. From what we gather so far the victims do not appear to have known each other. We found a tarot card, the Fool, at the Potomac River crime scene with the dog, and The Devil card was with the video evidence sent to the TV station. So it looks like we’re working with a Tarot card theory, and we’re looking for ideas, as well as fresh eyes to see if we've missed something.”
Steve Dark picked up the remote for the projector and flashed back to the first crime scene photo. “That’s Maryland right there next to his body right?” he said. Constance replied “Technically, yes, Maryland claims the Potomac there I believe. So the body was on Virginia soil, but the water next to him is Maryland...why what are you thinking,” she asked. “We never found our hanged man, what if he is there? What if we missed something?”
They headed over to a large map on the wall and began to look at it. “Here is the area where we found the first body, Cow Hoof Rock at Mather Gorge right across from,” she stopped and looked up at him. He said “We did miss something, it’s right across from Bear Island. I knew that name was weird for that little dog.” Constance said “It’s in Montgomery County no less, the last name of our second victims.”
Bear Island is a large island, but it didn’t take long to figure out exactly where they needed to go. The fire tower on the island seemed to have smoke pouring out of it like a beacon. When they arrived at the tower they found their hanged man, and something else quite bizarre.
The man was hanging upside down by his foot, he seemed to have been dead at least a day. About 30 feet north of the tower there was an odd sight. What appeared to be a cage of eight large sticks in the ground surrounding a black bear. The bear was dead, though the cause of death was not apparent. As there were no obvious wounds it would appear that the sticks had not been used to harm the bear. As Dark approached the stick formation he noticed an envelope blowing in the breeze, attached to the end of the stick closest to him. Grabbing the envelope in his gloved hand, he opened it and unfolded the letter inside, then read it.
“The tower has lead you to your answer, yet you have not found the missing piece of this puzzle. Though the bear was mighty and strong, it was full of jealousy, hatred and ugliness. The bear was blinded to the truth. The darkness inside of it acted like a sanguisuge, sucking the life blood and joy from the every day moments of quiet beauty. The bear stood within the circle of sticks and insisted they were poking and prodding him, but the sticks stood still and watched. The bear fought and fought until he collapsed full of his jealousy, hatred and ugliness. The bear died, and the world was full of peace once again. - Find Me.”
Written by Rachee and BYH