Smoke signals, once used to relay messages, now serve as an ominous reminder of the monsters lurking in the shadows. Just as a single plume of smoke can signal danger, so too can a small clue lead to a major breakthrough in a high stakes case.
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December 12 2021

[Ah, Wilderness. Snow, Ice, Privacy. Well maybe not so much privacy. ]

[I've got a search party
all over my property looking for someone who's literally under their feet.]

Alex was inside his cabin as he looked through the window and saw the search party standing outside as some were operating the drones to look for Matt while others had maps placed on tables looking for more locations on where Caldwell could have went.

[All because I made one mistake and killed someone. Now I need to search for a way to get everyone off my land so I can be a proper dad for my son.]

Last night, Katherine wanted to end the search after finding out that Matt shot the deer and escaped the town. However Matt's father, Kurt Caldwell wanted the town to continue the search and begged them to not leave his son alone in the snow to which the search for Matt Caldwell continued, unaware that he's already dead and buried under the fireplace of where they're standing at.

Now Alex is thinking about how he has to get rid of Matt's remains. However he decided to figure that out later and looked at the time on his watch as it was time that he needed to take Harrison to Iron Lake High School.

Winters put on his hoodie jacket and left the cabin as he continued walking and saw Harrison talking to Anne, Benjamin and Michael while operating the drone as Alex said something to his son.

Alex: Okay. Let's go, buddy.

Harrison: Five more minutes. This drone is so cool.

Alex: We're meeting with the school principal. You don't want to be late on your first day.

Harrison nodded and gave the controller back to them as they smiled at him and both father and son were gonna walk away until the team said something to Harrison.

Anne: Oh Harrison, there's something we want to tell you.

Harrison: Yeah?

Benjamin: Do you like wrestling?

Micheal: We know the assistant coach and if your interested, we can enroll you into the team.

Harrison: Oh that's cool. I'll think about it.

Anne: That's great. Jim, your okay with your son wrestling?

Alex: Sure, I'm okay with it.

Benjamin: That's great. Wrestling is a great sport. Teaches you personal growth, confidence and mental toughness.

Michael: Your right about that.

Katherine: Hey guys!

Katherine: We're going back to the station. There's been a break in the case.

Alex: A break in the case? . . . . . What happened?

Katherine: I'll talk to you later about it. Gotta go now, honey.

She kissed his cheek and the team immediately made their way towards the car as Alex was thinking about what lead they found in the case and began retracing his steps, he made sure there was no evidence that he left behind. What lead did they found? A wave of worry and nervousness began to overwhelm him but he didn't want to show those emotions to anyone to avoid raising suspicion.

Winters and Harrison began making their way towards the truck as Alex noticed someone getting inside their car as he saw who it was.

Kurt Caldwell is the father of Matt Caldwell. He is sixty years old and is the mayor of Iron Lake for twenty five years. He owns several trucks and is the owner of a truck stop and diner.

Kurt got inside his car and began driving away as Alex knew he was making his way towards the station to hear about the break in the case. Alex and Harrison got inside the truck and began driving towards the high school but Winters couldn't stop thinking about what lead they found in the case.

Darkly Dreaming Winters
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Arc 3: Smoke Signals

Iron Lake High School

Principal Strode: [Smiles] By the way, Jim. My husband loves that fishing rod you talked him into.

Alex: Great.

Strode: He said you were right. Having that fast action helps him put more pressure on the fish.

Alex: [Smiles] Glad it worked out.

Principal Strode smiled at them and looked through the application as she was concerned about something and said something to Harrison and Alex.

Strode: So, I've been looking
at Harrison's grades and I have some concerns.

Alex: Concerns?

Strode: In just one year, He went from a 3.8, down to 1.4 and then back to a 3.0. Why is that?

Harrison: . . . My stepmom died. . . . . .

Strode: I'm sorry to hear. . . . . . Is that why you moved from Argentina to Miami?

Harrison: Yeah. . . . .

Strode: So who did you moved to Miami with?

Harrison: Uh. . . . . . I was placed in the foster care system.

After hearing that, Principal Strode was shocked by that as she looked at Alex and said something to him.

Strode: Your son was in foster care. Where were you?

Alex was silent, struggling to figure out what he could say to Principal Strode until he saw Olivia standing behind the principal as she stared at her brother and said something to him.

Olivia: Yeah Jim, where were you when your son was in foster care?

Strode noticed the silence in Alex's voice as she narrowed her eyes and was about to say something until Harrison said something to the principal.

Harrison: Things were complicated, ma'am. My stepmom and I had just moved and when she passed away. . . . . Jim had no way of reaching me. . . . . It's not his fault.

Principal Strode stared at them as she nodded until someone entered the room as she spoke to Jim and then spoke to Harrison.

???: [Smiles] Hey Jim.

Tess: [Smiles] I'm Tess Silvera. The science teacher.

Strode: Ms. Silvera will be administrating Harrison's placement exam and we'll know which grade level he's at.

Harrison nodded as both him and Tess left the office so that he can take the placement exam as Alex was gonna leave the office to head to the police station until Strode said something to him.

Strode: And you'll know more about your son.

Twenty five minutes later

Alex was at the Iron Lake Police Department as he saw Anne speaking on the phone until she noticed him and disconnected the call before Winters said something to her.

Alex: Hey. Is Kathy around?

Anne: Conference room. Apparently, Reservation Land Management has footage of Matt Caldwell shooting that deer.

After hearing that, Alex's eyes were widen in shock as his heart was racing. Was there cameras around the woods?

Alex: Footage?

Anne: [Chuckles] Who knew there were cameras out there?

[I sure didn't.]

Suddenly an officer called Alex and asked him to come to the conference room as he nodded. However a wave of fear and nervousness began to overwhelm him. Winters had no idea there were cameras around the woods, the day he attacked Caldwell and now the police has the footage.

When Alex entered the conference room, he saw Katherine, Benjamin, Michael, Kurt and a zoologist whose name is Sam staring at Winters as he stared at them.

Katherine: Jim, This is Sam, from Land and Wildlife Management and a zoologist. We need you to clear something up for us.

Alex: Happy to.

Sam nodded and opened the television screen as Alex saw it was a heat signature of Matt walking through the woods while holding the rifle in his hand as Winters was staring at it.

Alex: Heat signatures?

Katherine: Yeah.

Winters was relieved that they only had heat signatures around the area as Katherine told Sam to pause the footage and he did just that. She asked Alex a question and he responded to her question after looking at the footage.

Katherine: Does that look like the
rifle you sold to Matt?

Alex: Modern Outfitters MC with what looks like a very distinctive Leupold scope. It's just like the one I sold to Matt.

Kurt: So you're saying that this is my son.

Katherine: Well, this confirms that Matt shot the deer.

Kurt: And gets us no closer to finding him.

Sam: Actually, we did find one more thing. From the next quadrant over, about seconds earlier.

He showed another footage of a heat signature which was Alex walking through the woods as everyone was staring at it before Sam said something to them.

Sam: He's heading for the same spot as the first guy.

Kurt: There's someone else in the woods! We need the angle that shows where they went.

Sam: There's a blind spot.

Kurt: Blind spot?! Why is there a f****** blind spot?!

Sam: This system is set up for animal tracking, not crime surveillance. There's gonna be tons of blind spots.

Kurt: Dammit! Goddammit!

Katherine: Contact tribal police. Call Albany and get CSI out here and go secure the crime scene ASAP.

Kurt: Oh, so now it's a crime scene?

Katherine: Yes.

Kurt was angry and gave a sinister stare to everyone in the room before he said something to Katherine.

Kurt: You had no idea there were cameras. You've been treating this like it's some kind of goddamn missing persons case, and the whole time, you had a suspect under your f****** nose?!

Benjamin: That's the way these things work, Kurt. We find new evidence. Things change. Now it's a criminal investigation.

Micheal: Look, if this guy did something to Matt, we'll find him. We'll check for hunting licenses.

Alex: We sell them at the store. I can make a list.

Katherine: Let's interview everyone who came in contact with Matt in the hours before he disappeared.

Meanwhile Harrison was done with the placement exam as he was walking through the hallway to wait for his result until he met Zach and Scott who were happy to see him and Winters smiled at them.

However Harrison noticed Zach and Scott were texting someone as they told him that they were pranking a student name Ethan by pretending to be a girl who has a crush on him.

Harrison found the prank messed up and told Zach and Scott to stop but they didn't listen to him as Winters looked at Ethan in the distance staring at his phone and texting as he needed to help him.

Meanwhile back at the camp, Alex had a list of hunting licenses as he saw Katherine who was waiting for the crime scene investigator to show up until he gave her the list before he said something to her.

Alex: Hunting licenses all from this year. Hopefully this will help you guys.

Katherine: [Smiles] Thanks.

Both of them were looking around in the camp as Katherine said something to Alex.

Katherine: Wildlife cameras. Who knew?

[Not me.]

Katherine: Guys like Kurt have been doubting me ever since I joined the force. Now I've given him all the ammunition he needs. . . . . . I was calling off the search after the first day because I found a glove. . . . . . . What was I thinking?

[What I wanted you to think.]

Katherine: If I learned anything, it's that people don't just disappear. There's always a reason.

Alex: Well, you're a good cop. I'm sure you'll find him.

Katherine smiled at him and hugged him as he hugged her back while smiling at her until both of them saw a car stopping by the camp as someone exited the vehicle and they saw who it was.

Katherine: Damien.

Damien waved at her as he opened the trunk and tried to pick up his equipment until he clumsily dropped them as he groaned in annoyance while Winters was trying to hold his laughter until Alex walked towards him and spoke to him.

Alex: You need another hand?

Damien: Oh! [Chuckles] Much obliged.

Alex: Are you the CSI from Albany?

Damien: Well, originally I'm from St. Louis, but. . . . . .

He managed to pick up all of his equipment until Alex said something to him.

Alex: You mind if I watch you work the scene? I'm a big fan of those CSI shows.

Kurt: Hey, I'm coming, too. It's my son they're looking for.

Both of them saw Kurt walking towards them as Damien fixed his hair before he said something to both of them.

Damien: As long as you both stay outside the crime scene and don't disturb the corpus delicti.

Kurt: Corpus de-what?

Damien: It's Latin for "body of evidence."

Fifteen minutes later

Everyone were at the crime scene where the deer was shot as Damien placed his equipment on the ground before he picked up the camera and began taking photographs of the crime scene.

[Damn it. Not out of the woods yet.]

Kurt: What you doing, Mr. Church?

Damien took a sample of the blood on the ground and said something to Caldwell.

Damien: Some of the blood coagulated differently than the rest, so I'm testing it to see if it came from the deer or if it's human.

[Exactly what I would've done.]

Damien: Blood is the body's-

[Truth.]

Damien: Truth.

He finished analysing the sample as Damien said something to everyone which shocked them.

Damien: It's human. Someone may have mixed it in with the deer's blood so we'd overlook it.

[Uh oh. This guy's good.]

Kurt was in a state of shock as he gritted his teeth in anger until Winters said something to him.

Alex: Kurt, we don't even know
if that's Matt's blood. And even if it is, he could've cut himself. People cut themselves dressing animals all the time.

Katherine: Or maybe it's from the other guy who was out here.

Kurt: So, what, somebody attacked Matt because of that stupid deer and he fought him off?! Is that it?!

Katherine: Its possible. Damien, what do you think happened?

[Come on, Damien, fail me now.]

Damien was looking through both directions before he began recreating the crime scene.

Damien: The victim came from over there. The attacker from over there.

A vision of Winters was touching the deer until Matt shot the deer and let out a yell of excitement.

Damien: Judging by the pool of blood, they met up right around here, where the deer was shot. . . . . . . There was some sort of altercation.

A vision of Alex with blood splattered on his face stared in Matt in shock while Caldwell was examining the deer.

Damien: The attacker overpowered the victim. Knocked him down.

A vision of Alex hitting Matt in the face with the rifle played on his mind as he remembered the blood falling from Matt's nose and some blood fell on the deer's blood.

Damien: The victim then fell backwards hitting his head right about- Huh. There was a rock here.

A vision of Matt hitting the back of his head with the rock played as another vision showed Alex cleaning the bloody rock before he threw the rock towards the river.

Damien: Must have been removed during the attack. I suspect it caused a head injury.

Kurt: Wait, so what exactly are you saying happened here?

Damien: What I'm saying is somebody committed an attack, then tried to cover it up. We're looking at foul play.

[I've gotten rusty in my absence.]

Kurt: Well, what now?! How do we find the son of a b**** that did this to my son?

Katherine: We still don't know whose blood this is. We need to establish that first.

Damien: That's true.

Katherine: Kurt, with your permission, I want Damian to do a familial DNA test. We'd run a sample of your DNA against the human blood that we just found and if it's a match, it will confirm that it's Matt.

Kurt: Alright. I'll do it.

Winters suddenly got a phone call from the high school asking them to come over immediately as Alex nodded and disconnected the call before he began making his way towards the high school.

A/N: Thanks For Reading And Stay Cool :)