Page 40 of Finding Chaos

“Into the Devil’s Pit,” Walker answered. “When your forensic team gets here, I’ll take some of my brothers, and we’ll go and scout the area.”

“I’m going too,” Destiny said, squeezing Walker’s hand.

“Fine,” the sheriff answered. “You know the drill. If you find something, leave it undisturbed for the forensic team.”

Within two hours, the forensic team from the nearby town had been flown in and dropped off before Walker, Destiny, and some of his brothers loaded into the helicopter and lifted off into the air toward their new destination.

They descended into the clearing. The helicopter had to land farther back to avoid hitting the five four-wheelers parked near the Pit.

One man held a camera and another pointed a microphone in Putnam’s direction as he stood next to the pit, shielding his eyes as they landed.

“What the heck is Ritchie doing here?” she asked.

“He’s with my brother Nick. This isn’t good,” Walker yelled.

“What is he doing here?” Walker’s brother Hugh, the pilot, asked through the headphones.

“I don’t know. We left him to”—he glanced at Destiny—“to see what he could get out of the girl who wasn’t talking. The girl brought down last night with Putnam.”

“The Banshee,” Destiny said. “Those ghosts told me the Banshee lived in the Pit too.”

“Banshee?” one of the other brothers asked.

“The girl from last night,” Walker answered as they climbed out of the helicopter and ran, their heads lowered until they cleared the blades. The camera was pointed in their direction, and a look of panic crossed Walker’s face. “This is not good.”

“I’ll take care of it,” she said and went to Putnam and made a slash sign across her neck toward the camera crew. “What are you doing here?”

“Dr. Nick Bennett, Walker’s brother interviewed the Banshee. And he believes she came from this area. I’m just here to cover it for a news piece that I’m going to write later,” Putnam said.

The Bennett brother that was with Putnam headed in Walker’s direction.

“You need to leave,” Destiny growled.

“I’m not leaving,” Putnam complained. “First, you want to steal my ghost story, and now this?”

“I’m not trying to steal anything from you, but this is a crime scene, and you need to leave.”

The other Bennett brother, Nick, who had been there when they arrived was headed in their direction with Walker. “It’s time for us to go. The site down there needs to be preserved for forensics.”

“Forensics? I thought you said the girl’s backpack and probably ID might be down in that hole.” Putnam said. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I’ll fill you in later, I promise, but not right now. Right now, you need to leave,” Destiny said, trying to ignore the confused look that Walker was giving her.

Nick Bennett led the camera crew back to the four-wheelers and away from the area before Walker spoke. “You can’t be serious about telling him anything.”

“I have to give him something, or he won’t let it go.”

“Destiny—”

“Trust me. I’ll figure it out; besides, I don’t think he’d leave of his own free will if your brothers hadn’t been here with us. He’s going to want to know what we find, and if I don’t tell him something, he’ll be back.”

“Let’s hope we get the bones out first,” Walker said just as two of his brothers sparked flares and dropped them into the darkness.

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