The news spread like wildfire. Minutes before his execution, notorious serial killer Karl Weindock told authorities where he had dumped the bodies of six of his victims.

In order to bring closure to grieving families, searchers converged on the desolate area forty miles west of Drayton Valley. Weeds and hardy, waist-high shrubs were the only vegetation that survived in the rocky soil. Its only visitors were teenagers, looking for a lovers’ lane, or a place to party.

The police hired local cowboy Glen Boucher and his dog Rocky to find the bodies. He had found the remains of the first one after a quick sweep of the rough stretch of land. While county coroner Doctor Sharon Kovach examined the remains, Glen and his dog continued the search.

Rocky loved his job. He was a mixed breed, about the size of a German Shepherd. As soon as Glen waved his hand in a circular motion, the hound raced ahead of him with his nose to the ground, seeking that elusive smell. The dog could cover a lot of area in a short amount of time. Glen followed him on his horse.

A mile from the first discovery, Rocky stopped, circled an indentation in the ground, sat on his hunches and waited for his owner to arrive. Glen dismounted to investigate. He kicked aside some sand with his boot and immediately stepped back. The skeletal remains of a face looking up at him always shocked him to the core. He didn’t think he would ever get used to it.

Glen stuck a flag beside the discovery so the coroner could find it. He praised Rocky for his efforts and gave him a doggy treat. Then he was back in the saddle. With Rocky ranging ahead of him, covering the ground in a criss-crossing manner, they set off to find more of Weindock’s victims.

Rocky soon found the third body and the fourth. Glen inserted a flag in the ground beside each corpse and continued the search. It surprised him when his dog lost his concentration. Instead of searching for buried bodies, he acted like he’d picked up the scent of something more interesting. He forgot all about his job and took off in a straight line towards a huge clump of shrubbery some distance away.

Glen hollered, “Rocky, get back here. You got work to do.” For the first time, the dog had shown more interest in what was in that bush than his master’s commands. He circled it, sticking his nose inquisitively into it with his tail high in the air, then suddenly jumped back in retreat and tried to enter the bush from a different direction.

Glen continued yelling and whistling at his dog to get his attention as he headed towards him. “Rocky, get back here. What’s the matter with you? If you got a rabbit trapped in there, you’re in big trouble.” The dog continued to ignore him. Whatever he found in the shrubbery had his complete attention.

Just as Glen got close to Rocky, a slight figure with long, black hair suddenly emerged from its hiding place. Screaming, “stay away from me,” she kept swinging a long-handled knife at Rocky, forcing him to back up to avoid the attack.

Glen leaped off his horse. By now, he could see it was a teenage girl that Rocky had flushed out of her hiding place. “Put down that knife. Don’t you dare hurt my dog.

The girl turned in his direction. “Sorry, I thought he was a wolf that was going to eat me.” She lowered her weapon.

“What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” Glen demanded. He noticed the girl had been defending herself with a wicked-looking machete, and it had traces of blood on its blade and tip.

“Is that Rocky’s blood? You better not have hurt my dog with that. Glen seized the machete and examined it.

“No, it’s not from your dog. I think it’s from the man who tried to kidnap me and my friend last night. He and another guy pushed us into a minivan when we were walking home from the movies and drove us out here. I got loose from my zip ties and found that big knife under a seat. I was using it to cut the ties off Neeta, but before I could free her, they met another car.

“When they stopped to talk to the driver in the other car, I wanted to escape and take Neeta with me, but I didn’t have time to untie her, so I jumped out of the back of the van to run away. The driver must have heard me because he came to check on us. When he saw me, he tried to get me back in the van, so I swung that big knife at him. It was pitch black out, but I think I cut him in the leg because he screamed and got back in the van and drove away.”

The story stunned Glen. The abduction was all over the news. He listened to it on the TV that morning while having breakfast. “So, you must be Kelsey. Does this mean you were out here all night?”

The teenager nodded. “After the car left because they couldn’t find me in the dark, I tried to walk home, but I got lost. When I saw you coming, I thought the men had returned to find me, so I hid in the clump of bushes, but your dog found me, anyway.”

Glen saw her eyeing the canteen hanging from his saddle. “You must be thirsty. Have a drink.” He handed it to Kelsey, who tipped it up and chug-a-lugged the water like it was life-saving nectar.

“You’re darn lucky my dog found you. Glen replied. Come on, I’ll take you to the police officer. You can tell your story to him and he can help find your friend.”

“I sure hope so, because I heard the men say they were going to sell her,” Kelsey said.

Glen got back on his horse. When he grabbed the girl’s arm to pull her up behind him, she gasped loudly and winced.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Only a little. I hit my head on the bumper when I crawled out of the van, then I landed on my shoulder,” Kelsey admitted.

“Good thing we got a doctor here too,” Glen replied as he headed towards the makeshift camp.

The camp wasn’t much. Four eight-foot-high poles supported a piece of canvas to give the coroner shade while she exhumed the corpses.

Dr. Kovach looked up from her work. “Why are you back so soon? Don’t tell me you and your dog already found the rest of the bodies.”

“Nope, only four dead ones, and one live one.” Glen nodded at Kelsey, who still sat behind him. Rocky found this one all by himself. I’m glad Constable Dennison is still here because she’s got quite an interesting story to tell.”

“How long has she been out there?” Doctor Kovach asked as she helped Kelsey off the horse.

“She says she’s been out there all night, and she’s hurt. Do you think you can take a look at her while I talk to the constable?” Glen replied.

“My speciality is examining dead bodies, but I think I still know how to tend to live ones.” The doctor led Kelsey under the makeshift tent. “We’ll sit in the shade and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Dead bodies, ugh.” Kelsey shook her head in disgust.

“It’s not the most pleasant job, but somebody has to do it,” Doctor Kovach replied. “Now tell me where you’re hurt.”

“My head, my shoulder, and my wrists.”

Kelsey held out her hands. The doctor studied her chaffed and bloody wrists.” How did this happen?”

“I did it when I tried to get out of the zip ties. I thought I knew a trick to slip out of them, but these were on really tight.”

Doctor Kovach nodded. “It doesn’t look too serious, but I have nothing to clean them up or bandage them, so you should have them looked at when you get back to town.” She had finished examining the bump on Kelsey’s head and her sore shoulder by the time Glen returned with the police officer.

“How is she?” Constable Dennison asked. He eyed Kelsey, who was busy devouring Doctor Kovach’s lunch, which consisted of two sandwiches, a banana, and a cookie.

“Her injuries don’t look that serious, but she should go to the hospital to get her wrists tended to.”

“Pretty gutsy too, cuz guess what? Some guy limped into the hospital this morning with a slashed up and bloody leg. The doctors got suspicious and called the police.

“If you’re going back to town, can you take her with you, and pick me up a lunch when you return? This poor girl was so starved she ate all of mine.” Doctor Kovach replied.

After Kelsey got settled into the front seat of the police car, she turned to the constable. “Can you call my parents for me?”

Constable Dennison nodded, pulled out his phone and dialed the numbers Kelsey rattled off.

“This is Constable Dennison. I thought you’d like to know we found your daughter.” He nodded. “Yes, she’s fine, except for a couple of bumps and bruises. I’m taking her to the hospital just to be sure. You can meet us there.”

He handed the phone to Kelsey. “Do you want to talk to them and tell them you’re okay?”

Kelsey grabbed the phone and explained without stopping to take a breath. “Hi mom, it’s me. Yes, I’m sure I’m okay. Me and Neeta got kidnapped by two men last night, but I got free and ran away. A big dog found me this morning, and a cowboy took me to this doctor who only looks after dead people. Yes ... yes, I’m fine. I’ll meet you and dad at the hospital. I just want to go home.”

Kelsey handed the phone back to the constable just as he pulled onto the highway. “Ever been in a police car with lights and sirens going full blast?”

Kelsey shook her head. “I haven’t even been in a police car before. How soon can we get to the hospital? Mom and dad are going to be waiting for me there.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have you there in a jiffy.” Constable Dennison flicked on his flashing blue lights, turned on the ear-splitting siren, and put his foot to the floor. Kelsey stared out at the side window as they passed cars as if they were standing still.

When Constable Dennison reached the outskirts of town, the traffic slowed him down, he used his cell phone to inform the hospital they were almost there. With the siren and flashing lights giving him the right of way, he reached its emergency entrance in record time. They were met by Kelsey’s parents, Detective Dave Lewis, his partner Mila Schenfeld, and a nurse pushing a wheelchair.

Kelsey hugged her parents and wanted to go home immediately, but the nurse insisted she first get checked out by a doctor. Her mother walked beside Kelsey and held her hand while the nurse wheeled her into the hospital. Her dad followed, and they both sat with their daughter until a doctor was available.

Constable Dennison handed the blood splattered machete over to the detectives. “The girl said this is what she used to take a swipe at the guy trying to get her back into the van.”

Detective Lewis accepted the weapon. “Thanks. Jack Donnelly is the name of the guy who showed up at the hospital with the leg wound. This is just what we need to see if he’s our perp. The doctor can compare the blood on it to his, and also use it to see if it fits the size of the gash on his leg.”

Since he was no longer needed at the hospital, Constable Dennison was told to return to the serial killer’s dumping ground and help with the search. He made a quick stop at a deli to pick up a lunch for Doctor Kovach and headed out of town.

The detectives showed the machete to the doctor, who attended to Donnelly’s wounds, and Detective Schenfeld explained its significance. After he scraped blood off the weapon and saved it for forensics, the physician used it to check its blade against the size of the perp’s wound. It elated the detectives when they learned the machete was a perfect match.

“How soon can we talk to him? He might know the location of the second girl,” Detective Lewis asked.

“He’s all bandaged up and ready to go, so be my guest,” the doctor said.

The detectives pounced on Donnelly before he could leave the hospital. “Not so fast. We found the girl who hacked at you with the machete, and now we want you to tell us where the other one is,” Detective Schenfield told him.

“What girl? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The perp tried to hobble away, but since he was on crutches, he was easy to catch. The detectives put him in the back of a squad car and took him to the police station. They ushered him into an interrogation room and let him rest his leg on a chair for better comfort, then started questioning him.

“I think you already know what girl we were talking about. It’s the one you abducted, and gave you that ugly gash on the leg. It must have hurt like hell,” Detective Schenfeld remarked.

“What we want to know is where the other girl is,” Detective Lewis interrupted.

Donnelly shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I want a lawyer.”

The magic words forced the detectives to back off because after a suspect asks for a lawyer, anything he says to the police is useless as evidence and they didn’t want to screw up their case.

“Fine, we’ll get you one, but in the meantime, we’re going to search your car. We have seized it as evidence,” Detective Lewis informed Donnelly.

“The clock is ticking on that other poor girl. The longer they have her, the slimmer our chances get. She could be anywhere by now,” Detective Schenfeld complained as they walked down the hallway.

“We just got lucky,” Detective Lewis announced. He pointed at a tall, well-dressed lady with her hair styled in the latest fashion walking towards them. Isn’t that Marlo Kipsaw? She must be here to talk with a client. Let’s see if she wants another one.”

They waylaid the lawyer and explained the situation. Kipsaw laughed. “You think I am going to waltz in there and tell your suspect to co-operate with you, even though it might not be in his best interest?

“Talking to us is definitely in his best interest, because right now we’re so desperate to find the other girl we’re in a dealing mood. However, we impounded his car and will go through it with a fine-tooth comb and if we find any evidence that helps us find the girl, then all deals are off the table because we won’t need his help,” Detective Schenfeld warned.

Marlo nodded. “I’ll talk to him and see if he wants me to represent him, but I will not help you make the case to his detriment.”

“Fair enough, but while you discuss the situation with Donnelly, we will start tearing his car apart,” Detective Lewis said.

He and his partner entered the police garage where forensics was going through the impounded car.

“Find anything useful yet?” Detective Lewis asked.

“So far, nothing but a lot of blood in the front seat. By the looks of it, that girl must have given Donnelly a pretty good whack with that machete,” a tall, skinny man wearing white coveralls and booties remarked.