Investigator John Hart was a man who never believed in rumors and legends, his gaze was always cold and stern. When he received a report of a discovery in the woods of Strongville, he treated it with the proper skepticism. Once on the ground, however, he quickly realized that this was no mere chance. What he discovered was confusing and disturbing.
Once on site, John carefully examined the skeleton, but could not come to a definite conclusion. It was clearly not a body that had died recently. He estimated the age of the remains – they were over twenty years old. There were no clothes, but the remaining parts of the bones and traces of decomposition indicated that the person had been in the ground for a long time. The skull, on the other hand, which had a small hole in it, indicated a violent death.
Tom and his friends tried to remember everything they knew about the place where the body had been found. But it didn’t yield any useful clues. Besides, there were no reported disappearances in the area, and that added to the strangeness of the whole situation. The place looked secluded, but there was no sign of a struggle or an attempt to hide the body.
“This is no accident,” John said as he examined the remains. He headed for the nearest town and asked the local old-timers for any information on incidents in these parts. One of the oldest in town was Joe, the man he had ventured to talk to.
When John walked into Joe’s house, the man greeted him with wariness. The local old man seemed to know more than he was willing to admit. After a few minutes, John realized that the whole affair was hiding something more. Joe told him that several years ago there had been a group of local criminals in Strongville who were using the woods for illegal operations. Everything pointed to the fact that this skeleton could be the result of something that happened years ago.
“The forest… It still holds their secrets,” Joe said quietly, and his words echoed in John’s head. The murder was connected to something much darker than they could have imagined.
