Evan Spotted Bright Clothing Below the Forest Overlook — Then Ranger Cole Saw Where the Fresh Footprints Led
Chapter 6 — The Night Footage
The memory card contained hundreds of photographs.
Most were ordinary.
Deer.
Foxes.
Trail conditions.
Damaged signs.
Then Cole reached footage from three nights earlier.
Timestamp:
2:13 AM.
A pickup truck appeared on a restricted service road.
No headlights.
Two men climbed out.
One was Aaron.
The room went silent.
Cole looked at him.
“Drainage inspection at two in the morning?”
Aaron lowered his head.
“No.”
“Who’s the other man?”
“Marcus Vale.”
Cole knew the name.
Marcus owned Vale Outdoor Adventures.
A private company offering guided climbs, hunting trips outside park boundaries, and wilderness tours.
The next image showed Aaron and Marcus carrying long black cases.
Another showed them entering the protected valley.
Michael frowned.
“What were in the cases?”
Aaron finally admitted it.
Trail cameras.
Private ones.
Marcus had been paying Aaron to install cameras inside the restricted zone.
He wanted photographs of wildlife locations.
Information he could use to advertise expensive private tours on neighboring land.
“That’s why the park camera disappeared,” Cole said.
Aaron shook his head.
“I didn’t take it.”
“Then who did?”
Aaron looked at the screen.
“Marcus.”
More photographs appeared.
Marcus removing a park-owned camera.
Marcus cutting a chain at a service gate.
And finally, one image taken early that morning.
Marcus standing beside the overlook.
Holding a wrench.
