When Jasper got back to the station Jim Clarkson was coming back with Smokey. In Jim's younger years people used to call him Bear. Maybe that's why he got along so well with Smokey. Jim said people called him that because, either he was so hairy, or because they had seen him when he woke up in the morning. All Jasper knew was he was a good cop and he had a good reason for being back.
As he got out of his car he called, "Here Smokey, come on boy. How you doing? Here, you want a dog treat? Good boy! Let's get you a drink of water. Okay! Come on!"
Jasper and his dog Smokey lived on what used to be called the edge of town when he bought it 18 years ago. He was glad he had enough room to have a dog. Smokey was a big shepherd weighing in at 150 lb. Smokey had saved Jasper's life on more that one occasion, In other words he had earned his dog food.
Smokey was not only his best friend and the K-9 unit for the town, but one of the best trackers in the state. He had found Mrs. Cantrell a few years back when she had wandered off. Her family was so grateful that they donated a large amount money to the town for special projects as they called it, the police department being one of those projects.
They walked back into the station house when Jasper asked, "Jim what did you find?"
"Well, Smokey sniffed all the way to the highway. When he got there things seem to go stone cold. We don't know if he got picked up or what. We walked on back to see if he doubled back somewhere, but there's just too much ground to cover. You could tell that there was more than one trail, but only one with Mr. Twilliger's scent on it. We need some more help. That stretch of the road goes on for miles. On the other side of the road there is that wooded area. He could be anywhere at this point."
"Okay, I was just going to make a couple of calls. I'll call the Big City and see if I can get some help, hopefully the chopper will be available," said Jasper
"Well, whoever was walking was not doing too good of a job of it. You could tell he had fallen down a couple of times. The only thing we found was this handkerchief. It has a "T" embroidered on it. I saw three sets of footprints. There was also a spot where someone had been doing a lot of digging. They had made a pretty good sized hole. It was less than two feet deep and probably several feet long. It was like they dug it with their hands. Don't know what it was for. It almost looked like someone could have been buried in it," Jim said.
"Are you sure? Why would someone bury someone out here and where are they now? This handkerchief doesn't look cheap like it came from one of the discount stores."
"I thought so too. It kind of has that fine linen look to it," said Jim.
"This is turning into something bigger than I thought it would be. I figured by now we would have found him. Sounds like something may have really happened to Mr. Twilliger. I am also thinking maybe we should check back at his house. There is a lot of land there and out buildings. At this time he could be anywhere by now. Well, I'm sure this handkerchief is Mr. Twilliger's, but I'll check with Mrs. Twilliger to be sure. Take a break and get some lunch. I'll see if the Big City can send us some help and get that chopper in the air. Come on, Smokey, I'll get you some dog food. Jim, I'll meet you over at the cafe after I call the Big City."
Jasper didn't usually give Smokey food in the middle of the day, but he had been working really hard, so Jasper didn't mind spoiling him. After putting him in the dog run with fresh water and food he headed in and called Mr. Rickets with Gulf Seas Imports.