Free Difficult Run by John Dibble

well enough to know that meant to shut up.   They kept walking, using the small flashlights from their gun belts to illuminate the trail in front of them.   There was a quarter moon that provided some illumination in the areas without overhanging trees, but it was generally dark enough to require close attention to the path in front of them.   M.J. had been down the trail several times in daylight but not at night.   Jake had not been back since the murder investigation started.
    After several hundred yards, the sounds from the party died out and the only thing that could be heard was the rushing water in the stream below.   A bird with a wingspan of several feet swooped out of a tree and came gliding down the trail just above head level.   Jake started when the bird flew over, ducking and instinctively reaching for his gun.
      “What the hell was that?” Jake exclaimed.
    “Just an owl looking for food,” M.J. replied nonchalantly, continuing on the trail in silence.
    They reached the point where the murders had occurred and M.J. stopped, shining her flashlight around the surrounding rocks.   She stood there for several minutes, lost in thought.
    “Let’s go back to the car,” she said.
    A few yards up the trail, she turned to Jake and said, “There was only one killer.”
    “How do you know that?” he asked.
    “Think about it,” she said, “he would have come here at night.   Probably parked in the lot where we did.   He was looking to murder someone, anyone.   There were probably people up at the head of the trail, just like there are tonight.   That seems to be a very popular place.   If there had been more than one killer, they would likely have murdered someone there.   Maybe waited until a lot of the people had left, then killed the stragglers.   One of them could have blocked the escape route while the other committed the murders.
    “I also have a hard time believing that two psychopaths would join up for an evening stroll on this trail in search of victims.   For one thing, it doesn’t fit the pattern for that type of killer.   They usually work alone.   That’s part of the thrill for them.   Also, there’s the way the boys were killed.   If it was more than one person, the method of choice would have been guns so they could do more damage.”
    “Maybe one liked to do the actual killing while the other just liked to watch,” Jake replied.
    “Can’t rule that out,” M.J. said.   “We’re dealing with some really dark corners of the human mind.   But if there was more than one killer, the gathering place up there would still have been more attractive. After all, they couldn’t be sure there was anyone else on the trail that night.
    “A lone killer would have bypassed the party. Too little opportunity; too many witnesses.   He would have walked on down the trail, maybe looking for a better victim, maybe just out of frustration.   When the boys’ helmet lights appeared at the top of the Ridge Trail, it presented the perfect opportunity.   The killer would have had plenty of time to hide.   He would figure out that if he killed the first boy and kept the second from riding back up the trail, there would be no witnesses.   After that, he could just walk back to the parking lot and leave the way he came.”
    “Wouldn’t somebody at the party have seen him arriving   or leaving?” Jake asked.
    “Maybe, but we just walked by there and no one saw us.   I’ll bet they don’t see us when we leave either,” M.J. said.
    As predicted, they walked past the hollow without being noticed.   When they got back to the car M.J. said, “It just occurred to me that if there were people partying there that night, the boys may have known some of them.   Hard to say if they would have stopped to say hello.   If there was drinking going on, they probably wouldn’t have.   It’s probably worth putting up some posters at Langley and the other schools in the area asking if anyone