Even with Officer Foster leaving to return to the station, the car felt incredibly crowded with Todd Ramsey sitting in the back beside DeMarco. It wasnt just that there were four people crammed into Barnes patrol carKate and Barnes up front, DeMarco and Ramsey in the backit was also the added fear, tension, and confusion coming off of Ramsey. No more than three minutes after they had left Ramseys house, it was just too much for Kate. She knew from experience that silence in tense situations never led to anything good. So she did her best to defuse it before it was too late.

Mr. Ramsey, why were you out driving so late at night anyway?

Like I said. I was just clearing my head. Ive always liked to drive around the back roads at nightespecially those old dirt and gravel roads no one really ever uses. Its been a rough few weeks and I was just getting antsy sitting around the house.

What did you do for a living?

I was a tree-topper for a local lumber company. I got laid off when the lumber yards cut back the quotas. I knew it was coming…its been happening to other companies all year. Some say because of the government shutdown. I dont know…

And just like that, Kate knew she had succeeded. She had not related to him per se, but she had him speaking to her about something other than the disappearance and the murders of the Fuller family. Ramsey seemed to be at ease, still clearly unhappy to be in the back of a police car but not quite as tense.

Fifteen minutes after leaving Ramseys house, Barnes turned onto yet another back road. This one wound like a snake even deeper into the forest. Kate saw a few small houses tucked back in coves of trees, a good distance off of the road. These were houses that were clearly being lived in but were about two or three paychecks away from squalor. There were weeded yards, collapsed porches, wandering pet dogs in desperate need of a meal. Just as Kate had started to understand the state of this part of the county, Barnes turned onto a road that started out with a sign that read: End State Maintenance 0.5 Miles.

Blood Gulch Road sees a lot of traffic during hunting season, Barnes explained. There are all of these little turn-offs into big open fields or off-roading-type roads that used to be logging roads.

Deer or turkey hunting? DeMarco asked.

Both. Its one of the reasons locals have dubbed it Blood Gulch Road.

One of the reasons? Kate asked.

Yeah. I guarantee you we catch at least twenty or so cars every year out here at night…kids coming to have sex. It sort of got that reputation…a place where local girls came to offer up their virginity and…

I got you, Kate said. No further explanation needed.