“My instinct tells me it’s recent.”
“So it’s not something from… say, a hundred years ago?”
Stanley shook his head. “They’re not sunk into the ground, no moss around them, nothing to indicate they’ve been there a long time. I hope I’m wrong but it looks to me like a meeting place for some sort of ritual meetings… maybe a group of tree huggers, or some such thing.”
“Or a place for young drug users to gather,” Harry added. “They could avoid detection for a long time in a place like that.”
“But would they bother to erect a circle with large stones?”
Harry shrugged. “With drug users it’s hard to tell. Maybe they sit on the stones, especially if the ground is wet.”
“Most of the stones are kind of flat on top,” Stanley said thoughtfully.
Harry stood up and shrugged into his jacket. “Show me where this is and if I think it’s a police matter I’ll contact them. I’ll follow you.” He glanced at Bertie and raised his eyebrows.
She shook her head. “I’ll just finish the report I was doing and head out. Janet and I are going furniture shopping. I’ll inform the store that you’ll be picking it up on Saturday morning. I’ll catch up with you again tomorrow.”
Getting into his truck, Harry followed Stanley’s little car. When they arrived at the scene, it was just as Stanley had said.
“So what do you think?” Stanley asked as Harry slowly walked around the exterior of the circle, examining the area.
“Definitely man-made and quite recently I’d say,” Harry replied. “You were right about the stones being too big for young kids to move. I don’t see any evidence of drug use and it’s been my experience that people doing drugs aren’t all that interested in cleaning up after themselves. Offhand, I’m not sure what to think.”
“So what do you think we should do about it?”
Harry rubbed his chin. “Leave it with me for now. I’ll watch the area frequently over the next few days. If nothing turns up by Monday I’ll stop by the station and get their opinion.”
“Sounds good to me. I won’t set any snares in this area… at least not for a while.”
“Good idea. I’ll be in touch.” Stanley left and Harry studied the area, looking for a good place to keep an eye on things without being seen. When he found a spot that he was satisfied with, he went back to the truck and sat for a while, thinking. If anyone was currently using this place, they hadn’t left any clues behind. Which could mean one of two things: one, they were up to no good and were careful not to leave anything that would expose their purpose; two, they were a very environmentally aware group and took great care to clean up after themselves. He was still thinking about it as he drove home.
During the next 12 hours Harry made three trips out to the location of the stone circle, staying about an hour each time. The first time was during sunset, then at midnight, and finally at sunrise the next morning… but nothing happened.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
