The Body in the Woods: A Point Last Seen Mystery

Alexis rushes to keep up with Nick, but he is way ahead of her. Alexis is in pain from a side cramp. She wonders what’s going to happen when she and Nick finally catch up to Becker and Ruby. She has nothing to protect herself with and Becker might have a gun. As she pushes forward, she sees gardening tools near a house and grabs a wooden rake. Nevertheless, Alexis feels unprepared to face Becker. Nick must be thinking the same thing: He arms himself with a huge rock before disappearing into the park.

Ruby comes face-to-face with Becker. He lunges towards her and loops the binoculars strap around her neck. Before she can use her knee to defend herself, he steps behind her and pulls. Ruby manages to get two fingers under the strap as it tightens. She coughs and desperately fights for air, making terrifying sounds. She grabs Becker’s face with her free hand as he kicks out her calves. She realizes he is trying to knock her to the ground, and he tells her to let go. She stops fighting and he kisses her temple. Her vision spins before going black.

Nick runs into the woods, panicking that he’s too late. Getting up after tripping over a root, he hears choking and coughing. By the time he finds them, Ruby is on the ground. Becker is leaning over her with his knife. Becker spins around and Nick throws the heavy rock at Becker’s head with a scream. Becker ducks. Nick leaps forward, swinging at Becker with his fists. Becker hits Nick in the shoulder, but not with his hand: Just as Nick realizes Becker isn’t holding his knife, he feels hot and wet blood run down his chest. Nick drops to his knees.

Alexis stops at the edge of the clearing. As Becker is kicking Nick in the head, Alexis runs up behind him with the rake and swings, hitting him in the head. The police arrive, finding Alexis holding the rake like a baseball bat and crying. There’s blood everywhere and three bodies lie motionless on the ground.

A week later, Alexis asks Nick if he’s sure he wants to do SAR that night. The three of them are waiting to see Detective Harriman. Nick doesn’t want to miss another SAR class. He’s feeling ok, though he has a sore shoulder—he had to get 26 stitches where Becker stabbed him. Ruby’s voice is still hoarse from her bruised larynx. Nick wishes Alexis had hit Becker hard enough to kill him—the army would call that a righteous kill. Alexis is glad she didn’t kill Becker—she wouldn’t want to live with that.

Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have spent the last week being interviewed by investigators and coddled by their parents. Alexis’s mom made a scrapbook out of the newspaper articles. They learned that Caleb Becker was a loner software engineer who created a computer program to track the birds’ migration patterns using trackers. He used a version of this software to track his victims. “No one was exactly sure when or why he had moved on from birds to girls, but his church had provided volunteers for a soup kitchen once a month, and other volunteers remembered his curiosity about the homeless people they served” (253).

A tired Detective Harriman enters and apologizes for not listening to them. He tells them some details about Becker: He kept clippings of hair from his victims, display cases of found feathers, and photos of the three girls taken after they died. Harriman also shows them the birding journal. The detective posits that the murder of DeShaundra Young, the 18-year-old found in Washington Park, was likely an accident that gave Becker a high and kicked off his obsession. As Harriman mentions GHB and the trackers, Ruby remembers when Becker pretended to slip and grabbed her shoulder. Ruby dumps her bag on the table—the tracker is still there. When Harriman tells them he will dust it for fingerprints, the teens ask why he needs any more evidence when it’s obvious that Caleb Becker is the serial killer. “‘You ever heard that expression: put another nail in the coffin?’ Detective Harriman smiled grimly. ‘I want as many nails as possible’” (258).

Ruby takes Nick and Alexis to McDonald’s for dinner before SAR class. Ruby catches her reflection in the window and thinks she looks symmetrical with red hair, pale skin, and big blue eyes. She wonders if she’s pretty, something she had never thought about before. Alexis toasts Ruby’s love of patterns which led to Becker’s capture. Nick and Alexis reassure Ruby that each of them is different, but that’s what makes them fit together: Ruby is the smart girl, Alexis is the pretty girl, and Nick is the brave guy. When Alexis explains a little bit about her mom, Ruby wants to play the role of supportive best friend, but isn’t sure how. She offers her fries to Alexis, who smiles.

The following Saturday, Alexis and Bran go to Perk Up for coffee. Bran gives Alexis a coffee with a white foam heart on it and tells her it’s his lucky day—the coffee is speaking for him. He calls her a hero. Alexis doesn’t think of herself as a hero; she has trouble thinking about that night because she really thought Nick and Ruby were dead. Alexis never had many friends because she didn’t want people to know about her mom, but now she has found her crew. Bran wants to be a part of her life too. Alexis asks if he means as a friend. He blushes and says, “And more. But only if you want” (263). Alexis kisses the foam off of Bran’s lips in response.