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KEYS BE GONE

Suspects: Peter (Father), David (oldest brother), Ian (middle brother), and Jacob (youngest brother)

"Where are they?" A panicked Peter, father of his three sons who accompanied him to a remote campsite near Jasper National Park, rummaging through his backpack.

"Where is what?" Asks David, the oldest of the three sons as he was zipping up his backpack.

"My keys. I can't find my keys. I had them in the inside pocket of my bag and now they're gone."

Worried, the youngest son, Jacob, suggests, "Maybe Ian forgot to put them back in when he dumped your bag to look for the compass before we started our hike at the base of the canyon."

Glaring at Jacob, Ian snaps at his younger sibling, "I wasn't the only one in the bag. You went in there, took stuff out so you could get your sunglasses. You're always the one forgetting to put everything back."

Jacob shakes his head, "That's not true."

David speaks up again, "Hey, dad, you went into the bag a couple times yourself. I went in there to get the camera. Maybe if we trace our steps we can figure out what happened."

They had only camped one night so far, but had hiked considerable ground between where Peter had parked the mini-van to where the tent was pitched. It was an unpleasant task to consider, but Peter felt he searched the backpack thoroughly and there were no sign of those keys. They were not where they were supposed to be. The search was necesary as nobody would have a way to use the mini-van to get back home.

In order to save time, it was agreed everybody would separate. They each had cell phones on them, so could call each other with a progress report. It was agreed each guy would go towards the direction they knew they had gone into the backpack.

Jacob remembered going into the backpack for his compass when the group reached a fork in the road and debated amongst themselves which way to go, east or west. When he reached his destination, he noticed something shiny on the ground. Hoping they were the keys, he closes in on them, only to realize it was a small collection of loose change. How or why they got there was a mystery to him. Collecting the money, he takes a closer look around and finds nothing else.

Ian rushed his way to the bed of flat rocks that served as steps at the base of the canyon when he, his brothers and his father climbed up as they closed in on their camping spot. He had to admit, he was rather clumsy with the bag when he reached into it and it was possible the case of the missing keys was

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