Page 7 of Their Frozen Bones

“The cargo has been tampered with.” Kane stuck his head over the edge of the plane. “I found this. It’s Julie’s purse and her phone and ID are inside.” He frowned and held up an earring. “This is why she hasn’t contacted you. This is her tracker, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, dammit. Can you see pink luggage?” Wolfe took the purse, tucked the earring inside, and handed it to Jenna. “It’s not with the others.”

Confused, Jenna searched around and found nothing. She waved to Emily. “Can you see Julie’s luggage?”

“Nope.” Emily placed another flag in the snow and turned her attention to Wolfe. “I can’t find a trace of her, Dad. Are you sure she took this flight?”

“Yeah, for one, I tracked her to this general location, although the signal was sketchy, but now we have her purse. She also called me to give me the flight number just before she boarded.” Wolfe scanned the clearing from his perch on top of the luggage. “It was an hour before the regular flight and she managed to get a seat on a cargo plane. She didn’t want me and Norrell waiting around the airport for hours.”

“That’s kind and considerate Julie for you.” Emily sighed and stared at the victims. “I figure all these bodies are men. They’re big-boned even with the burns. They didn’t stand a chance. Maybe Julie got out alive?”

“How many bodies do you make it? I counted six.” Wolfe jumped down and headed toward Emily.

“Yeah, I counted six too. That would be five passengers and the pilot, Julie was number six on the passenger list.” Emily’s gray eyes brimmed with tears. “If her purse was here, she was here. Where is she now? There’s nowhere to go and she knows to stay with the wreck. It offered her shelter inside the cargo hold. Why would she leave? It makes no sense.”

“I’ll check the bodies again. Keep looking under any lumps in the snow.” Wolfe moved around, bending over. He looked up when Rio and Rowley arrived back from their search, shaking their heads. “Rio, can you take pictures and then we’ll bag these bodies. Our time here is limited. We have no shelter and we’ll freeze to death before the sun goes down.” He blew out a puff of steam. “We’ll come back tomorrow.”

Horrified, Jenna picked her way through the carnage. “No, we can’t leave, we must keep looking. If someone was here and left with her, they would have left a clue.”

“Doubtful, all tracks would be covered by the snow.” Kane bent over, brushing snow from lumps and moving to the next possibility. “If her luggage is gone, I figure someone came by to help and took her with them, but why didn’t she take her purse?”

“Y’all assuming she was conscious?” Wolfe’s eyes narrowed. “If she was in the tail, she’d have taken the window seat. Part of the wing pierced that part of the fuselage. Chances are she’s injured. I can’t see any blood but that doesn’t mean she didn’t sustain head and neck injuries or leg injuries. Anything can happen during a wreck, but it gives me hope someone cared enough to haul her out.”

“Well, whoever riffled through the cargo, took medical supplies and canned goods. But left her purse, although it was under the seat and there is snow all over in there. Maybe he missed it?” Kane held up a clipboard with paper attached. “This is a cargo inventory. Just a minute.” He thrust the clipboard into Wolfe’s hands, leapt up onto the luggage, and peered inside the tail section of the plane. “The first aid box has been ripped from the wall. This tells me Julie was alive and taken somewhere.”

Panic gripped Jenna. She stared through the snow-laden pines. “Where is she?”Oh, sweet Jesus, don’t tell me she’s been rescued by a serial killer.

EIGHT

Moving his field glasses across the frozen landscape he cursed under his breath at the sight of the sheriff and her team. How had they managed to find the downed aircraft and miss his line of frozen fakes? He took in the preparation to leave. Each body was carefully slid into a body bag along with an evidence bag filled with possessions he assumed belonged to each victim of the air crash. The way they were heading led right to the two bodies he’d left close by, but he didn’t worry about the sheriff finding him as his tracks were covered by thick layers of snow. He smiled to himself. She didn’t know the extent of his line of fakes but maybe with all the attention on the air crash, teams would be coming in from different directions before too long.

His mind went back to Carolyn Stubbs waiting for him in the cabin. Living in the forest had its advantages. Most people would leave their cabins vacant over the winter, preferring not to risk being snowed in for months on end. It gave him the opportunity to use the cabins for his own use. When the women were found, an investigation would commence, and by selecting a different one each time, he would throw suspicion across all the cabin owners. The forest was vast and he had come to know it like the back of his hand. The protected trails during snowfall made iteasy for him to move around using his snowmobile. Dense forest offered a canopy to lessen the snowfall and allowed him to move freely to many of the fire roads, which in turn gave him access to the highway. He’d made his home in two cabins but never took a woman that he planned to murder there. The one on the edge of the forest housed his truck and snowmobile, the other, deep in the forest, he used as his secret hideout. Protected by dogs, and signposted, no one came by. He’d become the recluse, the man nobody approached because they figured he’d shoot them dead. It was a great place to hide.

In someone else’s cabin, Carolyn Stubbs waited for him. Waited to die. He chuckled. Excitement bubbled over at the idea of tying her to a tree while the sheriff was in the forest. The sheriff would no doubt be back with other officials as there was no way they had completed their examination of the crash site. He would wait until they left the area and then take Carolyn to look at the crash site and leave her somewhere close by for them to find on their return. Thrilled by his ingenious plan, he tipped back his head, allowing the snowflakes to touch his face like butterfly kisses. The chilled air didn’t worry him. In fact, the snow was his friend. It took the lives of the self-important women he loathed and covered all traces of his existence. It gave him time to walk his line and see them all caught like vermin in his traps. All staring sightless ice sculptures of gargoyles. It was as if they’d grown from the trees like parasitic plants sucking the life out of them, but in his experience, high-maintenance women did that to a man. The women in his collection had spent all their waking hours touching hair framed around a face a surgeon had given them. The sight of their oversized breasts and huge ugly lips made him shudder. At first, he’d laughed at the way their eyebrows reached almost to their hairlines and the thick false eyelashes made them look like freaky dolls, but it was the hair that drove him to distraction. It was always long,usually colored, and then they tossed their heads and moved it over one shoulder and then back, tucked it behind one ear, and milliseconds later did the same thing over. Watching them preen was like a macabreGroundhog Day.

Nothing soothed him like cutting off all their hair and showing them what they looked like. He couldn’t shoot, stab, or strangle them. No, all that blood and mess wasn’t his style and it was just too quick for them. They owed him for annoying him for so long, and freezing them to death made everyone see them for what they truly were: fakes. When all the layers of fine clothes were peeled back, the surgical scars laid bare, and the hair removed, the world would see them as they truly were. He pushed his field glasses back into the case hanging around his neck and trudged back to the cabin. Carolyn would be waiting for him by the fire. Her fat red lips would spread to show her new snow-white veneers. Not one wrinkle marred her filled swollen cheeks and then she’d start to play with her hair. He shuddered and stood for a few minutes, allowing calmness to float down over him. He was a nice guy—well, at first at least. He grinned. The women saw him in the persona he portrayed, but just like them, inside a different person lurked. They wore their masks on the outside, but he hid his true self until it was too late to run.

NINE

Trying not to allow his concern for Julie to outweigh his common sense, Kane checked his watch. Taking into account the time it would take to return to the highway, load the snowmobiles, and go and collect Tauri from Wolfe’s home, he figured they had approximately one hour to search the immediate area for any sign of life. He went to Jenna as she watched Wolfe go through the motions of collecting and labeling body parts, his face grim with determination. Even though Emily was as professional as usual, tears streamed down her face. Kane turned to Jenna. “If somebody took Julie with them, they must have a cabin close by.”

“Close by could be two miles away.” Jenna turned tragic eyes to him. “It makes sense they must have had a snowmobile or some form of transport because no one would be carrying her and all that luggage on their back.” She hugged her chest and shivered. “What direction should we take? We need more boots on the ground and aerial assistance.” She shook snow from her hood. “This snow is endless. It won’t give up.”

Hearing voices, Kane looked into the distance and spotted Blackhawk heading toward them leading a group ofsnowmobiles. “Atohi has made it through. That’s a good sign. There must be a clear stretch between here and the rez.”

“Any survivors?” Blackhawk climbed from the snowmobile and stared at the wreckage. “Julie?”

“She’s missing.” Jenna leaned against Kane. “Everyone was killed in the crash.”

“That’s bad news. You all look exhausted.” Blackhawk went to his trailer. “I have hot coffee and sandwiches. Eat and then we’ll search the area. All of my friends know Bear Peak. We’ve hunted here many times.”

Relieved to see him, Kane nodded. “Am I glad to see you.” He gave him the details of everything they’d found. “So we’re looking for cabins in the area and any more bodies. It’s unlikely he stopped at two.”

“This is a very sick mind.” Blackhawk handed out cups and filled them from Thermoses. “No one will fly in this weather. The visibility is bad and the wind blowing through the pass would push a chopper into the mountain, just like the aircraft. The way we came through was difficult, but the forest provided cover and the snowdrifts weren’t too deep for now. One more day and we’ll be unable to get here.”

Sipping the hot brew, Kane nodded to Blackhawk’s friends, all he knew well. “Thank you all for coming. I need your knowledge. How many cabins would be around here in, say, a two-mile radius?”

“Too many.” Blackhawk frowned and pointed to the west. “Two in that direction, hunting cabins. I didn’t see smoke when I came down the mountain and I don’t smell any. If someone is staying close by, we’d smell smoke. Whoever has taken Julie is outside the perimeter you’ve considered. When you return to collect the murder victims, maybe bring a drone or two. Look for smoke and you’ll find your cabin.” He frowned and filled a cup for Wolfe and pushed it into his hands. “I know you areworried but think about what you have told me. Julie is gone, so are her things. Someone rescued her and thought enough to take her luggage and medical supplies. If they meant to do her harm, they’d have done it and tied her to a tree also.”

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