Page 9 of Their Frozen Bones

“Jenna.”

Jenna dragged herself from a dream at Kane’s voice and blinked at his face. It was so good to wake up and just see him there. She reached out to touch him. Yes, he was really there and it hadn’t all been a dream. “Morning. Did I miss the alarm?”

“Nope.” He smiled at her. “Sit up nice and slow.” He pushed a pillow behind her. “Now sip this ginger beer. Wolfe insists it helps with the morning sickness and there are crackers. Sit still for a time and see if we can beat this thing.”

Grinning, Jenna patted his arm but took the soda and sipped. “Okay but it’s just my body adapting to the baby. It won’t last forever.”

“This I understand but we’re meeting Blackhawk in the mountains at daybreak.” Kane frowned. “He called last night and his friends searched for a good radius around the crash site, but they didn’t find Julie or any tracks. He made it to a couple of cabins close by as well. They’re shut up tight for winter.” He stood slowly and rubbed the back of his neck as if he didn’t want to tell her something.

Sipping and feeling okay, Jenna met his gaze. “Spit it out. I know you have something to tell me and don’t want to. I’mpregnant, not dying of some terrible disease.” She tugged at his sweater. “Look, I know you worry about me all the time. Yes, I seem to be a little more tired than usual. Wolfe said that’s fine and he’s checking my blood work in case I need a supplement. You trust him, don’t you?”

“Yeah, with my life, but shouldn’t you have an obstetrician?” Kane shook his head. “I don’t really want our baby delivered in the medical examiner’s office.”

Frowning, Jenna shook her head. “Neither do I, but don’t worry, Wolfe will be using all the facilities at the hospital, including the ultrasound. There is a delivery suite there and I trust him to deliver our baby. Him and Norrell.”

“So you want a forensic anthropologist and a medical examiner rather than a specialist obstetrician?” Kane ran a hand down his face. “Okay, but I’m not leaving your side.”

Giggling, Jenna nibbled on crackers, so far feeling fine. “I’d expect no less, Dave. Now stop making excuses and tell me what Blackhawk told you last night.”

“It was a little puzzling.” Kane scratched his chin. “They did a sweep of the area and then met up back at the crash site before leaving and found another body attached to a tree. Same MO as before.” A nerve twitched in his cheek. “It’s not far from the crime scene tape we used to mark out the crash site. I’m not sure how Rio and Rowley missed it, but Blackhawk did say it was well hidden by bushes covered in snow.”

Swallowing a mouthful of crackers, Jenna gaped at him. “Did you tell him to travel in numbers until we catch this killer?”

“Yeah, he knows the deal. His group will be joining search and rescue, so about ten guys on snowmobiles. When we get there, we can spread out and start searching all the trails we can find passable. Right now, everyone is trying to find where someone took Julie.”

Concerned for the people walking into a serial killer, Jenna frowned. “I’ll brief them when we get there. Most of them will be carrying rifles and satellite phones. I’m surprised the killer decided to dump another body near the crash site. It’s like he is thumbing his nose at us. It’s a ‘catch me if you can’ scenario. He thinks he’s untouchable.”

“The snow is nonstop, which makes him just about invisible.” Kane took a woolen cap from the chest of drawers and pulled it on. “You sit for a while and see how you go. I’ll go and tend the horses.” He smiled at her. “It feels strange with Tauri away. I know letting him sleep over at Wolfe’s last night was the right thing to do, but seeing his bed empty this morning made me feel sad.”

Jenna nodded. “He was so excited to sleep over with Anna and I didn’t want to drag him out in the cold last night and again early this morning. He’s having fun, and right now, he’s a distraction for Anna. She’ll be so worried about Julie it’s better they’re together. We’ll see him this morning and bring him home tonight.” She looked down at Duke’s head resting on the bed and rubbed his soft ears. “We’ll leave Duke with him as well. He’ll love being with the kids.”

“That’s a good idea. He misses Tauri as well. Okay, now I want you to relax, sip the soda, and nibble on the crackers.” Kane backed out of the room. “Wolfe said that ginger beer is brewed in Texas and he swears it will help. I’ll be back soon.”

Feeling fine, Jenna leaned back on the pillows. Her mind was fixed on Julie. She must find her, but who was killing the women and how come the wildlife hadn’t eaten them? In the middle of winter food was scarce. Who was killing people in the forest? She needed to know more about the cabins in the crash site area. Who owned them and how many empty hunting cabins existed? Many bad things had happened at Bear Peak. It was known as the local killing field. Remote until the fire roads had cutthrough the forest. Later hikers and hunters had found graves all over. She wondered why anyone would live there and not be concerned about the morbid history of the place, but then maybe that’s the reason they chose it, because no one would drop by.

She reached for her tablet beside the bed and made notes. She might not be in the office, but she had an ally in the FBI, computer whiz kid Bobby Kalo. He lived in an apartment in the FBI field office in Snakeskin Gully, where he worked with her good friends, agent Ty Carter and behavioral analyst Jo Wells. He was a young man who spent his downtime online gaming and never minded a challenge no matter what day of the week. She shot him an email explaining what she needed and why. With everyone involved with the search, he was her best choice for tracking down the owners of the cabins around Bear Peak. He’d also be able to tell her who had been hunting in the area. All kills must be recorded by the forest wardens, and he would be able to access those records. Being FBI opened doors she would usually find locked. She swung her legs off the bed and stood slowly. So far so good. This was the best she’d felt in days. Two steps inside the bathroom, she clasped a hand over her mouth, dashed to the toilet, and spewed.So much for Wolfe’s wonder cure.

TWELVE

Warm inside from seeing Tauri happy and contented at Wolfe’s house, Kane ignored the icy chill biting into his exposed flesh and gripped the handlebars of the snowmobile. His fleece-lined leather gloves protected his hands most times, but in these temperatures his fingers were going numb. At least his back was warm with Jenna snuggled close behind him. She seemed fine, recovering faster this morning and eating breakfast. He’d packed a large carrier with sandwiches and filled all the Thermos flasks with hot coffee and chocolate, then tossed in a box of energy bars just in case. He’d even packed a change of coats, jeans, gloves, and boots for both of them. He’d loaded his covered trailer with everything he could think they might need. The weather could turn again in a second. Right now, the snow was light, but the weather report mentioned another blizzard on the way and temperatures dropping again. Nothing could prepare him for the extreme and unexpected changes in climate. He’d just take every precaution. If they became stuck out overnight, their chances of making it through the night were minimal. Up ahead, Blackhawk and his friends led the way through trails they’d discovered, pointing out the cabins they’d found along the way. At each one they stopped, hammered onthe doors, and looked around for any sign of habitation. Most people would have a fire going all winter long, so the lack of smoke told them no one was at home.

When they arrived at the location of the body, Wolfe dismounted along with Emily, and they walked around searching the ground for clues. Kane walked to his side with Jenna, and they waited for him to examine the victim. “Is it the same MO?”

“It sure looks the same.” Jenna moved closer. “Why do you figure he cuts off their hair like that?”

“I examined the bodies of the other women this morning. They’ll still take a long time to thaw but there are no apparent injuries. They’ve had extensive cosmetic surgery: face and breasts, as far as I could tell. Teeth are porcelain caps on both victims. The nails are false too. These women were high-maintenance. From the amount of hair at the scene, both had long hair, neither appear to be natural color, but I’ll confirm once I get back to the lab.” Wolfe frowned at them. “I figure he tied them to the tree alive and left them to freeze to death. Talk to Jo Wells. What’s happened here is significant. The extensive cosmetic alterations, being naked, with the hair hacked off and left to die means something, and she’ll know.” He sighed. “We’ll photograph the scene and get her bagged and tagged before the wildlife do any more damage. It looks as if something nibbled at her ankles, is all.”

Kane took in the figure before him. The usual smell of death was missing. The body must have frozen in a short time. Death would have come quickly in such low temperatures, but would it have been painful? He turned to Wolfe. “She looks like a sad statue. Did she suffer?”

“At first, the constriction of the blood vessels due to the sudden drop in body temperature causes pain, but as the process continues the body becomes numb, organs start to shut down,and at the end, no, there’s no pain.” Wolfe met his gaze. “My fingers are numb and painful, so I guess yours are as well. It’s much the same but it gets worse before it gets better.”

“She looks like the others, as if she can’t believe what’s happened to her.” Jenna shook her head slowly. “Why would a woman come out here in the middle of winter with someone she just met?” She flicked a glance at Kane. “It would be very difficult to bring someone here against their will on a snowmobile or dogsled.”

“Yeah, it would.” Wolfe pulled a scarf back over his nose and slapped his hands together. “When I do the blood work, I’ll check for drugs, but she was awake and alive when her hair was cut off with a knife or she wouldn’t have bled.”

Taking in the crime scene, Kane bent and peered at the shredded garments. “The damage to the clothes is the same as the others too.” He straightened. “This hasn’t been done by a critter, these were cut from the body first. See how the hair is scattered on top? The eye makeup on all three was running down their faces as if they were crying when he was doing this to them. I figure they knew him.”

“I agree and I’ll talk to Jo but, right now our main concern is finding Julie. By all means help Wolfe get the body bagged, but then we keep searching.” Jenna frowned. “Blackhawk mentioned one of the trails is blocked by an avalanche. It’s getting dangerous to be moving alongside the mountain looking for cabins. I wish we could use the drones but they’re useless in this visibility.”

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