Page 14 of So Dark

There was no point in arguing, though. Being angry wouldn’t make anyone move faster, and it wouldn’t make the evidence more noticeable. “All right. Then let’s look at details. Besides the snare, are there any more traps you’re aware of?”

“No, ma’am, but with your dog here to help, we might have better luck.”

“Then let’s start looking.”

The team split up to look for evidence of more traps. Faith and Turk moved carefully along the narrow ring of stone surrounding the cabin. With no grass here, any traps laid would be easier to see. Unfortunately, the killer seemed to have realized the same thing, and they didn’t find any evidence.

Once, when they passed the small glacial waterfall, Turk barked and stared up the nearly sheer cliff face. “See something, boy?” Faith asked.

She looked up the face but didn’t find anything that could have piqued Wolf’s interest. “What is it?”

Turk whined and looked back at Fath, then back up the cliff. Faith followed his eyes, but whatever Turk picked up on, it wasn’t noticeable to her. “Do you smell something?”

Turk looked up at the cliff face one last time. Then he hesitantly moved away, dipping his head in the negative. Faith kept her eyes to the top of the cliff for a while longer, then followed Turk away.

The men stepped outside of the cabin just as Faith and Turk reached them. “Anything?” she asked them.

“We found one of the springs to the snare mechanism,” Michael said. “It looks like an ATV coil spring.”

That could be something. “Any thoughts on the brand?”

“Something OEM. I’ll send it to the crime lab in Anchorage and have them take a look. If we’re lucky, we’ll get fingerprints. If we’re less lucky, we’ll figure out what make and model of ATV this came off of.”

“Are ATVs popular out here?” Faith asked Wyatt.

“No, not really. There isn’t a lot of vehicle accessible wilderness, and what’s there is better suited for trucks and SUVs.”

“That’s good,” Faith said. “It means there won’t be a lot of people with ATVs. Gotta hand it to you, Wyatt. Slowing down was the better choice.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Did you and Turk find anything?”

Faith looked back at the cliff face by the waterfall. “I’m not sure. Turk stopped by the glacier for a moment. It looked like he was onto something, but then he lost the scent.”

“Hmm,” Wyatt replied. He looked at the cliff face, then said, “I wonder if the killer came from above instead.”

“Could he climb down that?” Michael asked.

“He’d have to be a very high-level climber, but it’s not impossible.”

“How would he get to the other side?” Faith asked.

“That’s the real question. I don’t know of any safe path that would take you up the other side of the mountain. Even if there is, you’d have to cross the glacier to get here. That alone would take four days to do safely.”

“What about unsafely?”

Wyatt chuckled. "Well, unsafely depends on how skilled, how lucky and how unsafe you want to be. I've heard of people climbing Mount Everest naked, and I've heard of professionalhunters stepping on a porcupine and dying from an infected cut. It's just hard to tell."

Faith pressed her lips together and looked behind at their relatively easy climb. "We'll save that question for later," she said. "What we know is that he set multiple traps for Ethan Holloway and one very elaborate trap for Valerie North. I find that odd. More traps increase the likelihood of success."

“He was successful with Valerie,” Michael reminded her.

“Yes, he was.” She cocked her head. “That means he knew his victims. He put failsafes in place for Ethan but not for Valerie because… that’s what we need to find out.”

She turned to Wyatt. “You can take us back now. Is there a place to stay in Nelchina?”

“There might be room at the lodge in town. I’ll find out for you.”

“Thank you. I want to look into Ethan Holloway’s and Valerie North’s backgrounds. Whoever committed these murders not only had to be a capable outdoorsman himself, but he also had to have an intimate knowledge of his victims’ habits.”

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