Page 79 of Only One More Lie

“Their son, Hans, grew up to be an artist. I checked out some of his work. He does oil paintings.” Matthew turned his computer around to show them the screen. “And is it just me . . . or does his favorite subject to paint about seem to be random body parts?”

Duke looked more closely at the screen. The paintings were abstract with bright colors and shapes. The one on the screen now was electric blue with some lime green mixed in, almost reminding him of the northern lights. Various black lines cut through the painting, almost like cracked glass.

But then, in various sections of the painting, ears floated randomly in the space.

The next painting was a tangerine orange and fluorescent yellow. The artwork had the same black lines stretching across it, almost as if Hans had wanted to imitate a shattered look. But this time instead of ears, there were eyes.

More paintings followed suit. There were hands, noses, mouths.

In the last one, there were mustaches and beards.

Duke remembered the beard drawn on the mirror in their bathroom.

The thought of it still left him unsettled. The drawing had been a threat, a warning that Duke and Ranger should watch their backs.

If the two of them were in danger, then the whole team was in danger.

His stomach knotted at the thought.

“I definitely think he’s someone worth looking into.” Andi nodded slowly as she stared at the paintings. “Good work, Matthew.”

He practically beamed. “Thank you.”

“Where is the guy located now?” Duke asked.

“He’s in Fairbanks still. As far as I can tell, he’s not married, nor is he especially successful as an artist—at least not from what I found online. In fact, it appears he works full-time doing car detailing.”

Duke glanced out the window again at the whiteout conditions. “The weather could make it difficult to go anywhere today—though I’m still hopeful it might clear up some. But we can search this guy’s social media at least. Maybe even give him a call or talk to some of his friends. It’s worth pursuing.”

Duke’s phone rang. It was Gibson. Maybe he had an update for them.

He quickly put the phone to his ear. “Did you make it to Fairbanks okay?”

“I did.” Gibson’s voice sounded grim and serious. “But I got here about ten minutes too late.”

“What do you mean?” Duke braced himself for whatever bad news Gibson might be about to share. He sensed it coming.

“Right before I arrived, Emmett flatlined.”

Duke’s lungs froze. “What? I thought he was doing better?”

“That’s what my impression was as well. I’m getting the hospital to do some additional tests to confirm his cause of death.”

Duke’s thoughts continued to race. Emmett had been on the verge of sharing something possibly significant to this case. Maybe he’d seen something at the camp. Maybe he knew something about Pepper’s death.

Now, they’d never know.

If the wrong person found out Emmett had awoken and was about to share that information, this person could have wanted to silence Emmett for good.

But the logistics of that were tricky. This person would have needed to hear Emmett was awake. Then, in a short period of time, he would have needed to get to the hospital and kill him before authorities arrived.

As Gibson ended the call, Duke’s thoughts continued to race over the possibilities of what might have happened.

CHAPTER 41

They’re not in any hurry to leave, I mused.

I figured with everything that had happened, those silly podcasters would scurry away from this nightmare before Christmas.

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