Page 35 of Snow River

“What kind of knife was it?”

Buster gave her an odd look.“I don’t remember that.It was probably a hunting knife.I never heard any different, put it that way.”

Lila quickly moved on before he asked her to explain why she’d asked.“Who was the other victim after Joe Baker?”

“Now that was real sad.There was a girl who was spending the winter here studying marmots.She was a graduate student, real pretty blond girl.”He eyed Lila’s hair.“Like you.”

“My hair is actually white.”

“Yeah?Can’t really see in this light.You’re a little young for white hair, aren’t you?”

It had turned white on her eighteenth birthday, but she didn’t feel the need to explain that to him.“What happened to the graduate student?”A sense of dread gathered in her stomach.

“We found her in the snow a couple miles from those cabins out on Snow River.Died of exposure.We went to her yurt and saw signs that Bowman had been staying there, but he left her out of his confession.Some folks said they were close.Lovers, maybe.”

“Maybe he didn’t kill her.”

Buster shrugged.“Or maybe she tried to break up with him and he killed her for it.Who the hell knows what happened.Poor kid.We found her a few days after Bowman confessed.Gwen was her name.Gwen…I don’t remember.Some Russian name.We all called her Gwennie.Sweet girl.”

The thought of Gwen frozen in the snow took hold of Lila’s imagination and wouldn’t let go.“Was she close to anyone in particular here?Did she have a boyfriend?Friends?”

Buster drank his beer and thought about it that question for a while.“I want to say April Steiner, but that’s not right.There weren’t too many women out here then.Allison Casey, but she can’t help you now.Maybe Paulina Volk, the artist?They were about the same age, came here around the same time.I’m sure they knew each other.You should talk to her.”

Paulina Volk.That was the second time today the artist’s name had come up.Her intuition was screaming that it was no coincidence.

17

As the afternoon wore on,a patch of bad weather moved in from the direction of the ice fields.The wind rattled the boards of The Fang and every time someone came through the door, a gust would bang it against the interior wall.

All flights in and out of Firelight Ridge were put on hold until the weather calmed down.Lila tried to hide her disappointment, but it was written all over her very expressive face.Bear knew she was counting on Molly bringing her actual information in the form of FBI reports.

To make it up to her, he agreed to drive her out to Paulina Volk’s place before The Fang opened the next morning.Paulina had limited cell service, so he couldn’t give her a heads up.But he happened to be on the very short list of people who were allowed to show up at her place unannounced—mostly because he went out there every month to bring her heart medication to her.

At eight the next morning, he pulled up outside the hardware store and honked lightly.The wind was still high.He watched it whip the treetops back and forth and spin up dust devils on the road.It buffeted his truck too, although his metal beast of a Ford F-250 was unfazed.

Lila had to struggle to open the passenger door, but managed to slip inside before it slammed shut.She wore a tight wool beanie, which was probably the only think keeping her hair in some kind of order.Her eyes shone with pure exhilaration.

“Whew!Don’t you love this weather?I hardly slept at all last night.It was like the wind was telling me a story and I didn’t want to miss anything.”

As he drove down the main road toward the eastern spur, Bear shook his head at that whimsy.Trust Lila to communicate with the damn wind.“Was it a story about how many trees got blown over onto people’s houses?”

She smiled but took his question seriously.“I think it was about lonely places deep in the mountains, places where we can never go.”

For some reason, that made him shiver.“It’s supposed to die down by the afternoon.Sam should be able to fly in by tonight or tomorrow.”

“That’s good.”She dug into her quilted tote bag and pulled out a Tupperware container filled with muffins.“When I couldn’t sleep, I decided to bake.Want a blueberry muffin?The blueberries came from that field by Smoky Lake you told me about.”

Little did she know, he’d given up one of his biggest secrets when she’d asked him about blueberry picking.Folks didn’t like to share that kind of intel.

“And don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone,” she added.“Not even Charlie or Ani or Molly.I brought Buttercup with me to warn me about bears, and also a can of bear spray.But—I think Nick might have figured it out.He really is a good investigator, isn’t he?”

Bear laughed at the image of the Chicago private eye investigating the best blueberry picking spots.“It’s okay.Plenty of blueberries for everyone.”

“Abundance mentality.I like that.”

He snorted.That sounded like a phrase right out of a self-help book.“It’s just a fact.No shortage ofVaccinium uliginosumaround here.”He bit into the muffin and closed his eyes at the burst of flavor against his tongue.

When he opened them again, Lila was watching him curiously.“How did you know the Latin name for blueberries?”

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