Page 57 of Criminology of a Character

“We’ll never know, and while we don’t need his reasonings to close the case, I need an explanation for why he killed those women. Maybe he was trapped in that blizzard, forced to watch all those men freeze, and the trauma broke him.”

“Or he was always a madman obsessed with the cold,” Bel said. “His motives went to the grave with him, but we stopped him, and that’s what matters.” She stood up and placed her hand on the man’s shoulder. If she didn’t leave, she’d be late meeting Lina and Olivia for the next autopsies, and Frost’s death didn’t erase their need to be thorough.

“But, yes, maybe that article explains why Frost did what he did,” she added. “Maybe something happened in the snow twenty years ago that he couldn’t walk away from.”

“Perfect timing.We just identified another Jane Doe,” Lina said when Bel arrived at the morgue. “It’s been slow going, but we’re starting to put faces to names.”

“That’s good,” Bel said.

“It is, and it isn’t,” Lina said. “It’s nice to finally give these families closure, but some girls were runaways. Their parents have been clinging to the idea that their kids simply ran away, so notifying them their child was a serial killer’s victim steals that hope out from under them. Hope is dangerous, and when you live with it for years, it can cause damage when it’s ripped away.”

“At least we can promise them Frost will never do this to any other women,” Bel said. “It’s not enough, but it’s something.”

They fell silent as they entered the examination room where Olivia waited. She’d been tasked with the overwhelming job of gathering the evidence from the forty-two autopsies to preserve the chain of custody while Bel temporarily stepped into her boss’ shoes, but so far, the only evidence left on The Matchstick Girls was their outfits.

“This is Hazel Wyatt,” Lina began. “She’s one of the few who came from a stable background, and there was a missing person’s report, making it easy to ID her. Her parents provided hair samples from her brush and DNA from her toothbrush, as well as photos and fingerprints. She went missing three years ago, but her parents didn’t notice because she was on a summer trip with a friend. She was scheduled to travel for a few months, and when she didn’t call, her family assumed she was too busy. They thought it odd, but it wasn’t cause for a police report until they went to the airport to pick her up from her return flight and she never got off the plane.”

“That’s out of character for Frost,” Bel said. “He took women no one would miss, so he either messed up with Hazel Wyatt or he was getting brave. He’d been killing for almost a decade at that point. Perhaps he wanted to up the ante.”

“Maybe,” Lina said. “I completed the autopsy, so I’m going to release the body to her family if?—”

“Bel!” Olivia shouted, cutting off the medical examiner, and both Bel and Lina ducked at the shock in her voice.

“What’s wrong?” Bel asked, but Gold didn’t speak. She simply pointed at the clear evidence bag, leaving her hand hanging accusingly in the air until Bel crossed the room to see what had caused her alarm.

“What…” Bel trailed off as she settled next to Olivia. She didn’t need to ask what had frozen her partner where she stood because the moment her eyes landed on the object, her heart stuttered.

For lying there in the evidence bag was a gum wrapper. A navy blue one, and it had been folded into a perfect origami butterfly.

“Where did you find this?”Bel demanded as she seized the evidence bag and shoved it at Lina. “This butterfly. Where was it?”

“In Hazel Wyatt’s fist. She must have died with it in her hand,” the medical examiner said.

“I didn’t see this,” Olivia said. “It wasn’t part of the autopsy.”

“Because it fell onto the floor when we movedher,” Lina said. “I documented it in my report, and we photographed it before I placed it in the evidence bag. Iwas going tomention it after we reviewed her identity, but I didn’t think a gum wrapper was pressing evidence.”

“But you’re certain this butterfly was in Hazel Wyatt’s fist?” Bel asked.

“Yes. I saw it fall out.” Lina glanced between the detectives as if they were in on some prank.

“And you didn’t alter the wrapper’s shape?” Bel asked.

“No. It was folded like that when it fell on the floor… What’s going on? Is this significant?”

“No… yes, I don’t know,” Bel said. “Can I take this?”

“Isn’t that your job?” Lina pinched her eyebrows together.

“Right…” Bel glanced at her partner, but Oliviawas staringtransfixed at the evidence bag.

“Are you two okay?” Lina asked. “What does that butterfly mean?”

“Not sure yet,” Bel said. “It could be nothing… do you need anything else from us?”

“Not at the moment,” Lina said. “I’ll call you if I have anything new… If I find more origami, do you want me to treat it as a priority?”

“Yes,” the detectives voiced in unison.

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