Page 24 of Face Her Fear

Alice shook her head.

“How did they look?”

The door shimmied in Alice’s grip, and she clutched it harder. “What do you mean?”

“Did Meg look scared? Were they standing close together? Far apart? What was Meg’s posture? Guarded? Was Cooper in her personal space?”

“Oh. They were a little closer than you might normally stand if you didn’t know each other well. Like maybe they didn’t want to be overheard. Meg had her arms crossed but she always stands—stood—like that. But she kept uncrossing them and gesturing, like she was talking with her hands. Fast, jerky movements. Yesterday, when she was finished, he kind of nodded and then he put his hand on her neck.”

Josie felt a flutter in her chest. “How?”

With her free hand, Alice reached around the back of Josie’s head and squeezed her neck. The glove was wet and heavy, but the motion was similar to the way Cooper had gripped her neck when they were on the summit together. But he’d done it after the two of them successfully ran off the bear. At the time, it had seemed the equivalent of a pat on the back, even if it was overly familiar.

“How did Meg react?”

Alice dropped her hand from Josie’s neck. “She pulled away. You know how she hates—hated—to be touched. She told us in the group session on our first day, remember?”

Josie nodded. They’d all had to set their physical boundaries on the first day.

“So it was Cooper then, right? He was fixated on her or something and she rejected him so he killed her.”

Josie held up her hands to stop Alice from continuing. “I know it’s odd that Cooper and Meg were having private conversations, but we can’t make the leap from a couple of chats behind her cabin to him killing her. Alice, we could go round and round all day coming up with theories that we have no evidence to support. It won’t help us.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m just…really freaked out.”

“I know,” Josie said. “You might not like my next suggestion then. I don’t think that we should tell any of the others that Meg was murdered.”

Alice sagged against the door, causing it to swing open abruptly. Josie caught her before she fell. With her feet back under her, Alice peeked outside again toward the main house. Satisfied that no one was coming, she said, “You want to keep this a secret?” The word “secret” was tinged with incredulity and horror.

“The alternative is causing a panic and putting the killer in a position where he or she feels like their back is against the wall. It’s not a good idea.”

“You really think this could have been one of the women? Who? Taryn is strong enough but she’s so sweet. Nicola. I could totally see her doing something like this. She is so angry all the time but who wouldn’t be after what happened to her daughter? Wait. Sandrine! What about her? She was the one who woke us all up to tell us Meg was gone.”

“Alice,” Josie said, keeping her voice calm and even. “You’re missing the point. Please. I need you on board with this if we’re going to get out of here safely and quickly.”

Josie held Alice’s gaze, making sure her own breathing was slow and steady. After a long moment, the rapid movements of Alice’s chest mirrored Josie’s own. She licked her lips and nodded. “You’re right. Yes. Our priority should be getting off this mountain.” Glancing over Josie’s shoulder at Meg, she added, “Hypothermia it is. You want to leave Meg here, right? It’s cold. Freezing. She’ll be preserved that way. Like being in the morgue.”

Alice was right. This building had no source of heat at all. In fact, snow still covered parts of Meg’s body. “Yes,” Josie said. “It’s the best chance we have to preserve any fibers or trace evidence. Keeping it secure will be an issue but locking this place up will have to do. Once Sandrine gets back with the key, I need to go up to Meg’s cabin and take some photos. Sandrine was already inside the cabin when she went to wake Meg, but I can’t help that.”

Normally, Josie would not enter the cabin at all. Legally, she couldn’t—at least not to search it. The criteria for a warrantless search could not be met. It was up to the law enforcement department whose jurisdiction the cabin was in to go inside and process it for evidence. However, she could photograph the inside of the cabin to ensure nothing changed before that happened. Toward that end, the current circumstances would fall under exigency.

More snow burst through the door. Alice pulled it closed so that only three inches of light shone through. “What do you mean?”

“Since this is a homicide and the last place Meg was known to have been was her cabin, that needs to be processed as a crime scene. It has to be kept sealed off until the local police can tend to it. If that procedure isn’t followed, then anything found inside the cabin—any evidence that might implicate the killer—becomes fruit of the poisonous tree.”

“Poisonous tree?”

Josie sighed. “It won’t be admitted in court.”

“Even if it was a murder weapon with the killer’s prints on it?”

The sweat from her earlier exertions had dried up. She started to feel the cold again. Searching inside her pocket, she found her hat and pulled it back on. “That doesn’t really apply in this case, but yeah, basically. It’s already problematic that Sandrine was in there but like I said, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

They both heard footsteps crunching over the snow outside. Alice poked her head out again and then quickly retreated. “That’s Sandrine with the keys.”

“Okay,” said Josie. “Once Sandrine gets here, we lock this place up. I’ll take photos of Meg’s cabin while you go back to the main house and cover for me. I’ll meet you there as soon as I’m done.”

Alice grimaced. “I really don’t want to see any of those people. Josie, one of them is a stone-cold killer!”

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