Page 28 of Face Her Fear

SEVENTEEN

Noah’s ass hurt from sitting on the bench inside the sheriff’s office while he waited for Deputy Ehrbar’s boss to show up. After helping get Noah back on the road, Ehrbar had followed Noah up to the top of the long hill, sometimes having to push him along with his front bumper, until they reached the road into Laporte, which was not much easier to navigate. Once in the center of town, the road flattened out and became easier to manage since it had just been plowed. At the sheriff’s office, a deputy named Carrie Roeder had been assigned to the front desk and was taking a steady stream of calls from county residents in distress because of the storm. Ehrbar had been called right back out, promising Noah that Sheriff Shaw would be in any moment.

That had been over an hour ago and so far, no one had come in or out. Noah took out his phone for the fifteenth time since his arrival. No messages. No calls. He wondered if Josie had tried to contact Gretchen again. But Gretchen would have told him. He’d called her and the Chief before he left for Sullivan County to let them know what was going on. He’d had to take sick time. He felt badly for leaving just as the new guy was about to start. The Chief hadn’t told them much about him except that he had a lot of experience. Noah would have preferred to be there to meet their new investigator, but Josie needed him. Noah was sure of that.

Most of all, he needed to talk to her. He couldn’t let another day go by with her thinking that she wasn’t enough for him. It wasn’t something he wanted to tell her by text or over the phone. He needed to see her face.

The lobby door swung open and Ehrbar entered, followed by a blast of snow. He shook it off his head and looked over at Noah. “Still here?”

“Yeah. Listen, the storm is getting worse. Is there any way you could just get me the name of the caretaker or maybe the location of the property so I can check it out on my own?”

Ehrbar frowned. “And get stuck out there again?”

Noah stood up. “I need to get to my wife. If there is even a chance of reaching her before this storm gets any worse, I need to try.”

With a sigh, Ehrbar said, “Just how do you think you’re going to get to her? I know the property. You can’t drive up to it, especially in this weather.”

“What about the caretaker?” Noah asked. “Wouldn’t he have a way to get up there in bad weather?”

Deputy Roeder took another call. As soon as she picked up, somewhere else in the room two more phones rang.

“I suppose he would,” said Ehrbar. “Won’t hurt to find out. Let me see what I can do.”

EIGHTEEN

The snow was nearly to their knees this time and coming down steadily. Josie fought through it, pulling her scarf up so that it covered everything but her eyes. Behind her, Sandrine and Alice trudged along, fitting their boots into the path she had already trod. They were headed down the mountain, toward where Meg had been found. The other group—Nicola, Brian, and Taryn—had gone in the opposite direction, toward the summit. Taryn had not been happy about being separated from Sandrine, but Sandrine had convinced her that she would be the most help accompanying Nicola and Brian. Like everyone else, Josie had gone back to her cabin to get her blankets and pillow to bring to the main house. She’d also put on some extra layers but now, they’d only just passed the shed that contained Meg’s body and already she was soaked through. Plus, the extra bulk made it harder to move through the thick snow. The muscles of her legs burned mercilessly.

She paused to catch her breath, estimating that they were about halfway to where Meg had been found. Turning, she saw Sandrine hunched over, hands on her knees. Josie had tried to get her to stay back at the main house, but she refused. Alice watched her with concern, placing a hand on her back and saying something into her ear that Josie couldn’t make out. Seconds later, Sandrine pushed herself upright. Her face was red and wet with snow, but she did her best to smile. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “Please, let’s go.”

What felt like a frozen eternity later, they reached the place where she and Sandrine had found Meg’s body. Josie could tell from where the snow had been tamped down by all of them walking. New snow now covered it, but their old tracks were still visible. For now.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s keep going. I don’t want to disturb that scene if we can help it.”

“But you had a signal there,” Alice said.

Sandrine said, “Scene? Josie, really, is there something you want to share with me?”

Josie paused, turning back. Over Sandrine’s shoulder, Josie caught Alice’s wide-eyed look. Alice shrugged. It was Josie’s call how much to tell Sandrine. She did the calculations in her head. On one hand, it was Sandrine’s retreat. Perhaps she deserved to know. On the other hand, what difference would it make? Whether Sandrine knew Meg had been murdered or not, it changed nothing. They were still stuck here for the foreseeable future, a killer among them.

Josie said, “Sandrine, do you know what an unattended death is?”

Gloved hands came up and pushed her hat down more firmly over her skull. “Yes,” she said. “I do. It’s when someone who was otherwise healthy dies with no witnesses, and it is not immediately clear why or what happened.”

Again, Alice shot Josie a look. This time, one of her brows arched severely as if to say,How the hell did Sandrine know that?

“That’s right,” Josie said.

Sandrine glanced toward the trees that had hidden Meg’s body. “Meg was young and healthy. There was no reason for her to die.” She looked back at Alice. “You said she died of hypothermia.”

Alice nodded. “That’s what it looked like.”

“It would still be investigated as an unattended death,” Josie said. “Usually by police, although more commonly the coroner or medical examiner, but the scene where the deceased was found is treated like a crime scene just in case the investigation reveals that foul play was involved. The reason is that you only get one chance to preserve and process a scene.”

“You’ve jumped right into police mode, Josie,” Sandrine said with a weak smile.

Josie swiped at snowflakes landing in her eyelashes. “Yes. I’m trying to follow procedure as best I can out here. This is not my jurisdiction, but I’m still trying to do everything I can to make the job of law enforcement and the coroner or medical examiner easier once help arrives. Now come on, let’s keep going. We’ll find a spot lower on the trail but parallel to where I got the signal last time.”

They trudged onward until Josie found a natural opening among the trees. “Here,” she said.

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