“I just stared at him and hoped I didn’t blurt out something stupid like he was utterly gorgeous or impossibly sweet,” Stella admitted. “Zahra likes to ply me with Moscow Mules when I go to the Grill with her, or worse, mojitos, because I drink too many of them without realizing I’m doing it, then I say things I shouldn’t.”
“He’s sweet?” Shabina asked.
Stella nodded. “These last couple of years, while he worked for me, he never asked me questions. Never put me on the spot. If I had the worst day ever, with some of the guests yelling their heads off at me, I’d go home and he’d be on my deck, grilling the best dinner ever. He’d point to a cooler and there would be ice-cold beer in it. He wouldn’t expect me to talk. He didn’t talk. I could go in and change, put my feet up and sit in my swing chair while he made dinner. We ate and he’d leave. Sometimes he’d do the dishes. Sometimes, if the day was really bad, he’d watch my favorite movie, Moulin Rouge!, with me. I think he thought I was an idiot for crying, but he’d just hand me the box of tissues.”
“Wow, who knew it was the silent types who could be all sweet when it was needed?”
“And he loves Bailey, which was essential, and Bailey loves him back. You know how Bailey is with everyone. He likes people, but he’s completely devoted to me. He included Sam with me. Kind of like we were the same person. I don’t even know when that started happening. I didn’t notice or I might have gotten jealous.”
“How is Bailey?”
Stella sighed. “Poor baby wants to come home and I want him home. Sam keeps telling me that we want him to have the best care possible. I know Amelia is giving that to him, but he doesn’t like being away from us.”
“While you’re working on this, I suppose it’s a good thing to be somewhat mobile and not tied to the house,” Shabina said, looking down at the sketches again. “I wish I could be of more help. This is definitely the D7 zone. Your hunter hiked in the six miles. I don’t think he went too far in, because he’s hauling too much gear. I doubt if he’s local. Maybe if you can figure out how the killer is actually going to manage to murder his victim, it would help. I mean, he is high up in a tree. He can’t sneak up behind him and climb up without being seen. He can’t shove him out of the tree, again because he’s too high up. How does he actually kill him? Do you have any idea?”
That was a good question and Stella had wondered that herself. If she was sitting up in a tree stand, safe from a serial killer, how would the killer get to her? If he tried to climb the same tree, the victim was armed. Wouldn’t he shoot? Or would he feel threatened? How would the killer make it look like an accident? Most of the time, a hunter would harness himself into the tree stand. Stella knew, because she’d read all about it once Sam told her what it was.
“Someone that high up in a tree should be able to see anyone coming at them, right?” Shabina asked. “I don’t know all that much about tree stands, but in order for them to be of any use they have to be pretty high up in the tree.”
“Sam said twelve to thirty feet.”
“Then how does the killer expect to get to his victim without the victim fighting him off?” Shabina asked.
“He wouldn’t know he was a serial killer,” Stella pointed out. “He’s just another friendly hunter passing by.”
“Do hunters visit with one another? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? If the guy waits up in his tree stand for a deer to come by and another hunter stops under his tree and starts talking, wouldn’t he scare off all the deer?”
“Maybe we have it all wrong and the serial killer is the one in the tree stand,” Stella ventured suddenly. “Could that be? He sits up there waiting and along comes an unsuspecting hunter. He lures him over with some kind of deer sound and then murders him and makes it look like it was his tree stand all along. Is that plausible?”
Shabina scrunched up her nose. “I don’t know, Stella. What about the purchase of the tree stand? That would be traceable. It isn’t like the killer could figure out a way to put it on the victim’s credit card. Even if he paid cash, that’s a big jump.”
Stella gave a little cry of sheer annoyance. “This entire thing is so frustrating. It’s a big jump to think that we could find a single tree in an entire forest. If this serial killer really is playing a game with me, he’s got to be laughing his head off right now.”