Medical Examiner Shane Wolfe glanced at the desk over the shoulders of his two interns: Emily Wolfe, the eldest of his three daughters and Colt Webber, a badge-holding deputy at the Black Rock Falls Sheriff’s Department. He nodded. They’d finished the tissue sampling exercise he’d given them and had achieved the same results. “Great job. You can finish up here. That’s all for this semester. I want you to go back to school for the rest of the day and study for your exams. If anything interesting comes in, I’ll call you.” He smiled. “If you have any questions, drop by any time.”
“I have to pick up some books from my locker.” Webber stood. “But I can do that on the way home.”
Wolfe looked at him. “Take what time you need. The exams take priority.”
“I have everything we need here, so is it okay if we study in the front office, Dad?” Emily looked up at him. “It’s as quiet as a morgue.” She chuckled.
Wolfe smiled. “Sure, as long as you both study and don’t waste time staring at your phones. The exams are important.”
“I know, Dad.” Emily tidied the bench.
Being ME had become his life now, but he still held the title of FBI handler for the man now known as David Kane. The quiet deputy remained a valuable operative and the office of POTUS required regular updates on his and Jenna’s status. Wolfe had enjoyed a varied career in the military, starting as an IT specialist. He’d spent his deployment as a field medic, became an MD, and then while nursing his terminally ill wife, had studied forensic science. His arrival in Black Rock Falls hadn’t been a fluke, it had been carefully engineered by the powers that be. After his wife passed, Wolfe found himself back on the payroll, with all the help the government could offer. Now he’d become part of a well-oiled team of professionals, which was just as well as Black Rock Falls attracted trouble. When his phone chimed a familiar ringtone, he sighed. If Jenna called him when she was on vacation, something was up. He strolled out the door and headed for his office. “Hi Jenna, what’s up?”
“I’m staring at a pine sapling decorated with body parts. It’s close to the backroad leading to the ski resort. We’re on scene so you’ll see Dave’s truck. I need you out here now. I’ll send you the coordinates.” Jenna sounded all business. “I’ll get Rowley and Walters up here as well. We’ll need to block off this road for a time.”
Wolfe turned back to the pathology lab. “Okay, I’m on my way.”
He pushed open the door and Emily and Webber looked up at him. “Get your gear, we have a case in the mountains.”
In less than ten minutes he had the ME’s van packed and was heading out on the recently cleared roads. Clouds hung low in the gray sky and he could just make out the snow-covered mountains soaring out of the frozen forest. The van wasn’t the best vehicle for traveling in the harsh conditions but he’d fitted snow tires and Webber had decided to follow him in his truck. As they reached Stanton Road and headed alongside the forest, the wind picked up and dislodged the snow piled up on the tall pines’ branches. Ice-filled chunks of snow rained down on them. The wipers were no match for the frozen lumps and slowed down under the weight. “That’s all we need.” He pressed the water and jets sprayed the windshield. “Ah, that’s better.”
“Are you going to tell me about the case?” Emily had one hand locked into the handgrip above the door. “Jenna’s on vacation, so who called us out?”
Wolfe didn’t take his eyes off the slippery blacktop. “Jenna. Apparently, someone has decorated a small pine tree with body parts. She said it was on the backroad into the Glacial Heights Ski Resort.” He slowed to move around a pile of snow that had spilled down onto the road. “I’d say Kane is working the scene with her now. If it’s body parts the evidence on scene will likely be minimal.”
“We may be lucky. I doubt the snowplow or salt spreader has been out there this morning or they’d have called it in.” Emily turned in her seat to look at him. “If so, there may be tire tracks and footprints.”
Wolfe glanced at her. All he could see was a strand of blonde hair escaping from her hood, wind blushed cheeks and a pink nose. With her sunglasses and scarf, she was barely recognizable. The GPS informed them to take the next left and they turned onto a side road that wound through the forest. Although the road was snow covered, it was minimal. The snowplow would have gone through in the last twenty-four hours, followed by the salt spreader. Snow tossed from the plow, along with leaves and other forest debris, formed a wall along each side of the blacktop. Snow dusted the gray piles but not enough to cover them completely. “We can assume whoever did this came by after the snowplow and up to the time Jenna arrived on scene.” He cleared his throat. “Make a note to mention this to Jenna, she’ll follow up and find out when they came through last.”
“Okay.” Emily pulled out a small book and made some notes.
As they took a sweeping bend, Wolfe made out Kane’s unmarked black truck, his wig-wag lights flashing from inside. He drove up slowly, searching all around for any signs of disturbance. From inside his van, he couldn’t see the crime scene at all. He pulled up behind Kane’s truck and Webber stopped behind him. He climbed out as Jenna appeared on the top of a bank of snow. He gave her a wave. “How far to the scene?”
“It’s over here, a few yards from the road.” Jenna pointed toward the front of Kane’s truck. “There’s a walkway cut through the snow. We believe the killer dug it out to gain access. We have checked all around, but the recent falls have covered any footprints or tire tracks, I’m afraid.”
Wolfe jumped up beside Jenna and looked both ways. “Is it visible from the road coming down the mountain?”
“No and we were looking for it.” She frowned. “We crawled down the hill and reversed back up and I scanned the trees with Dave’s binoculars before we located the scene. It’s just inside the tree line.”
“Well, that shoots my timeline to hell. I thought the snowplow guy would’ve noticed it for sure.” Wolfe jumped down to the road and offered Jenna his hand. “Show me what you’ve found.” He turned to Emily and Webber chatting beside the van. “Grab our gear, the scene is a few yards inside the tree line. There’s a cut-through in front of Kane’s
truck.”
“I don’t know how Dave spotted it on his downhill run, he must have the eyes of an eagle.” Jenna’s boots crunched on the icy blacktop. “He’s photographing the scene. We thought the less time we spend out here in the freezing cold the better.”
Wolfe followed her through a deep opening in the snowbank. “This would’ve taken some time. I don’t know many killers who would go to this much trouble and it advertises the fact there’s something through here.”
“I thought the same.” Jenna turned to him. “I’d say it wasn’t done on the fly, he did this and then came back later to drop off the body parts.” She waved a hand to where Kane was taking photographs. “This is new.”
“Uh-huh.” Wolfe stared at the ground, scanning for any scrap of evidence. He looked at Kane. “You found nothing, no footprints, drag marks, blood?”
“No, the snow was pristine, it’s been snowing overnight and I doubt he’d try this in daylight.” Kane walked to his side. “Although, as the tree is concealed from the road, it’s possible.”
Wolfe turned as Emily arrived with Webber carrying his forensics kit. “Okay, Kane has taken the crime scene images, we’ll need to tag and bag the body parts.” He glanced at Jenna. “From what I can see, it looks like we have the limbs of a female but what I’d like to know is where has he hidden the rest of her?”
“We have searched the immediate area but who knows what’s lying under the snow?” Jenna frowned. “The rest of the remains could be anywhere.” Her phone chimed. “I’d better take this, it’s Rowley. He’s up aways, stopping traffic.” She walked away.
“Need any help?” Kane walked to his side.