“No sign of forced entry.” Kane led her away from the others and lowered his voice. “There are tracks outside from the staff coming in this morning, but I couldn’t find anything else of significance. The maintenance crews are all over the complex daily with snowmobiles, collecting firewood, so there are tracks everywhere.” He sucked in a breath. “There’s a maintenance shed close by and I looked inside. There’s blood in there but only a few spots. I spoke to Brightway and he said one of his crew had a fall in there yesterday and banged his head. He’s taking a few days off with concussion. I’m moving the freezer into that shed once Em has finished a preliminary examination. I sure don’t want the media coming out and stamping all over the evidence. We’ll need to keep this on the downlow for now.”
Jenna nodded. “How long will you need to clear the area? I figure they’ll want to start cleaning the kitchen as soon as possible.”
“Hours. I’ll need daylight to search for the rest of the body and the murder weapon.” Kane pulled his woolen cap down over his ears. “It’s bitterly cold out there and we won’t be able to stay outside indefinitely. Once we’re set up, I’ll contact Wolfe in a video call. There’s power and a bench in the shed we can use for the examination. I’ll grab a few rolls of plastic wrap from the storeroom to cover the bench.” He blew out a long sigh. “From the mangled way the body is cut up, I figure he used a chainsaw. It must be around here somewhere, it’s not something you can carry around inside a hotel without being noticed.” He indicated with his chin to the staff. “You might as well send these people away. Tell Brightway we’ll contact him once we’ve finished and he can send in a cleaning crew.”
“Okay.” Jenna headed back to the sea of expectant faces and pulled her notebook and pen out of her pocket. “I’ll need a list of the names of everyone here and then you can leave. The restaurant will be closed for most of the day.”
“If nothing was touched inside the kitchen, why close the restaurant?” Eton stared at her. “How will they feed the guests?”
Jenna shrugged. “The other eateries will have to cope for one day. We’ll need time to process the scene and then the kitchen will need to be cleaned.”
“What about your team?” Eton frowned. “You won’t have time to line up for hours for food.”
Jenna stared at him, surprised by his obvious concern. “What do you suggest? We have a coffee machine and a microwave upstairs in our suite, and plates and silverware, but no food.”
“There’s bread left over from yesterday, butter and fixings in the refrigerator in the staff break room.” Eton scratched his head. “There’s a ton of pies in the refrigerator, and plenty of milk if you want cereal. Everything you need to keep you going for today, and we have spare toasters in the store cupboard. They use them in the chalets. Take what you need to your suite to feed your team. The food is left for our breakfast, but after we’ve eaten, everything is thrown away before the next shift arrives.”
Jenna nodded. “Okay, so you usually eat here during your shift?”
“Yeah.” Eton glanced at the others. “Once we’ve prepared the bread, there’s an hour before we bake it, so we eat breakfast. The food will go to waste unless you take it. We have food at home.” He smiled and pointed to an aluminum room service cart. “There’s a cart over there you can use.”
“Thanks that’s very kind of you.” She collected the list of names and counted them off. “Okay but before I let you go. Please, don’t mention a word of this to anyone. The future of the ski lodge and your jobs are at stake. I must find who did this and the smallest leaked details will hamper our investigation. Don’t worry, Mr. Brightway will keep you up to date. Use the front entrance on your way out, please.”
Confident Kane had things under control, Jenna grabbed the cart and headed through the kitchen to the staff area. She found the refrigerator and the toasters and then loaded up the cart. Before she left the kitchen, she drew her weapon and moved in silence through the corridors. A deranged serial killer was here somewhere, maybe lurking close by watching her every move. Which one of her suspects had committed such heinous crimes? Shadows leaped out at her like gargoyles on ancient buildings as she moved along the passageways increasing the pounding of her heart. The killer was escalating rapidly and no one was safe.
Forty-Eight
Black Rock Falls
After listening to Kane’s matter-of-fact details of yet another homicide at Glacial Heights Ski Resort, Wolfe seriously considered driving up the mountain and taking his chances. Anger rode on his shoulders at the thought of his precious daughters being isolated on a mountain with a homicidal maniac on the rampage. He’d not been able to sleep, waiting for the next call from Jenna or Kane to inform him of another murder. Containing his anger, he set up his equipment to receive a video feed from Kane’s phone. “Do you have eyes on my girls?”
“All the time.” Kane’s phone rustled as if he’d handed it to someone.
“Hi, Dad. It’s Emily. We’re fine. I’m here with Dave, and Rio is guarding Julie. During the day, Julie is surrounded by her friends. We don’t allow her even to walk back and forth to the sessions alone. Trust me, the moment the weather clears we’ll be coming home.” Emily passed the pho
ne back to Kane.
“The weather forecast says we’ll have clear weather from this afternoon with more snow forecast next week.” Kane sounded optimistic. “As soon as we’ve located the rest of the body and the murder weapon, if the weather holds, I’ll bring the body down and the girls. No one else has wanted to leave. This is the strangest group of people I’ve ever encountered. Most would be running for the hills. It seems crime writers and all those who work with them figure having a psychopath in their midst is all part of the fun.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Wolfe adjusted his webcam and an image of Kane popped up on his screen. As he was about to examine body parts, he needed a wide screen and not his phone. “Until one of them is murdered.”
“They seem to think it’s an elaborate hoax, a game the convention has organized. We have groups trying to figure out the killers. It’s unbelievable.” Kane narrowed his gaze. “Okay, what do you need first?”
Wolfe cleared his throat. “The overall image. I want to see the remains in situ.”
An image appeared on the screen and Wolfe captured what he needed. He swallowed hard at a very familiar scarf. “Don’t tell me that’s Julie’s scarf stuffed in the mouth.”
“Yeah.” Kane’s eyes flashed with anger. “It went missing from her room after she saw the guy at the end of her bed.”
Squashing the need to swear, Wolfe nodded. “Okay, Em, I gather you did a preliminary examination. Did you remove the limbs from the shelves?”
“Yes, I slid one to the edge to examine the cut and then replaced it.” Emily’s face looked pale and drawn. “It was pretty chewed up, the bone splintered. We’ve wrapped the bench in plastic. Do you want us to take them out so you can look at them?”
“Yeah, we’ll examine each piece at a time—feet, legs, hands, arms, and head last.” Wolfe leaned on his desk. “How many pieces apart from the head do you see?”
“Six. The torso is missing.” Kane held a foot and calf in front of the camera. “Hold the phone steady, Em.”
Wolfe ran his gaze over the masticated end of the stump. “Hmm, I’ve seen this before. This is a chainsaw used on frozen flesh. You’ll have to check all the chainsaws on the premises for human blood or tissue traces. The management will have a record of how many they own. It must be one from the resort, likely taken from one of the maintenance crew. Em, you’ll have to take swabs and test them as you go. Push the swab deep into the chain, look for places that might have collected blood spatter or tissue. A chainsaw tears up flesh, even frozen, so you’ll find traces on the tool even if he tried to clean it.” He made a note and looked back. “Now show me the thigh.”