“All the time I was in the hospital I blamed myself. Why would Saskia go to the glacier before the competition? I thought it was because of me. I upset her with my angry words in Glow Bar, so she went up there to take stupid risks. She was fragile. Maybe you did not see that, but I did.”

Her easy familiarity with her weapon keeps me locked to the spot. I tense up every time she moves, scared she’s going to spring. She doesn’t, though. She doesn’t come anywhere near us—can’t risk our trying to wrestle the rifle off her.

“My brothers, they were worried about me. My oldest brother quit ski racing and moved into my apartment in Le Rocher so he could visit me regularly. Finally I left the hospital. The first thing I see on my bedside table when I come home is Saskia’s lift pass. She must have left it when she was at my house before Glow Bar. And she couldn’t have gone up the mountain without it. At Le Rocher, they are strict like that. So if she wasn’t on the mountain, how can she just disappear? It is not normal. I said to myself: I think someone has hurt her.”

I squeeze Curtis’s gloved fingers, but he doesn’t react. It’s as though he has turned to stone. The shift of his chest as he breathes is the only sign he’s alive.

“I took the pass to the police.” Odette’s voice raises. “They said it wasn’t enough to prove anything. I was so angry. I asked myself, who could have wanted to hurt her? I made a list.”

In the corner, Brent shifts his leg, though he stills it when she swings the rifle his way.

“I decided one of you must be responsible.” Odette hisses the word out. “But what could I do? I had no proof. So I put my anger into my rehabilitation. Both my brothers were living with me by then because I needed a lot of help. It isn’t easy to find work in this valley, and the only job they could find was for the lifts. So life continued.”

The rifle swings to Curtis.

“Until you phoned. They only have a few staff here in November and you spoke to my brother Romain because the director was away. Romain phoned me immediately. I saw the news online that morning. Saskia was officially dead and you wanted to celebrate!” The look in her eyes is pure malice.

Curtis blinks. “No. I—” He breaks off.

“It wasn’t right,” Odette says. “So I formed a plan.”

“The Icebreaker?” I say.