The pilot banked right, turning toward the mountains beyond the community church. They passed over a river and several creeks as well as summer cabins and picnic spots, all covered in white. All still and deathly silent in their beauty.

Huck showed the pilot his phone screen, and the pilot corrected, flying where the river emerged from the mountains again.

“We should be coming upon the property any second,” Huck said through the headphones.

Laurel pressed her nose against the window.

The trees cleared to a wide meadow along the river. Something red caught her eye, and she nudged Huck, pointing.

The pilot headed in that direction.

Dark red dots became visible in an oval pattern, much akin to the shape of an egg. The dots were faded and buried beneath layers of snow but still showed through from their vantage point high above. They were black dahlias. Laurel squinted to see better and her stomach lurched. In the middle of the flowers, beneath snow and ice, was the shape of a woman.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Laurel stood up to her knees in snow, feet away from the body. She’d gotten close enough to brush snow off the face, just to be sure.

Christine Franklin’s eyes were open in death, the color opaque through the ice. She’d been beaten around the head and face, and bone showed through her left cheek. Even so, she was identifiable.

Revulsion rolled through Laurel along with a rage comparable to the one no doubt experienced by the killer. Any murder was an abomination, but this one was brutal. “He beat her, but not as badly, and I can’t see if her hands are still attached.” There was a lack of blood around the body, so she hadn’t been killed right here. “He carried her out here and left her with the flowers.” She squinted to look from their location to the quiet cabin by the river, but too much snow had fallen and covered any footprints.

Huck snapped several photographs with his phone, keeping his distance, just in case there was any sort of clue beneath the snow or ice. “She’s really frozen.”

Laurel couldn’t stop looking at the naked body. Ice had formed over her, along with snow. “Too frozen?”

“Yes.” He crouched and leaned over to study the body. “I think he put her here and then brought water from the river to pour over her.” He knocked gently on the ice against the woman’s hip with his glove. Then he gently swept more snow away. “The hands aren’t here.”

Laurel looked back at the Huey, which had landed on the far side of the meadow. “Let’s check out the cabin.” The crime techs were more than an hour away, but they were coming along with Dr. Ortega. He wanted to see the scene this time as well.