The Magic Hour

Chapter 11: Missing Persons

     The sheriff put the jeep into gear and they started down. Nathan could see the short tracks ahead of them made by cross-country skis. There wasn’t another mark on the snow anywhere. The snow itself was over six inches deep but that didn’t hold them up. Ten minutes later they were at the entrance to the mining cave. The ski tracks veered toward the hole and then away. All he could see was what looked like a mound of debris against the outside rock.

     “Good thing you wore those boots,” Harry said, getting out of the jeep.

     Nathan followed, pushing his way through the snow.

     The debris was a body, no question of that. It was turned face down.

     “Damn. Jim was right.”

     “How long for the crime team to get out here?” Nathan asked.

     “Crime team? Out here?” Harry laughed. “We’re the crime team, Nate. The nearest medical examiner is a hundred miles away and he isn’t likely to come here on a moment’s notice. I’ll fax him a report and he’ll read it and decide if it’s worth his while. I’ve got a kit in the back seat. Mind getting it?”

     The kit wasn’t large but it had what they needed. Harry took off his gloves and put on latex ones, and Nathan did the same. The cold air was bitter on his hands.

     After taking a few photos of the area surrounding the body and one of the mining entrance, Harry leaned over and surveyed the body up close.

     “Can’t tell much from this angle. Let’s roll him over,” he said to Nathan.

     With some effort, they did. The weight of the ice and snow that covered the body made it extremely heavy. Once they had it face up, Harry took more photos. Then Nathan bent down to check the overall condition, what he could see of it. A scarf covered the head.

     “I’m going to take this off,” he said to the sheriff.

     “Like I said, we’re it as far as the scene of the crime goes right now. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

     Nathan pulled the scarf away. Both men started in surprise.

      The woman’s features were blue-gray in death. Her hair was gold in the sunlight.

     “Ever seen her before?” Nathan said.

     “No. There’s no report of anyone gone missing, locally, anyway. Besides, I’d have remembered her if she’d been around.”

     Harry stood looking down at the body of the woman awhile and shook his head.

     “Any death worries me. Don’t know why, but when it’s a woman it seems unnatural, though.”

     “I’ve had the same thought,” Nathan said.

     “Well, we’ll bring her back and I’ll contact Patterson, the M.E., and give him the good news that he has an autopsy to conduct, and right away. He needs to see her before the body thaws out.”

     They lifted the body together and trudged back to the jeep. With a gentleness that surprised Nathan, the sheriff placed the woman on the back seat. He covered her completely with a blanket he had stowed beneath the driver’s seat, and put the crime kit on the floor of the vehicle.

     “All right,” he said, as they got into the jeep and he turned the ignition. “Now we find out who she is and what’s going on.”

     By the time they got back into Canyon City, it was past noon and the sun was high.