Page 45 of Her Frozen Heart

“I’m looking at them now,” he said. “Christ Almighty, this is even worse than I thought. Maybe the guy was killed out of necessity when he tried to protect the woman he’s buried with.” His tone sounded about as hopeful as she felt. The idea that serial killers were only motivated by sex was a myth. Some serials killed for revenge, financial gain, or attention, and some killed solely for the thrill. The D.C. Sniper case and the Son of Sam were the first two that popped into her mind. Both had killed indiscriminately, by gun. Only the worst of the worst were sexually motivated, and of those, the vast majority chose victims based on sexual preference, regardless of what their public lifestyle might have been. Nikki knew she should wait for the forensic reports, but in her experience the absence of gunshot wounds suggested some sort of poisoning, which may or may not be personal and sexual. Stabbing and strangulation almost always meant the killing had been intimate, even if done by a stranger. Nikki’s usual confidence in her investigative abilities had started to shrink with each victim that had been uncovered. She kept trying to tell herself she was jumping ahead, but every instinct in her body told her they were dealing with a predator unlike any other, including the Frost Killer.

“What about the hands and feet of these victims?” Liam asked.

“They all seem to be intact,” Nikki said.

“So why cut off Kesha’s?”

Nikki had been asking herself the same thing since they’d gotten their first look at the bodies. “Assuming he intended to bury her, whatever he used to bring her out on the lake may have been too small. I’m not sure we’ll know that answer until we catch the guy. And sex is the key.”

“I’m sorry?” Liam asked.

“Sexual motivation, I mean. If that’s all there is, and we’re dealing with someone who doesn’t care—male, female, white, Hispanic, how old the victim is—we’re in over our heads.”

“No, we aren’t,” Liam said firmly. “I can do plenty from the office. We can and will figure this out. We always do. What else did you guys find?”

His calm voice and confidence helped Nikki get back on track. She told him about the victim in the towel and the lack of granules around the bones. “We’ll have to wait for official results from Willard and Courtney, but Blanchard is positive about the Neutrolene. It came on the market in 2012.”

“Meaning the first victim is likely older and someone close to him,” Liam said. “Unless Willard’s estimate is wrong and the remains aren’t as old as she thinks, but looking at the photos you sent, the towel is decaying, and the bones don’t look like the second skeleton.”

“And they’ve been disturbed,” Nikki said. “The others had a body bag and an odor neutralizer, but it seems impossible that at least some animals wouldn’t catch the scent and start digging.”

“Hey, Nik.” Courtney’s voice behind her made Nikki jump. “Sorry to sneak up on you, but after Blanchard said animals could probably catch the scent even with the Neutrolene, I started examining the fauna and flora they’ve taken out of the dirt. I’m going to test it and see if something toxic was deliberately planted. Wild animals are usually smart enough to avoid plants that will kill them. None of the body bags look like anything has tried to get into them, which tells me that nothing’s messing around back here. I’d like to know why.”

“Good idea,” Nikki said. “Liam, did you find out anything new?”

“I spent the day combing through fishing forums, along with Kendra and Jim,” he answered. “We contacted a dozen people who’ve posted about fishing Big Marine since Thanksgiving. Most of them didn’t see anything suspicious, but I did talk to a guy who said he was out on Big Marine last weekend, and he remembered a guy putting up a new ice shack. After he brought the plywood out, it didn’t take him long to put it together. He definitely knew what he was doing, but the witness said the guy carried his equipment in one of those huge, heavy-duty rolling totes. It struck him as odd because he never opened the tote while he was building the shack, but he never thought any more of it.”

“Did the ice fisher talk to the man?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Liam said. “A lot of the guys know each other and chat, but this guy was standoffish, didn’t come over and introduce himself. He did say the guy wore a neck gaiter up to the bridge of his nose, so he didn’t get a good look at his face. He wore worn Carhartt coveralls and all-weather boots. I had him look at a photo of the lake, and he put the guy around the area where Kesha’s body was found.”

“That sounds like the man Chelsea Blaine and her boyfriend encountered less than a week before. Your witness have any idea of his age?”

“He didn’t see him well enough, but he said he was tall, probably around six feet. Definitely white.”

“What about a vehicle?” Nikki asked.

“Old, dirty white pickup,” Liam said. “The ice fisher thought it was probably a mid-eighties Chevy, but he didn’t get that good a look.”

“Danny Stanton’s is a white 1976 Chevy Scottsdale,” Nikki said.

“I already sent him a photo of it,” Liam said. “He said it could be the same truck, but he thought this guy’s looked like it was in better shape than Stanton’s.”

“Still, that’s a big coincidence, and he said he didn’t get a good look.” Nikki told him about her visit with Stanton earlier. “The girl showed me her ID, and it looks legit, but run her name and the plate number.”

“Gross,” Liam said. “You don’t think he’s our suspect, though?”

“At this point,” Nikki said, “I’m not sure.” She hugged her chest as the wind screamed through the bare trees. “Plan on being at the Washington County sheriff’s in the morning and be ready to try to work up a profile. Doctor Roth is going to meet us there.”

“You think he’ll be able to offer something we can’t?” Liam asked.

“He’s the serial killer whisperer,” Nikki said. “And right now, we need all of the help we can get.”

She ended the call and went back into the shelter. Their small group spent the next two hours photographing each victim along with the entire burial area, examining soil and taking as many evidence samples as possible. Once Willard and Blanchard were confident everything had been collected, the bodies were secured on stretchers and taken out of the area one by one. The DNR had managed to keep the media out of the parking lot, but two news vehicles were parked across the entrance, cameras rolling.

A stocky reporter from Channel 9 called her name, but Nikki pulled her hood up and continued helping secure the bodies for transport. Willard and Blanchard left first, but the media remained, shouting questions at them from their perch across the road.

“Are Parker Jameson’s remains in the reserve?” the Channel 9 guy called out. Nikki thought about ignoring him, but she could put that rumor to rest. She walked across the lot but remained on her side of the road. If she crossed the line the DNR had set up, Nikki would be swarmed with questions she couldn’t answer.

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