Page 15 of Red Snow
I walk around the backside of the snowman hoping for some sort of clue we can use to get us started, but there’s nothing. The only blood is the blood that’s dripping from the neck of the victim, except underneath the snowman.
With all the forensics guys watching, I get as close to the snowman as I can without touching anything, and I squat down to get a closer look at what I think I’m seeing.
“Marcus, come check this out,” I shout. Marcus gives up searching for prints in the parking lot and comes to me. “Look at this. The head on top dripped with blood before it all froze and clotted, which explains the spots of blood running down the snowman, and the drips on the ground. But what about all this?”
I point to the thick mound under the large snowball that makes up the bottom of the snowman.
“That’s a lot of blood to be coming from just a head,” Marcus observes.
“Yeah. Even with the falling snow, this blood just refused to be covered up. Like there’s too much of it to hide in the snow. I need one of those forensics brushes,” I tell Marcus.
“Hold on, just let one of the forensics guys do it,” Marcus says, but I don’t think so.
I get up and walk over to the truck where the forensics crew is waiting impatiently for us to let them do their jobs, and I take one of the brushes sitting in the back.
“Jarrod, just let one of them do it,” Marcus pleads, doing his best to get me to follow his rule book. On some level, I know he doesn’t think I’ll actually stop and listen to him.
I take the brush and slowly start to sweep away the red snow from the top of the mound. Thick, wet blood reveals itself first, but when I sweep a little further in, my suspicions are confirmed when I see a finger sticking out of the ground.
“Holy shit!” Marcus exclaims when he sees it.
“Son of a bitch,” I snip. “He buried the rest of her underneath all this shit, then built the snowman on top of her body.”
“That means we’ve got to wait for the snow to melt before we uncover her, otherwise we run the risk of damaging or losing evidence in the snow,” Marcus says with agony in his voice.
“We don’t have time for that.”
“Are you willing to risk losing evidence that can help us bring this bastard in?”
Marcus, the forensics team, and the medical examiner all stare at me, waiting to see what my next move will be. I don’t have time so sit up here and wait for the damn snow to melt before I can do my job. Whoever did this knew what they were doing, and if we wait, we’re feeding right into their plan. The more time ticks away, the greater chance the murderer has of getting away, and I will not let that happen.
“Fuck that,” I bark. “We’re not waiting for this snow to melt so this asshole can get further away. Bring some heaters and blow dryers out here. We’re gonna melt it ourselves.”
“Are you serious?” Marcus asks, raising his eyebrows.
“Fucking right. Whoever did this planned on us waiting for the snow to melt, and that’s why we’re not going to. We’re gonna melt it ourselves, and we’re gonna start hunting this prick tonight.” I look up at the severed head on top of the balls of snow. “I don’t know who this woman is, but no one deserves to die and be put on display like this. Whoever did this to her willnotget away with it. Not on our watch. Let’s get to work.”
