Page 22 of Colton in the Wild
He had to look away. He didn’t think he was easily disturbed, but this did it. This desiccated corpse that looked as if it had been…arranged, got to him on more than one level. Then, as something belatedly registered, he glanced back, thinking he couldn’t have seen what he thought he’d seen. But he had. The one arm that was above ground was the left. And encircling the bones of the left ring finger was a gaudy, huge diamond ring. Or at least something that was supposed to look like one.
The part of his brain that was still functioning was telling him the ring had to be fake. Because why else would whoever had put this woman here leave the diamond behind if it were real? If it was, the piece would be worth tens of thousands, and he just couldn’t see a killer walking away from that. So whoever had left her here, with that ring, either hadn’t known or hadn’t cared.
Or…had put it there on purpose?
He gave a sharp shake of his head and yanked his gaze over to the calming trickle of the waterfall. It seemed pristine…untouched, but what wouldn’t after that sight? No wonder Hetty had screamed. He almost had, and he’d known what to expect. Well, almost; he’d never seen a body like this, in this decomposed condition, but at least he’d known it was there. Thanks to poor Hetty.
He grabbed his cell phone. It might not get a signal here, but the camera still worked. Not for nothing did he have a sister and cousin in law enforcement, who often spoke of crime scene photos and how the sooner they were taken, the better. Obviously this poor woman had been here a while, but still… Besides, putting the phone between him and the ugly scene made looking at it a tiny bit easier.
After taking several images from several angles, he shoved the phone back in his pocket, went and took a long drink from the stream himself, then filled the cup and headed back to the cave. And wondered all the way if whoever was after them now had something to do with that corpse. Was he protecting this site, afraid if the body was found, so would he be? Had he chosen this place because of its remoteness?
Or were the two totally unconnected? Was it just a freak accident that had left a body half buried there? Was this anonymous gunman hunting them for some other nefarious reason? That didn’t seem likely, as Spence could think of no reason for someone to shoot at him or Hetty, but he freely admitted he might not be thinking with total clarity.
He tried to go carefully, quietly, keeping hidden, but he was suddenly in a rush to get to Hetty. When he got back to the cave, he gave her the water and watched as she downed the pills. As soon as she had, she looked at him carefully.
“You found her.”
“Yes.”
“You agree it’s…a woman?”
“I think so.”
“How long do you suppose she’s been there?”
He grimaced. “No idea. I think freezing temperatures affect…decomposition. And up until a couple of months ago, we were still getting three or four feet of snow up here.”
Hetty lowered her eyes and he thought he saw her shudder. “It was…awful.”
“Yes,” he agreed softly. “Sometimes I don’t know how my sister does what she does, or my cousin.”
The thought he’d shoved aside while focused on the unsightly discovery came back to him now. The reality of what he’d been looking at, the dead body half buried on an Alaskan hillside, had made the memory of the Colton family tragedy fade, but now it came back. Hard.
His expression must have changed because she asked, “What?”
“I was just remembering…a family story.” He hesitated, but decided it may be a good distraction. For her, from the pain and the shock, and for him, from the long night ahead alone with Hetty. “Did you know I had an aunt?”
Her brow wrinkled. “I remember your dad mentioning his sister who died, before they ever came here, before you were born. And Lakin told me that was the reason for the fishing trip with your dad and uncle.”
“Aunt Caroline was the reason they left San Diego.”
“That’s quite a switch, from sunny San Diego to Alaska.”
“They needed a big change.” He paused, took a deep breath and went on. “Because in San Diego, my aunt and my grandparents were murdered.”
Hetty let out a shocked gasp. “Spence,” she said with a shake of her head. “I didn’t know that.”
“They don’t talk about it much anymore.”
“Who did it? Did they…ever catch him?”
“They did. His name was Jason Stevens. He was an obsessed fan of my aunt’s.”
“Fan? She was famous?”
“When she was still in high school, Caroline was…discovered, I guess they call it. She became a model and was very successful very fast. Did a lot of ads, until it seemed like her picture was everywhere. And with that came a lot of attention, not all of it good. Stevens stalked her for months, and she was a wreck over it, my dad says. But…their parents didn’t take it seriously.”
He had to stop for a moment. He’d never known his aunt, but he’d been very aware of the pain of his father and his uncle during the first few years of his own life, when they were trying to rebuild here in Alaska. Hetty, bless her, didn’t push or prod, she simply waited, silently. Bracing himself, he went on.
