Page 42 of Dark of Night

It was Samson’s death signal.

She slowed, not eager to see whatever lay in front of them. Bree reached the rock where the dog stood first. She knelt on one knee and comforted Samson who continued to whine and tremble.

The discovery of a body was always hard for a search dog, and Samson had an especially tender heart. Annie reached Bree’s side. “Is it Michelle?”

“I don’t think so. Blonde hair. An autopsy will have to be done to determine cause of death and identity. Michelle has brown hair, correct?”

Annie stepped around the rock and took a look. She shuddered at the grisly scene. “That’s what her picture showed, but she could have dyed it.”

“Maybe. This seems natural to me, but the coroner will know for sure.” Bree buried her face in Samson’s fur. “It’s okay, boy. You’re okay.” She rose and pulled her dog away from the scene. “I’m going to call Mason. He’ll want forensics out here.”

“I think I’ll look around. I’ll be careful of the crime scene.”

Bree pulled out a handful of pistachios and opened them as she talked to Mason. Samson lay at her feet with mournful eyes.

Jon stood off to one side to allow Annie to do her job, but she caught a glimpse of the sympathy on his face. She beckoned him to come with her, and they began a sweep of the perimeter.

“What are we looking for?” he asked.

“Any scraps of clothing, tracks, footprints. Anything that might help us get a sense of what happened here.”

“Got it.” He wandered off a few feet and began to scour the ground.

Annie grabbed a stick and poked through bushes and thick weeds, searching for anything interesting. Nothing but leaves, rocks, and bugs. She reached a small crescent of beach on Superior and paused at the tracks in the sand. Several footprints. She counted two large prints likely belonging to two different men as well as smaller prints. It could have been one woman or maybe two.

She pulled out her phone and snapped pictures of everything she saw. Bree and Naomi hadn’t made it here, and neither had Jon. The prints could be innocent, maybe fishermen or hikers, but given the nearby body, she wasn’t assuming anything. She got out yellow crime tape from her backpack to cordon it off.

Jon saw what she was doing and came to help her. He took one end of the tape and they stretched it around the area. Once itwas secure, she went back to searching. They headed away from the beach, and Jon grabbed her hand.

He pointed to her left. “There’s an ATV. It’s on its side like it’s been wrecked.”

She couldn’t tell that from here with the machine in shadow, but as they neared, she saw he was right. The machine had been mangled from hitting a large rock. “Maybe she had an accident and crawled away before she died. The ATV isn’t that far from the body.”

He nodded and went back to the search. “The accident could have flung her too. Let’s see what else we find.”

She snapped more pictures for Mason and turned the other way. Hidden by vegetation, she found a backpack. She pulled Nitrile gloves from her pack and unzipped the backpack. Inside she found a notebook, water bottles, jerky, and a compass. The engraving on the back of the compass had a name: Michelle Fraser.

Was that Michelle’s body after all? She could have bleached her hair. Or was this merely a clue that Michelle had been here?

She couldn’t wait for Mason to get here so they could unravel this. The notebook might have information. She pulled it out and flipped through. Michelle had sketched cougars in various poses, and she’d made notes about possible sightings. Annie slid the notebook back in the pack and unzipped the front pocket. A phone was nestled there.

Annie turned it on, but it was password protected so she put it away. Mason could deal with that, but it likely held a lot of information. Maybe they were about to find out what happened to Michelle Fraser.

***

Mason wore a pained expression as he surveyed the scene. Jon stood at the perimeter of the clearing so he didn’t get in the way. He loved watching Annie work. Her dramatic hand gestures as she told the sheriff what she’d found kept him riveted. She cared so much about other people and her job.

He glanced at the time on his phone. Well past lunch, and his stomach growled as if to remind him it was empty. Way back in Annie’s truck they had a cooler with sandwiches and apples, but it would take half an hour to hike to it, and he doubted he could get Annie to eat even if he went to grab the food.

A twig snapped behind him, and he turned in that direction. As far as he knew, everyone was closer to the lake. Maybe it was a deer or other wildlife. He scanned the thick copse of underbrush hunkering under the oak overstory and saw a flash of green movement.

Someone was there.

On his guard, Jon moved in that direction and saw no one. But a fresh footprint impression in the grass near a log still rose as if the person had just left. It could be another searcher, but the hair stood on the back of his neck.

“Hello? Anyone there?”

No answer. That was worrisome since anyone with a legitimate reason to be here would have replied. He stopped and scanned the area again before moving deeper into the forest. The imprints of a scuffle in the dirt stopped him. Broken branches, deep gouges in the mud, and a discarded flannel shirt lay strewn around the clearing. Something had happened here.

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