“I know you didn’t do that. However—”
“Howevernothing, April. I offered help. I would have brought you to examine him. If you thought it was serious, we would have made arrangements. He very obviously did not want that.”
“Which suggests he was not simply a hiker.”
I throw up my hands. “Maybe? It also might suggest he was a guy.”
When she frowns, I say, “The sort of guy who doesn’t want to make a big deal of an injury. Tough it out and all that.”
“Women do that as well.”
“Yes, but you know what I mean. Eric and I figured it couldgo either way—refusing help because he didn’t want to admit he was hurt or refusing it because he wasn’t actually hurt. There was only a bit of swelling when I saw it, likely because he’d recently iced it in a stream. All I had to go by was self-reporting. But if it is broken, that suggests…”
I take a deep breath, pushing down my annoyance with April. “It could be further proof he was just a hiker. But, if heisn’tjust a hiker,thatmight also explain why he didn’t want treatment. Make contact, but nothing more.”
“It’s a minor fracture,” April says. “He could walk on it, but it would have been painful.”
“So was he downplaying it because he’s a tough guy or downplaying it because getting hurt on a mission is very inconvenient.” I walk along the body again. “Any idea how old the marks on his hands are? I was thinking he fell before he died, likely after being struck, but they could be from his fall yesterday. He’d have cleaned the wounds, but there could be scabs.”
“I noted no signs of scabbing. There is, however, swelling in the wrist and thumb of his left hand.”
I check it. She’s right. Slight swelling. “So he may have broken his fall with his hands.”
“How did he say it happened?”
“He was scouting after they lost their map and GPS. He went out too far on a ledge and fell about eight feet.”
“Where was his partner?”
“Gretchen?” I nod. “Okay, I see where you’re going. Did he fall or was he pushed? She wasn’t on the ledge with him, but I’d need more details to determine whether she could have snuck up behind and pushed. The fall could have happened quickly enough that he didn’t realize he had help.”
“She fails to kill him and tries again.”
“But under what circumstances would that be? They go fora hiking trip, and she decides she’s had enough and kills him?” I lift the hand with his wedding band. “Or she planned it all along.”
“It does happen, does it not?” April says. “Usually husbands killing wives.”
“Hey, hon, let’s go on a romantic hike up this remote mountain. I don’t know what happened, Officers. She just fell.” I nod. “Yes, it’s common enough that I’d investigateanyfatal fall when a couple goes hiking. Resorting to strangulation seems an abrupt switch, but if she got frustrated, or if he got suspicious? Hell, even if she just realized no one would expect her to produce a body. Go home, say he died, get a search team out and take them to another spot. The body was hidden.”
“Where is his partner?”
“I have no idea. Finding her is on our to-do list. The priority was getting the body back here.” I tug off the wedding ring. “Huh.”
“Huh?”
I pass it over. “How old would you say this is?”
“Relatively new, I believe. They gave me Mom and Dad’s rings after the accident, and theirs were quite worn.”
“Unlike this one.”
“Yes.”
I take off my own band. “Newer than my ring?”
“It looks like it. Did they give any indication of how long they’d been married?”
“Since right after college. So maybe twenty years?”
