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In Rockton, I often joked that I was getting a feel for Sherlock Holmes–era detection. That’s not entirely true—I do have access to some more modern methods—but I’m no longer the police detective who makes a few general observations and then calls in the crime-scene techs. I am the crime-scene tech. So I’ve immersed myself in forensic science, especially older methods that don’t require modern technology. Not having a photographic memory, I have invested in books, putting as many as possible onto my new tablet. Now I’m at that tablet, skimming a book I’ve read.
I know the state Denise was in when I found her, presumably about fourteen hours after her death. She had barely begun to decompose, but she was past rigor mortis. That generally sets in about four hours post-death and lasts about eight hours. Under normal conditions, then, if she had died twelve hours before, I could have expected to find her either in rigor mortis or out of it, being in that gray area.
However, there are factors that can affect that, and I use the book to confirm what I remember—that cold temperatures slow it down. I know approximately what the temperature would have been in that pit. Running calculations, I can reasonably conclude that, if Denise had been dumped in there right away,she’d would not have passed through rigor mortis by the time I found her.
What if she had been left at ground level and dumped much later? That doesn’t work either. First, it would mean she’d have been in rigor when she was moved. My preliminary examination didn’t support that, but again, that’s inexact. The bigger issue is that I know the temperature that night. It’d been down near freezing, and when I run the same calculations at a slightly warmer temperature, the window only shifts slightly.
Bruno was spotted going into the forest after ten at night. He could not have gotten to Mark’s camp before eleven. If he showed up and found Denise and killed her, she’d have still been in rigor when I found her late the next morning.
What if Bruno’s partner killed her earlier?
Mark says he headed out hunting that evening. Even if Bruno’s partner killed her at eight, the timeline doesn’t work.
Add in the state of mild decomposition I’d noted, and I’m going to lay a solid bet that Denise had died earlier that day. Much earlier. And the more I think about that, the more it makes sense. She came to find her husband, using three sets of coordinates in the same general area. That’s going to take time. She isn’t going to have a pilot drop her off any later than early afternoon. The chance that Mark was gone hunting when she showed up is unlikely. Not impossible, but still highly unlikely.
In light of that, it’s a little coincidental that Mark chose that night to go out hunting… and just happened to get lost and not return until the next morning.
Bruno or his partner didn’t kill Mark’s wife.
Mark did.
He knew we were looking for missing people. People who’d been wandering around the forest the night after his wife’s death. We provided him with the perfect setup.
You had two people go missing? You still have a woman missing? And you found my dead wife? Clearly these three things are connected.
I hadn’t said she’d been murdered, but this still gave him an explanation he can use if I admit the truth.
Hell, I’d jumped to that conclusion myself. It made sense, if his wife had come for a surprise visit on the same night Penny went missing. He said she must have arrived that night, and I bought it because, again, it made sense.
That’s not what happened.
Denise’s death had nothing to do with Bruno and Penny. It was just coincidental timing.
Why would Mark kill his wife? Well, he’d admitted that he hadn’t told her where he was because he didn’t trust her to keep it a secret. He said she didn’t understand how important it was. What if she understood just fine… and still couldn’t be trusted?
It was a second marriage. His first wife had been an active partner until her death. It’s nice that Mark found someone else to share his life with. Unfortunately, she didn’t share his hobby, but it happens, right? Except it’s not like a couple having different favorite sports. Mark spent months each year alone in the forest, hunting for gold. Was Denise okay with that at first… until she realized how much it would affect their lives together? Was she okay with it because he had her convinced his jackpot was just around the corner?
Whatever the reason, Mark didn’t tell Denise where he was and she wanted to know. She came up here and died. I am now certain he killed her. If she’d been shot or died from a blow to the head, it could have been a tragic accident, but that isn’t what happened. She was half naked when he killed her.
They reunited. They may have had sex—there was that empty condom wrapper in her pocket. Then he killed herand hid her body in a pit he’d found while surveying the area. Hide her body. Hide her belongings elsewhere. If she is found, she won’t be identified… unless I tell him we found a dead woman and he realizes he might not need to hide her after all.
A wilderness-hiding serial killer murdered my wife and attacked two other people. I’m shocked, distraught, horrified…
I wrap Denise’s body again and head up to April’s bedroom. She doesn’t have her earplugs in, and she’s only half asleep.
“I’m sorry,” I say, “but I’m going to need you to stand guard over Penny.”
She rises on her elbows, blinking.
“I had to send Will with Eric,” I say. “They’re out looking for Gunnar.”
More blinking.
“I’ll explain later,” I say. “But I’ve found something I need to discuss with Eric, and if he hasn’t found Gunnar’s trail, I’m going to pull him off that for tonight. Can you watch Penny for a bit? It shouldn’t take long.”
She doesn’t answer. She just rises and takes her robe and wraps it around her as I hurry back down the stairs. I stride out of the clinic, locking the door behind me. Then I stand on the porch and look up and down the street.
As much as I want to just go after Dalton on my own, I know better. This isn’t urgent. I just want to tell him what I’ve found out and—let’s be honest—maybe I’m feeling anxious about Dalton and Anders being in the forest where they could bump into Mark. Even if they did, Mark would play it cool. Still, I can’t take that chance. To Dalton and Anders, Mark is a grieving widower. To Mark, they are the people who could ruin everything for him—not only unveil his secret mine but arrest him for his wife’s murder.
