Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45

A ndi heard Duke suck in a breath, and she followed his gaze.

Her eyes widened when she saw the snowman in the center of Jared’s backyard.

“You guys okay?” Confusion marred Jared’s voice.

Andi pointed at the window, her arm trembling. “Did you build that?”

“The snowman?” A knot formed between his eyebrows. “No. Why are you asking?”

Duke and Andi glanced at each other.

“You do realize this killer leaves snowmen, right?” Andi asked, surprised at his cluelessness.

“Oh.” Realization washed over Jared’s features. “The December Dismemberer . . . but he doesn’t leave every snowman. Neighborhood kids built that one.”

“In your backyard?” Duke murmured in surprise.

Jared shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal. “Their backyard is full of junk their dad collects. I personally think he’s a hoarder. Anyway, sometimes they like to play in my backyard—without my permission, usually. It doesn’t really matter to me, and since there’s no fence up, they probably don’t even think about property lines. That said, they built a snowman earlier today.”

Andi studied Jared’s face, determined to make sure he was thinking this through. “Are you sure they’re the ones who built it?”

He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure. I mean, I wasn’t watching them the whole time. But when I saw the snowman, that’s what I assumed.”

“Do you mind if we take a closer look?” Duke asked.

“Feel free.”

He and Andi went to the back door and carefully stepped outside. They trudged toward the snowman, knowing they shouldn’t disturb the scene in case it turned out to be something.

Andi stopped in front of the snowman to examine it.

This one was bigger than the others left at the crime scenes. Those had all been around four feet tall. This one was closer to six feet.

The first thing she looked for was any body parts—the real kind that the killer took from his victims.

This snowman had stick arms. Two mismatched rocks for the eyes. An old, stained towel for the scarf. No nose.

Andi glanced at the snowy ground to make sure nothing had fallen off.

She saw nothing, but it had snowed this morning. The evidence could be buried.

Using her foot, she carefully brushed away some snow from the ground, just to be certain.

But there was nothing hiding beneath the white mounds other than some leaves and twigs.

“Maybe this was just the neighborhood kids having some fun,” Duke muttered.

“There’s nothing inherently dangerous about a snowman,” Andi said. “Especially for the young and innocent.”

Plenty of kids had built them over the years. Plenty would build them in the future.

But in this case, Andi wanted to proceed with caution.

However, it looked like this particular snowman was nothing to be concerned about.

Duke glanced at Andi as they climbed back into his SUV. He cranked the engine and started the heat. They definitely hadn’t warmed up when they went into Jared’s house.

He probably had the thermostat set on fifty-five if Duke had to guess, just enough that the pipes wouldn’t freeze.

He didn’t bother to start driving anywhere yet.

Instead, he turned to Andi. “What do you think?”

She shook her head. “I don’t get the impression Jared has anything to do with the murders. Nor do I think he knows anything about them. What concerns me the most is the fact that Tim said he was coming here and he didn’t.”

“It definitely sounds like Tim is hiding something.”

“For sure. Why did he want to leave camp? Was he running away? Trying to cover up some evidence?”

Duke blew out a long breath. “It’s hard to say without knowing more details about where he might be. He didn’t have anywhere else to go from the sounds of it.”

“I’d still like to talk to Dan and Jan,” Andi said. “The members of the Caribou Club that Juniper mentioned. Maybe they have some insight. While we’re in town we might as well . . .”

“I’m in favor of that too,” Duke said. “Why don’t you see if you can find out their address, and we’ll pay them a visit.”

Sometimes they might call people before stopping by. In this case, the element of surprise could work in their favor.

Andi found the couple’s address, and they took off.