Chapter 53

CHAPTER 53

A ndi’s heart nearly thumped out of control when she heard Duke’s words.

Who could possibly be here?

She leapt to her feet and peered out the door.

The snowman stared at her.

The blood drained from her face so quickly she felt lightheaded. She reached for the chair behind her to keep her balance.

Was there a . . . body part?

The faces of the rest of her team slammed into her head. Had this killer hurt one of her friends?

Duke seemed to think the same thing.

He shut and locked the door, rushed toward Ranger and Simmy’s room, and pounded on their door. “Are you guys in there? Are you okay?”

As he did that, Andi hurried back toward her room, where she’d left Mariella. Her roommate had been sleeping when Andi had gotten up, but she still wanted to see with her own eyes that Mariella was okay.

As Andi threw the door open, Mariella stirred from her slumber. “Andi? What’s going on?”

“You’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re going to want to get dressed and come out here.”

Andi ran back into the living room just as Duke jogged toward his bedroom.

He mumbled a few things inside the door and then joined her.

“Everyone is here, safe, and accounted for,” he announced.

Relief swept through her. Her mind had gone straight to worst-case scenarios. Scenarios where one of their team members had been injured . . . or worse.

Knowing everyone was okay, she hurried back to the front door and opened it again to look at the snowman. She inspected it and realized there was nothing gruesome about this snowman. It was typical in every sense of the word—from the coal eyes, the carrot nose, and the stick arms.

Except . . . there was no mouth. The other snowmen had mouths, right?

A sick feel swirled in her gut.

Was this a sign? The beard, mustache, and now the mouth?

“Someone had to have done this in the past couple of hours after it stopped snowing,” Duke said as he joined her.

She agreed with Duke’s assessment. Any footprints left by the person who’d done this were now gone. Because even though the blizzard was done, the wind still blew, causing the snow to drift.

Andi shivered.

Someone had left this snowman to send a message.

And it had worked. Her blood felt as cold as the figure built on her front porch.

Simmy fixed everyone a simple breakfast of pancakes and fruit. Juniper had loaded them down with food yesterday when she’d sent them back to the cabin for the night.

Despite the good food, everyone was on edge.

Duke had already called Gibson and told him about the snowman. He had also taken pictures. But the person who’d left this sick calling card was clearly long gone at this point.

“So what do we do now?” Juniper had cut up her pancake and poured syrup all over it. But it didn’t look as if she’d taken a bite. “Do we all sit around and wait for this guy to strike tonight? Because I don’t know about you, but that snowman seems like a warning to me. It’s like this guy is telling us he’s going to kill one of us next.”

A pit formed in Duke’s stomach. He’d thought the same thing, though he didn’t want to vocalize it.

“Maybe we should get out of here.” Ranger leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee, his food long gone. “Besides, I told Karen we’d just be gone two nights. I’m anxious to see Anastasia. We can keep investigating, just not from right here.”

“At this point does it matter?” Mariella shrugged. “This guy’s going to strike tomorrow. We can move the investigation wherever we want, but if we don’t figure out something today, then someone will die tomorrow.”

Her words hung in the air. But Duke knew she was right. Right now, they’d be wise to give this case every last ounce of their energy.

Everyone was quiet as they finished eating their breakfast, no doubt lost in their thoughts.

Until Juniper abruptly rose. “I know this seems unimportant considering everything else that’s going on. But I need to feed the reindeer. I can’t leave them to their own devices.”

Duke stood, placing his napkin on the table. “I’ll go with you. I don’t mind.”

“Would it be okay if I came too?” Simmy stole a lingering glance at Juniper as she asked the question.

“I would love that.” Juniper flashed a grateful smile.

They would feed the reindeer.

Then they needed to put their heads together and figure out how to stop this killer—possibly Caleb—before he carried out his loathsome Christmas wishes.