Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

The last few days had been more stressful than Wolfe could have imagined possible. With Julie lost in the blizzard, he'd spent restless nights imagining a wide variety of scenarios. The possibilities of what had happened to her were endless. Convinced she had been injured in the crash, the only saving grace was the fact that someone had taken medical supplies from the aircraft. The amount missing from the manifesto was too great for one person to carry, so whoever rescued her must have had a snowmobile with a trailer or another form of transport to get her away from the crash site. Although he knew that Jenna and Kane were doing everything possible to discover who owned cabins in the immediate area of the crash site, it didn't help with his feeling of total uselessness when it came to looking for his daughter.

It had been Norrell who'd come to his assistance when they'd arrived back at the morgue with the bodies from the crash. Although devastated about Julie's disappearance, she had given him and his girls emotional support. Without asking, she'd taken it upon herself to work with the burn victims, to match their identities to the list of passengers on the aircraft. The pilot had been in situ when they'd discovered his body and part of his uniform was still identifiable. Apart from one man, who'd been thrown from the back section of the aircraft, the others were damaged beyond recognition. Unlike the victims of crime, thawing the crash victims was undertaken at a faster speed. DNA swabs were taken and where possible, impressions of the teeth to check against dental records. All the victims, apart from the pilot were residents of Black Rock Falls and the local dentist had arrived at the morgue to assist Norrell with comparing them with the X-rays of the victims he had on record.

Wolfe had worked alongside Emily with the homicide victims, doing whatever was possible, but as they were frozen solid, they had to thaw in a controlled environment to avoid contamination. He'd contacted Rio earlier in the day to ask him to issue a media report to request that families of any woman between the ages of twenty-five and forty traveling to Black Rock Falls over the last month should contact them to ensure their safety as three women had been found deceased during the blizzard. As none of the women had been identified as Black Rock Falls residents, their only hope was that their families would report them missing once they couldn't be located. He could only imagine, as they were not from the local area and hadn't shown up as missing anywhere in the US, they must be on vacation. Right now, he had general descriptions of each woman.

After examining cells from each of the bodies he determined by the deterioration due to freezing that they must have been frozen within the last four weeks. In fact, around the time of the first snowfall in the mountains. Unfortunately, using frozen cells, deterioration as a time-of-death method was extremely unreliable, and if the area had been constantly below freezing, he could have stretched that time of death to more than a year. He had completely discounted the fact that these women might have been kept in a freezer or similar as the cell deterioration was variable, which meant the temperature went up and down during the time they were exposed to the elements. This result wouldn't occur if they were held at a constant temperature, as in a freezer, for instance.

He assisted Emily laying damp sheets across the bodies of the victims. Frozen bodies tended to dry out as they thawed and needed to be maintained at a constant temperature. As they covered the last of the three bodies, he looked at Emily. "That's all for today. I'm going to check on the weather report so we can find out when we can get back out to the crash site. The moment I get the chance I'm going to fly around the area searching for any cabins on either side of the avalanches. It makes sense to me that whoever rescued Julie took her to one of the cabins. Searching for them from the ground will be difficult at the moment as everything looks the same. From the air we at least have a chance of seeing a spiral of smoke."

"Will you be involving Carter in the search?" Emily had been despondent since her sister had gone missing. "I know Jenna has her mind on the homicides. Since that first day when we all went out searching for Julie, no one apart from Blackhawk has set foot in the forest." She pressed the release on the door and it whooshed open. "Have they given up searching for her?"

Shaking his head, Wolfe followed her through the door. He removed his PPE and tossed the gown into the receptacle and his mask and gloves into the garbage. "The mayor has experienced people working out in the field, Em. Search and rescue and a team of snowmobile riders who know the area. Blackhawk and his friends have been trying to discover trails that are passable and searching for any cabins in the local area. The problem is it's so darn cold no one can stay out for extended periods of time. Until I can get the chopper up to start searching for her myself, my job is to be here for the victims of crime. When the blizzard blows itself out, Carter, I, Styles, and the search-and-rescue helicopter will be out looking for her." He stood hands on hips and stared at her. "Do you honestly believe that I would be here when I could be out searching for my daughter? I know for a fact that Jenna wanted to keep on looking no matter what the cost. Having Julie missing is tearing her apart just like the rest of us." He waved a hand absently toward the window where the snow was a constant flow of white. "Right now, there's nothing we can do. I'm sure someone rescued her from the crash site. All the evidence points in that direction. We must assume she is safe and in a cabin with one of the locals who can't contact us for one reason or another. You know as well as I do that people live off the grid for a reason. They don't communicate with the outside world and live off the land. The simple fact that this person collected all the medical supplies on the aircraft and boxes of canned goods tells me that he made more than one trip. I figure he must be in a one-mile radius of the crash site and right now is hemmed in by the avalanches. We don't know if his communication was knocked out by the storm. Maybe he didn't have time to get the word out."

"I hope you're right." Emily stripped off her PPE and stared at him. "Do you want me to go next door and assist Norrell?"

Wolfe took in Emily's distraught expression and slipped one arm around her shoulder. As an independent young woman, she rarely came to him for a hug anymore, but he needed to let her know he was there for her. "Why don't you give Rio a call and ask him to meet you down at Aunt Betty's for lunch? They usually take a break around this time."

"Did you know that Rio has been promoted to chief deputy?" Emily raised one eyebrow. "I figure it's gone to his head. When I called him yesterday, all we talked about was his future. When I said I'd be staying here to finish my internship at the hospital and then be working with you, his attitude toward me was as if I'd asked him to sell his house and give me his life savings." She leaned into him. "His ambition is to be sheriff one day, which will mean moving to another town. Jenna is never going to retire and I doubt she'll ever lose an election in Black Rock Falls." She stepped away and leaned against the wall looking sheepish.

Raising both eyebrows, Wolfe met her gaze. "If Jenna did retire, Kane would take her place. Rio wouldn't win an election against him." He frowned. "He works so well with the team, I figured he was happy here. What else did he say?"

"That I should consider applying for an internship in another town." She rolled her eyes. "He mentioned a few backwoods towns where they were looking for a new sheriff, and with his credentials, he'd have a good chance of the mayor giving him an interim position. Once he was there, his reelection would be in the bag. I told him I wouldn't leave Black Rock Falls. My hopes and dreams are here working alongside you." She let out a long sigh. "He said he has his family to think about, and in a year or so, if the chance comes up to take over from a retiring sheriff, they'll move to that town. He plans to get himself known to the townsfolk so he'll be elected."

Concerned, Wolfe straightened. "You won't be through your internship by then and his siblings are adults. He doesn't need to provide for them." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Has the spark gone out of your relationship because, as sure as heck, I wouldn't be planning on walking out on Norrell for a darn promotion."

"I don't think he's being cruel." Emily frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "He's a young man who is looking toward a future, I guess."

Staring at her, he didn't see a woman falling to pieces because the man she loved was planning to abandon her. "Do you love him?"

"After seeing how Norrell looks at you, and how she is when you're around, I figure Rio is more of a close friend. I've kept him at a distance for a long time and he is fine with that. I mean, we don't kiss other than a peck on the cheek. He doesn't cheat on me, but I don't think we'll ever have what you and Norrell have or Jenna and Dave. We'll be friends. I'm not sure that's enough. I was more concerned about losing a friend than a potential husband. I have the horrible feeling we've just become habits, as in we're there for each other when we want to go to a dance or out for a meal, but the hot romance thing is missing."

Wolfe took her arm and led her to his office. "I'll tell Webber to watch the shop. We'll head down to Aunt Betty's. Do you want to run this past Norrell or Jenna?"

"Jenna is my closest friend, and although Norrell is wonderful, she is not my mom. I need an outside opinion, but I won't mention Rio might leave some day because maybe he won't." She waited for him to pick up his phone. "I'm wondering if he's saying this to break up in a nice way. I could understand that. It's a long wait until I get my ME license, even though we could marry when I start my internship, I'm not sure I really want to marry him now."

Finding the conversation difficult because, in truth, no one was good enough for his girls, he tried to be as honest as possible. "When it comes to getting married, you don't marry someone out of obligation or because they've become a comfortable habit." He gave her a long look. "You marry them because your heart would break without them and because every second away from them is an eternity."

"Does everyone feel that way?" Emily blinked a few times and swallowed hard. "I'm starting to think he's just a friend." She ran her hands down her arms. "Oh, Dad. What am I going to do?"

Wolfe called Jenna. "Mind if I steal you for half an hour? Aunt Betty's in fifteen minutes? No, not about the case. It's personal. Yeah, Dave can come." He disconnected and looked at her. "Grab your things. They're on their way."