could be caught quickly. Many serial killers had reigned for more than a decade before being caught.
Some never were.
âDo we have anything else? Anything more from the forensic crews?â Thor asked.
âStill not a damned thing,â Mike said. âDoc Andropov has taken the bodyâsays because of the snow, heâll try to run some tests and pin down time of death. He says that from the data he has so far, she was most likely killed early this morning, murdered and bisected elsewhere. Said itâs hard to be certain because the body was packed in snow, but Amelia Carson was with the film crew last night until about eight. I just got off the walkie-talkieâtalked to Detective Brennan, head on the case via the state policeâBill Meyer patched me in from the Coast Guard cutter. This is the info I have from him. They were all staying at the Nordic Lights Hotel on the waterfront in Seward,â he said, pausing to look at Thor and reminding him, âWhere we arrived at the investigation into Natalie Fontaineâs murder this morning.â
Thor nodded. âYes, we knew that they all had rooms at the hotelâand, of course, that other than Misty and Miss Fontaineâs remains, none of them were in their rooms. Thanks to Misty, we knew what weâd find at the Mansion as well, and that a shipâs show cast were out here, too. Thatâs why we came to the island as quickly as possible.â
âI spoke with Brennan this morning, too,â Jackson said. âDirector Enfield put us together. Heâs the man who made arrangements to get me out here as quickly as possible. Seems like a really good copâsolid and quick. Enfield likes him.â
âHe is a good cop. Weâve worked with him before,â Thor said.
âAnyway,â Mike continued, âDetective Brennan has been interviewing everyone he can find at the hotel. Thereâs a desk clerk who was on the night shift, Arnold Haskell, who says that he saw Amelia Carson up and heading out before it was really light.â
âSunrise was just about 5:00 a.m.,â Jackson said.
Thor murmured, âThat would have meant that morning twilight began at about 3:00 or 3:30 a.m.â In Alaska, summer days were long. Because of Alaskaâs position near the North Pole, it was really only truly dark from about midnight until three or three thirty at this time of year. Some people couldnât stand the continuous light in summer and the equally continuous darkness in winter. It didnât bother Thor at all, but he knew that visitors often found themselves wide-awake far too much of the day.
âDid she leave the hotel?â he asked.
âHe wasnât sure. She stopped to demand to know why there was no coffee in the lobby yetâhe told her that coffee didnât go out in the lobby until six thirty and that there were little pots in the room. She was not nice to him.â He hesitated, looking at Jackson and Thor and grimacing. âApparently, after speaking with other employees at the hotel, Detective Brennan came to the conclusion that while Natalie Fontaine was all rightânot someone you gush over, but all rightâAmelia Carson was not liked by many people. She was all smiles in front of a camera, and self-centered and entitled off camera. Brennan told me that a maid at the hotel said Amelia treated her as if she was little better than a cockroach.â
âAre there cockroaches in Alaska?â Jackson wondered aloud.
âThere are cockroaches everywhere,â Mike assured him.
âIn every way,â Thor murmured. âSo what did Haskell say? She did or she didnât go out?â
âHaskell didnât knowâshe bitched at him and he did his best to be polite and explain hotel policy and she walked off. He didnât wait to see if she went up the elevator or out the doorâhe had paperwork and he went back to it. He did say that she had been on