Elysium Dreams

Twenty-Five

Gun drawn, I walked through the snow. The whiteness seemed wrong in this place of death. It symbolized innocence and this place was anything but innocent. It had seen butchery, slaughter, and death. In my mind, they were not associated with whiteness.

Around me, I could hear Gabriel and Lucas moving. We had taken different routes, unsure what we would find. Their boots crunched on the snow. The crisp, cold layer on top had not yet started to thaw.

The trees threw long shadows on the ground. The branches grabbed at me, trying to tear at my face and hair, reminding me that I was an interloper, an unwanted guest. I pressed forward.

The woods were silent except our footsteps. No birds, no small mammals, nothing moved. The world seemed to have stopped. We had stepped into a vacuum that defied space and time. It felt as if the world were holding its breath, waiting for us to find the dead doctor.

There was nothing in the clearing. I entered it and lowered my gun. I had expected to find him, alive or dead. I checked the map as Gabriel and Lucas came into view. We all looked around.

Lucas frowned. Gabriel pulled out his own map. Together we compared them. We were in the right spot, but there was no sign of Dr. Henry Ericson. Not even footprints in the snow.

"Fruck!" I crumpled up the map.

"Chill," Gabriel said. "We just guessed wrong."

"That is the problem. We didn't find him," I said. "If he's not here, where is he and what is he doing?"

"I see your point," Gabriel said.

"Is he out killing more?" I asked.

"If he is, he could be anywhere," Lucas said.

Together we hiked back to the car. Gabriel started the engine. I stamped my feet, shaking snow into the floorboard.

"We've got him on a most wanted list, he can't get far," Gabriel said.

"Yeah he can, he has all of northern Alaska to hide in," I countered.

"It would be very hard to search all of Alaska for him," Lucas answered.

I shook my head, "Drop me at the morgue. Xavier will need some help, I am sure."

"You really aren't that much help in an autopsy," Gabriel told me.

"Oh, I know; he likes me there for living company, and he bounces crazy ideas off of me," I told him.

"Is that why he keeps taking you there?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I know just enough about anatomy to be very dangerous," I said.

We arrived at the same time as the coroner's van. They unloaded the bodies of Hilary Ericson and Tucker Rybolt. I waited on them.

"We have another possible victim," Lucas said, rolling down the window to talk to me as I stood in the parking lot.

"Who?" I asked.

"Hilary's sister, Bell. Her husband just reported that Henry called him and threatened her. We're going to go check on it," Lucas said.

"Xavier can wait," I climbed back into the SUV.

We drove to the address. Police squad cars were already there. They were marking off the area. Near one of the cars, there was a state trooper shaking from head to foot.

The house was pretty, painted a light green with white shutters and wide front windows that let in tons of light or filled the yard at night from the inside. The front door had a window in it and showed no signs of being forced open. We entered the living room.