The Mystery Before Christmas

“Has anyone called Cass?” I asked as soon as I was able to gather my thoughts.

“He’s on his way,” someone in the crowd said.

“What happened? Did he fall in?” I asked.

“Don’t know,” the man standing closest to me answered. “He was there just below the surface when we all arrived.”

“I thought this event had been going on for a while now.” Surely, these men hadn’t been standing around gawking at the body under the ice for the past couple of hours.

“Snowmobile races went long. We just got here a few minutes before you did.”

I guess that explained why they’d just called Cass. I knew he’d been in town, so I figured he’d be here in the next ten or fifteen minutes. He made it in eight.

“What do you think happened?” I asked Cass as we waited for the fire department to arrive. The local station had men equipped and trained for ice rescues. I supposed that even though this was a retrieval and not a rescue, they were the best equipped to handle things.

“I have no idea. I dropped Ford off at his home yesterday morning after I’d received word that the DA was going to do some more research before deciding whether to file charges. He told me he planned to stay in this weekend. He said he had some things he needed to go over in his mind. At no point did he mention coming out here to the pond. I really can’t imagine why he was here.”

“Maybe he decided to do some ice fishing,” I suggested. “It would have been nice and quiet out here yesterday. Just the sort of place one might go to get in touch with their emotions.”

Cass looked around. “That could be what occurred, but if he was here to fish and simply fell in, where is his stuff?”

Good question.

“And look what he has on,” Cass continued. “He is wearing a jacket, but not the heavy down sort one would wear if they were going to spend any time out in the elements.”

I supposed that was true.

“If I had to guess, I imagine we are going to find that Ford died elsewhere and was dumped here. I guess the coroner will be able to tell us whether he drowned or not, but before we can know any of that, we need to get him out of the water and down to the morgue.”

I turned around at the sound of sirens. “It sounds like the fire department is here.”

The next couple of hours were filled with the sounds of men shouting as strategies were discussed, and equipment was positioned. I decided to wait in my car. I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave before the retrieval had been completed, but I didn’t want to get in the way. Besides, it was cold. Very, very cold. Watching the action from the toasty interior of my car made the most sense any way you looked at it.

“I guess I’m going to have to take a raincheck on our dinner,” Cass said after he slipped into the passenger seat of my car once the body had been taken away.

“I know. It’s fine. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Maybe. I’ll need to see how this whole thing plays out. Are you volunteering at the Santa House tomorrow?”

I nodded. “In the afternoon, from two until six. I’ll probably come to town early in case Hope needs help with anything else. If you want to find me, I’ll have my phone, so you can call or text.” I looked out toward the pond. “Do you think this was an accident, or do you think someone put Ford in the lake?”

He paused, pursing his lips. “I’m not sure at this point, but my gut is telling me that Ford didn’t simply wander out into the middle of the forest and fall into a frozen pond. His vehicle isn’t anywhere in sight, nor is his fishing gear, as we discussed before. And as we also discussed before, he isn’t dressed for ice fishing. I think we are going to find that we have another murder on our hands.”

“It sounds like you are even more certain that Buford’s death was a murder.”

He nodded. “If it turns out that Ford was killed elsewhere and dumped here as I suspect, then yes, I’m even more certain that Buford was murdered as well.”