They escorted Katey out and went to find Sandi. They started questioning her as soon as everyone was settled in the interview room.
“We don’t think you’ve been honest with us about your relationship with Gemma and Terry,” Lark said.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you weren’t honest about having sex with them.”
“What does that have to do with them being killed?”
“We’re not sure, but it would have been helpful to know,” Lacey interjected.
“OK. I had sex a couple of times with Gemma and Katey, and once with Katey and Terry together. Do you want all the lurid details?”
“That isn’t the point,” Lacey said, maintaining eye contact with her. “We don’t care who you sleep with. We’re trying to piece together enough information to solve these murders.”
“I’m not a lesbian,” she said with defiance.
“But Katey is,” Lark said.
“Yeah, so what’s the big deal? God, you’re as bad as my parents. My dad’s always going on about how being gay is a sin.”
“Who knew about your affairs with Gemma and Terry?” Lark asked, ignoring her outburst.
“I told David about Katey, but that’s it.”
“What did he think about it?”
“He was surprised but OK.”
“Do your parents know about any of this?” Lacey asked.
“Hell, no,” she shouted. “My father would go insane.”
“Do you know anyone who might want to hurt Terry or Gemma because they were gay?”
“First of all, Gemma wasn’t gay. She was just experimenting, sowing a few wild oats, like me. I can’t think of anyone who’d want to hurt them, let alone kill them.”
Their interviews finished, they offered to drive Katey and Sandi back to the student union but the girls declined. They found Joel sitting in the captain’s office, his interview completed.
THURSDAY EVENING
NOVEMBER 30—SWENSON
The sun came out as they left Madison. They spent the first part of their trip discussing the next steps, having exchanged information on their interviews over lunch. Joel’s interview had not yielded anything new. He had blustered throughout lunch about how beautiful Barbara Danner was and how he was sure someone that gorgeous couldn’t possibly be a lesbian. After a firm lecture from Lacey, he got back on track. There was no question that Barbara had seen Katey and Terry at campus lesbian group meetings. She identified their pictures to confirm it. She did not recall seeing Gemma or Sandi at any meetings, although she had seen Sandi and Katey together on campus.
They agreed that the students had alibis that would hold. With a growing sense of futility, they decided to reinterview Sara Waltner and Cathy Lowery and bring their husbands in for questioning. They agreed that they also needed to reinterview Jim Kryjack and the Chevskys. Lark called the station and asked Flo to make appointments for the following morning.
The remainder of the trip was spent rehashing the case. They discussed the two stolen Tauruses, coming to the conclusion that their appearance in Big Oak at the same time as the girls’ deaths had to be more than coincidence. Lark called George and asked him to follow up with the employees at Grezetski’s Market to find out if they had seen any of the suspects around the time the car was noticed in the lot. Joel suggested they interview employees of businesses around Lippert Motors in Wausau to see if they could get any leads. George was asked to assemble pictures of all the people they had interviewed so the state police could use them in their Wausau interviews.
It started snowing with a vengeance once they got to Marshfield. They spent the remainder of their time discussing the weather and watching for the deer and snowmobiles that seemed to be everywhere now that hunting season was over. Most of the bars and restaurants along Highway 13 had more snowmobiles than cars parked in their lots.
They were south of Park Falls when Lark got a radio call at 6:30 P.M. Flo told him that John Ranson had called, asking if anyone had reported his wife’s car in an accident. He was concerned that she had not come home on time. She told Lark they were inundated with accidents due to the road conditions and George had authorized more overtime.
Lark called John. He answered on the first ring, sounding disappointed when it wasn’t Ann. He told Lark that he had come home to find a note from Ann saying that she had to run a few errands. She was supposed to be home by 5:30 with pizza. Lark offered to stop by, but John told him it wasn’t necessary. He asked Lark to be on the lookout for her. Lark called the station, requesting that an alert go out to all Mason County officers.
They made it into Big Oak just before 7:30 and had polished off a dinner of burritos and tacos when Lark’s phone rang. The dispatcher asked him to call John Ranson ASAP. After finding out that none of the officers had seen Ann’s car, he called John.
John was frantic. Lark cut him off when he began muttering about where Ann was and told him he was on his way. Lark and Lacey headed for the Ransons’ while Joel got on the phone to round up staff to canvas Wausau the following morning.
John opened the front door before they even got out of the Jeep. While they took off their winter gear, he gave them an update on his attempts to find Ann. He walked them into the family room where there was a roaring fire.
John had already called friends as well as the various stores they frequented in Big Oak and Park Falls. Ann had stopped by the Martens’ about 4:30 to pick up a box that Melissa had made for them. Melissa assumed that Ann was on her way home. The dogs began howling in the garage.
“They’ve been crazy since I got home,” he said, as he went to let them in. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them.” They snorted and wagged their tails and ran to the front door. After admonishing them to be good, John let them out.
“The deer must be moving.” he said when he got back to the family room.
“Has anyone else seen Ann this afternoon?” Lacey asked.
“No one. It’s not unusual for her to be thirty minutes, maybe even an hour late, when she’s working, but this,” he said, looking at his watch, “this isn’t like her at all. She would have called me. Something’s wrong.”
“I put Ann’s license plate number out right after our first conversation, but no one has reported her car,” Lark said.
The dogs, barking and jumping at the front door, stopped their conversation nearly an hour later. John went to let them in. Lark slouched down in his chair and stared at the fire as he waited for John to return. He was startled back to reality when John yelled his name. Lark rounded the corner to the hallway with Lacey right behind him. They were met with a blast of ice-cold air. John was standing in the doorway, holding a red scarf caked with snow. Snow was blowing into the hallway, leaving traces of white on the tile. One of the dogs barked and pranced about in the snow. When John said nothing, Lark pushed past him and went out on the stoop to call the dog in. He darted away and ran towards the woods.
Lacey reached for the scarf but John held it tightly, staring down at it. “Ann must have dropped this in the driveway,” he mumbled.
“Let me hang that up for you,” she said. He gave it to her just as Lark walked in.
“That damn dog won’t come in,” Lark said, brushing snow off his sweater.
“I’ll get them.” John went back outside and called the dogs.
“There’s only one out here,” Lark said, following him.
“Buck’s got to be close by, they’re always together.” John called the dogs’ names over and over, oblivious to the snow and the cold. Duke ran up to him but pranced out of reach, barking and running towards the woods.
“Something’s not right here,” John said. “Duke acts like he wants me to follow him.”
“That dog isn’t that smart,” Lark said as they walked back to the house.
“Yes, he is.” John went to the utility room and began putting on his boots.
“What are you doing?” Lacey asked, sitting down beside him.<
br />
“I’m going to find Ann,” he said, lacing up his boots. “Duke found her scarf and won’t come in. He knows where she is.”
“Like you said, she probably dropped her scarf in the driveway, that’s how the dogs found it,” Lark said
“No, now that I think about it, Ann couldn’t have dropped her scarf out there. She gets in the car in the garage so there isn’t any reason it would be outside. She has a car phone. She would have called and left a message if she was going to be this late. Something’s wrong. Duke had her scarf and this is how he acts when he wants us to follow him. Buck’s nowhere to be found. I think the dogs know where she is.”
“We’ll go with you,” Lark said with a sense of foreboding. He and Lacey hurried to the foyer to put on their boots. Once they were dressed and armed with flashlights, they headed outside. Duke led them down the driveway, keeping about fifty feet ahead and trotting back to them when they got behind. While he waited for them to catch up, he ate snow and scanned the woods, his nose in the air. Once they got to the woods, he took off through the snow, leaping like a jack rabbit through drifts nearly up to his neck. John and Lacey took off after him but Lark called them back.
“This is the same trail we followed when we found the bodies,” he said.
“I’m going to follow Duke,” John insisted as the dog ran back to them. He reached down to pet him and Duke grabbed the arm of his jacket, pulling him forward. John shook him off. When Duke grabbed his arm again, John commanded him to sit. The dog sat down but continued to fidget, whining and craning his neck towards the woods.
“I agree with John,” Lacey said, watching Duke. “something’s wrong. We need to find out where Buck is.” She cocked her head, listening to what she thought was a faint bark. “Did you hear that?”
“Yep.” John watched Duke squirm. “Go on,” he said, flinging his arm out. Duke ran barking into the woods.
“I’m going back to the house and get the Jeep.” Lark said, grabbing John by the sleeve. “I’ll go with you as soon as I get back. We’ll take the radio and the phone to make sure we maintain contact. Wait for me here. OK?”
When John said nothing, Lark shook him by the shoulders. “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you,” John said, “but I can’t guarantee I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Keep him here,” Lark said to Lacey. He was back with the Jeep in less than ten minutes. He and John set out after Duke, leaving Lacey to wait for the additional officers and the county snowmobiles Lark had requested.
The snow was getting worse, making it slowgoing. It was above their knees in most places and drifted to the top of their thighs in others. Despite all the snow they’d had since finding the two bodies, their original trail was still visible. Lark also noticed fresh dog and deer tracks.
As they moved deeper into the woods, the wind cut down, but Lark was still amazed at the amount of noise it made as it blew through the leafless trees. Duke barked frequently, and as they got closer to the marsh, Lark could hear another dog.
By the time they got halfway across the marsh, John and Lark were winded. They stopped and bent over, hands propped on their thighs, as they sucked in air.
“Damn, I wish we had snowshoes,” John said between breaths. He looked down at the snow that was just above their knees.
“I wish we had a snowmobile,” Lark said, his chest heaving. “Slogging through this snow is harder than running a marathon.” He radioed Lacey for an update. She told him the snowmobiles were due any minute.
As soon as they caught their breath, they trudged across the rest of the marsh. The snow continued to come down in small biting flakes. An owl hooted several times and Lark heard a faint response in the distance. Five minutes after they crossed the marsh, they walked into a grove of trees and Buck ran towards them, covered with snow. The dogs took off together back into the woods. The men picked up their pace, and within a few minutes found the dogs lying by a mound of snow. Buck whined and nuzzled the snow, revealing something red. John and Lark dug snow away to expose a coat. The dogs barked and leaped around them as they dug Ann out of the snowdrift.
She was breathing but her pulse was very slow. Her lips were blue and her skin was as white as the snow she was buried in. As they dug the snow away from her, Lark noticed that the hair on the right side of her head was matted with blood and her right arm and leg were bent at unnatural angles. His mind raced as his hands worked, taking in the fact that she had injuries like the two girls who had been murdered and dumped in the marsh.
Once they had Ann out of the snow, Lark radioed Lacey. Although it seemed like forever, it only took a few minutes for the snowmobiles to arrive.
Watching John rock his comatose wife back and forth, begging her to be all right, was more than Lark could stand. Memories of Maria flashed through his mind. He was unable to do anything more than step out of the way when help arrived. He watched as they put Ann on the portable litter. When they had her ready to go, John rode back with Paul. For once, the Mason County ambulance was free and waiting for them in the Ransons’ driveway, but the medical helicopter was out on another flight. Lark and Lacey stayed behind to secure the scene until the state police got there.
They found a snowmobile trail that led away from the woods in the opposite direction from the Ransons’ house. They followed it out to the road, where it was obliterated by fresh tire tracks. When they got back to where Ann was found, Joel and the state troopers were searching the area. They found footprints and a drag trail leading from the snowmobile trail to the area where Ann had collapsed. Someone had tried to cover them by dragging an evergreen branch over them. The few remaining footprints were good for little more than identification of shoe size.
They tracked Ann’s attempts to get out of the woods, noting where she had fallen at least twice. Tears of anger froze on Lacey’s cheeks as she imagined what the woman had gone through. Joel gave additional instructions to the two state troopers and they headed back to the Ransons’.
It took them forty-five minutes to wend their way back through the snow. Lark, worn out from his walk in, was quiet during their trek. Even Joel said very little. Lacey was having trouble reconciling the horrors that had happened on this property with the incredible peace and beauty that surrounded her. The stillness was broken only by the crunch of their feet and the wind in the trees.
Paul radioed them to put the dogs in the garage, so they weren’t surprised when Buck and Duke greeted them as they came out of the woods. The dogs rode to the house in the back of Lark’s Jeep. Lacey and Joel cleaned them up in the mudroom while Lark called the hospital.
“She’s still unconscious. The helicopter’s grounded for weather. They’re taking her to Marshfield by ground. Let’s go,” Lark said, brushing past them on his way out the door. They put the dogs in the garage and followed him to the Jeep.
They dropped Joel off at his Explorer and, for the second time that day, drove south on Highway 13. They caught up with the ambulance just south of Prentice. The EMTs radioed that Ann was still breathing but unconscious with a very low pulse and blood pressure. As Lark suspected, she had a broken arm and leg as well as a head injury.
Because Lark radioed ahead, wherever possible the police were out so they could get through the small communities without slowing down. Despite the snowstorm and icy roads, they made the ninety-mile trip in less than two hours. The ER staff were waiting for them along with an orthopedic surgeon and a neurosurgeon. A team of people swarmed over Ann, starting additional IVs and whisking her to X-ray. By one in the morning, it was confirmed that she had a broken arm, a very nasty broken leg, and a subdural hematoma in her brain. The neurosurgeon informed them that it looked like her shoulder had deflected the brunt of the hit to her head and probably saved her life.
Ann was admitted to the ICU and the staff made arrangements for them to stay at a nearby Super 8 Motel. They were told that the doctors would talk with them after their 7 A.M. rounds, or sooner if anything chang
ed. When John insisted on staying, the staff informed him that he needed his rest so he could be there for Ann when she woke up. He reluctantly agreed to go to the motel, as long as they promised to call if her condition changed.
When they got to the Super 8, there were only two rooms available. Lark and Lacey agreed to room together. They realized they were once again stuck away from home with no toiletries or a change of clothes. The night manager directed them to a twenty-four-hour Kmart where they were able to buy the sundries they needed. Once they were back at the motel, Lacey showered and put on her newly purchased sweats while Lark called Joel. He looked desolate when she came out of the bathroom.
“No luck tracking the snowmobile. Apparently everyone in Big Oak has their snowmobiles out now.”
“It’s got to be someone around the lake or close by,” she said, sitting down on the bed.
“Who, is the question. Everyone has alibis or no motive.” He headed for the shower.
Ten minutes later, Lark came out of the bathroom, wearing his new sweatpants, to find Lacey propped up in bed reading a book.
“Once again, I’m not sleepy. Is the light going to bother you?”
“Not at all.” He got into bed and rolled on his side away from her.
She spent the next half hour reading. Lark’s rhythmic breathing told her he had fallen asleep. Her eyes began to get heavy, so she turned out the light and went right to sleep. She was awakened two hours later by Lark moaning and thrashing around.
She rolled over and put her arm around him, whispering, “Ssh, you’re having a dream. Go back to sleep.” He calmed down and she nodded off, curled around him.
The next thing she knew, the back of her neck was being kissed and her breasts were being caressed. She was in heaven. She roused up to roll away from Lark, remembering the last time this happened, but he pulled her close.
She rolled over and kissed him and he moaned, “Oh, Maria.”
That brought her up short. She shoved her palms against his chest to get away from him. He opened his eyes and tried to pull her back.
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