Cold

The sun glistened in the snow like bright gems, so brightly that it was often quite blinding.  After four days of substantial snowfall, the sun finally made its way through the dense grey clouds.  It was the first day in months that it was even warm enough to walk outside farther than to the car door.  

Signs of melting snow were beginning to show as a sign of good faith that it was soon to melt into the ground and be replaced with lush, green grass and charming flowers.  I could hear my feet crunching over the snow as I walked through the grounds off the path. After living in the same house for the past 22 years, sticking to the designated path gets to become intensely mundane.  This was probably not the ideal choice to have made considering all of the snowfall that had just taken place but my adventurous nature got the better of me and took me on the unknown path, which normally wouldn’t bother me since my dog would be with me but she hadn’t been feeling well for a couple of days so I left her home. 

As I got a bit deeper into the woods of the grounds, I noticed something interesting poking through what appeared to be a ledge behind the trees. It was a bit far off from the way I was taking back home but something about it kept nagging at me and my gut was telling me to check it out. As I got closer to the ledge, I realized that it wasn’t a ledge at all. It was actually a bunch of tree branches strategically placed so as to create a ledge. What I saw poking out was a sapphire ring but that wasn’t all. That sapphire ring was attached to a hand, or what was left of a hand. Animals had made a quick meal of the semi-decayed hand so it was a surprise that the ring was even still there. I stood there frozen in shock just staring at the limp, dead, boney hand for a moment, trying to imagine who this hand was attached to. And there was something eerily similar about the ring that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Of course, as soon as I got a hold of myself and snapped back to the present, I phoned the local police to come and investigate. The closest town to our area, which is a very small community of about 10 homes that are nowhere near each other, is Sun’s Peak. It’s a tourist town that attracts all kinds of people all year long. While it’s a lovely town, there are a lot of us who prefer to live outside of the chaos in these small communities that surround Sun’s Peak. Each small community is about 15-30 miles away. I would guess this was done so that there was an option as to how much of a drive you were willing to make to get into town. I, personally, since I work from home, chose a house as far away as I could get it. So, it would take the officers 45 minutes or so to get here. Instead of telling them, there was a body buried around a bunch of branches in a random location I wouldn’t be able to specify, I gave them my address so I could meet them and take them to the site. Honestly, after I began looking closer, I realized that I wasn’t all that far from my backyard.

I started making my way towards my backyard, making sure to leave a discernible trail behind me that could easily be followed later, it began to unfold inside my head that they might, no not ‘might,’ WILL consider me a suspect.  

Finally arriving home, the police were already there! I was shocked! It only took me 15 minutes to walk from the site to my house. They should have been, at a minimum, still 15 minutes out. How did they get there so fast? I continued walking up the hill behind my house trying to keep a straight face but I was rather concerned deep down. 

“Hello, Officers. Sorry if I kept you.”

“No, not at all. We only recently arrived. We were taking care of a minor disturbance in the vicinity so we were close already.”

Hearing that they were in the area to take care of something else gave me such a huge sigh of relief that I felt like a balloon being held tightly closed and let loose. I could finally breathe normally again. I’m not really sure why I was so concerned. I guess maybe it’s because I don’t know any of the officers and us up in “the hills” are kind of considered outsiders. 

“I’m Ellie; I’m just arriving home from where I found the body. I figured it would be easier to show you the way,” I directed to them, pointing behind me, much calmer now.

“That will be much appreciated, ma’am,” one of the officers said nodding in my direction with a slight smile.

I turned and they began to follow me. The walk back to the boney dangling hand felt rather arduous compared to the walk away from it. Some of that could have been the officers following behind me but I definitely know a lot of it was this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t tell you what it was; there was just something about all of this that didn’t feel right.

The six feet walking through the meager trail I had scuffled out on my return earlier could still be heard crunching through the snow. The sound seemed to boom in the silence of the snow and the woods. Before I knew it, we were back at the site. I stopped. For some reason I couldn’t move; I felt frozen. 

“Is this it, ma’am?” the officer asked looking at me.

“Ma’am!”

Startled back to the present, “Oh, uh, yeah - yeah, that’s it over there. It’s between the branches. There’s a sapphire ring on the hanging hand where the snow has melted away.” The officers proceeded towards the ‘ledge’ still stepping through my path. I could tell they were finally seeing what I had seen. They were a little too far away for me to hear what they were saying. I thought I could see one of the officers mouthing, “We better get forensics.” I felt eager to know who was attached to the boney hand but at the same time, all I wanted was to go home and curl up with Jewel in bed. This whole experience has been exhausting that I know when I finally do get inside and I sit down, I’ll melt into the furniture. I could feel my feet begin to ache and standing there felt infiniteness. 

“...Ellie…?” I slowly shifted my gaze as his words began to register. 

“I’m sorry. What was that?” I uttered sluggishly.

“Are you all right?” the officer asked contorting his gaze in a concerned manner.

“I’m just extremely tired and sore and this whole thing has been quite the shock.” I divulged, leaving out the part where the ring looked familiar and my ‘gut feeling.’ 

Nodding, he turned and led the way. I labored behind them with my muscles twinging and wincing in pain for the day’s earlier extensive walk. The image of the ring etched in my mind and the notion of having seen it before weighing on me. Where? Who’s was it? Did I know them personally or was it in the news or something? I just couldn’t place it. But I knew. I knew I had seen it. Of this, I was certain.

The blue and red lights on top of the cruiser suddenly caught my attention out of the corner of my eye and came into full view. We had made it to my house already. Apparently, being utterly lost in my thoughts means that time goes faster. Interesting. 

“Do you need me to stay around to assist?” I asked desperately hoping they’d say, ‘no.’ 

“No, ma’am, not at all. We’re familiar with where everything is. Besides, we’re going to have to go back and tape off the crime scene. So, please feel free to go inside your home. If we need anything further from you, we have your information.”

I nodded and didn’t waste any time walking to my front door. As soon as I opened the door, Jewel ran towards me enthusiastically wagging her tail and hopping around. Jewel is a two-year-old German Shepherd who, while very work-focused, is also a huge, energetic, cuddler of a dog. When I didn’t return her excitement, she immediately settled and followed as I headed towards my bedroom as quickly as I could considering my sluggish muscles and aching feet. 

I quickly changed out of my clothes and into a comfortable nightshirt. Not caring about anything else but getting in to bed, I slid a charger into the charger port of my phone, laid it on the dresser, and fell into bed. Jewel jumped in beside me and curled up. 

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz … buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz

I roused to the sound of my phone buzzing on the dresser. Still feeling incredibly tired as though I had only gone to sleep a few hours ago, I groaned. I couldn’t imagine who it could be since I hadn’t told anyone about what I had found aside from the police. They surely couldn’t have anything they’d need from me this soon, or really at all. After all, what would I know about any of this? All I did was stumble upon it - the boney hand. My phone had quit buzzing by the time I had finally moved and got myself out of bed to reach the dresser. I picked it up to see who it had been. It was a missed call but it wasn’t from a number I had programmed or even a number that had ever called before. But there was a voicemail.

“Ellie, this is Officer Grundholt. You escorted me and Officer Heely to the body yesterday. I have news. It turns out the ring the victim was wearing was your aunt’s. However, the body doesn’t appear to be her. The body is still with the coroner so we’ll have more information later. We may need you to come in and answer some questions. Please return my call at 487-998-0621.”

I was dumbfounded. I knew I had seen that ring before! I grew up hearing about my aunt, my mom’s twin sister, and her ring. My aunt had disappeared when she was thirteen and she was wearing that ring. Her father, my grandfather, had given her and my mother each a ring. The rings were made from his mother’s wedding ring after she died. She was too young to wear it on her finger at the time so she wore it around her neck on a chain, as did my mom. No one had worked on the case since my mom was a teenager, nearly 40 years ago. 

Who could be wearing my aunt’s ring? And I suppose an even better question, why is she dead and where is my aunt? There were so many questions running through my head that simply wouldn’t stop. They invaded and pestered my mind. I lost track of time and a few hours had passed. Jewel was laying at my side and roused her head to gaze at me. 

And then the phone rang. 

“Hello?” I uttered.

“Hello, ma’am, this is Officer Grundholt again. I have more news. The coroner has finished her autopsy and it has been discovered that the victim is most likely your aunt’s daughter.” 

“D-d-d-d-Daughter?” I stammered, feeling utterly shocked. My heart sunk into my stomach as I attempted to make sense of this information. And then I realized that no one had told my mother any of this news yet.

“Has anyone reached out to my mother yet?” I asked, hoping that they had because I really wasn’t in any state to give her the news myself. 

“Yes, ma’am, another officer has phoned your mother to let her know what was going on.”

“I’m assuming this is all of the information as of now, yes?” I asked knowing full well that this was just the beginning of what was to come. Somewhere out there was a man who was involved.

“Ellie…” the officer paused. 

He was being more personal now which meant the next words to come from his mouth were most likely going to be even more horrible than what has already come out.

“Ellie, there’s something else. The coroner also estimated the age of… she also estimated age. Ellie, she’s most likely in her 50s, which means that your aunt had to have had her close to the age she was when she was kidnapped.” 

I couldn’t respond. I just lowered the phone from my ear to the bed. It was a fact that I feared in the back of my mind ever since this revelation had been made. She must have been raped and held captive.

“We’re re-opening your sister’s case and investigating. We have our best people on this. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.” Officer Grundholt promised.

Of course, he couldn’t promise anything. I feared this becoming another cold case after they investigate for a few years and come up empty just as they did nearly 40 years ago. I can’t even imagine what my mom is going through right now. I’m glad she has my dad to lean on because, with this being in my backyard, I’m struggling to deal with all of this myself. It’s too close. But then something even more sinister came to mind, this means that there is a man nearby who kidnapped my aunt, impregnated her, and somehow that child, my cousin, ended up dead, dangling from a cocoon of tree limbs. 

There was a knock at the door. I slowly turned my head towards my open bedroom door. Rap, rap, rap - the knocking continued. Jewel was barking now and darted towards the front door. I stood up and slowly followed behind her. I was still so much in my head that I barely felt cognizant of my surroundings. I reached for the door handle, turned the knob, and pulled the door open.  

“Why haven’t you answered your phone?! Why haven’t you called?! my mother shrieked. 

“Mom! I’m sorry. I’m just… I - this is hard enough for me.”

“I know, baby, but I think I finally know what happened. I think I know who kidnapped Kari! All of this brought up old memories or repressed ones, I’m not sure, but I think I know who took her!”

Almost as though I were hearing uneventful information, I meekly uttered, “Who?”

“My mom didn’t think I knew but she was having an affair. This guy was… strange. Even though mom had broken it off, he started coming around and became friends with my dad. He would bring us candies and other small gifts. We were smitten by him, to be honest. He was so charming that I forgot about the affair, at least temporarily. After Kari disappeared, he still came around but he gradually stopped. It was so slow that we barely even noticed.”

It was such a horrifying revelation that I just stood there. I seemed to be doing a lot of that and I wasn’t really sure why. The whole situation was immobilizing. 

“I had completely forgotten him until now.” 

Mom went on to tell me about how she went to the police to tell them about her recalled memories. She wasn’t certain if they even believed her. All I could think about was that boney hand amongst the snow and tree branches. That boney hand belonged to my cousin. Or it did.