Iced!

This was the first time Rachel had experienced a real blizzard. For the first time in decades, her town was experiencing an unnatural cold spell. The local news was calling it the snowstorm of the century. The power had gone out all over the city. Rachel and Olivia were huddled together in a blanket. They were trying to warm cups of tea with lighters, to no avail. They were wearing coats and many layers of warm clothing. They were too cold to do anything, not that there was much to do but play cards by candlelight.

Several weeks later, when the snow had thawed and the flooding had gone down, Rachel got a call. It was from Captain Andrews, notifying her that a body had been found at Lake Graves. The coroner was not able to tell how long the person had been dead, but he guessed that it was multiple weeks. The body was identified by his ID that had been found in his soggy wallet.

“So what do you think?” Captain Andrews asked.

“On the surface, it seems innocent. He just fell through the ice during the blizzard, but….” she trailed off. He raised his eyebrows at her, expecting her to go on.

“But, I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“You never do,” he jokingly interjected.

She rolled her eyes and went on, “The ice would have been very thick, given how cold it was a few weeks ago, plus there would have been some thick snow over it. Not to mention, no one was going out. You guys were shut down for a few weeks and crime didn’t even go up. It was too cold for the criminals.”

“You bring up some good points, but if he didn’t fall through the ice, when did he die? We’ve established that he died before the ice thawed.”

“I think there are two possible solutions. One, he died before the blizzard and ended up in the lake before the freeze, whether he just fell in and drowned, or was murdered and thrown in. Or two, he died during the blizzard and his body was moved to the lake after the freeze.”

Captain Andrews nodded. “I think we have a good starting point. Alright everyone!” he called, motioning for his subordinates to come over. “Ok. We have three possible solutions: one, he just fell in before the blizzard and drowned, two, he was murdered before the blizzard and thrown in then, or he was murdered during the blizzard and thrown in more recently.”

The coroner spoke up, “I think you can rule out option three, captain. He’s too well preserved.”

There were a few snickers throughout the group of officers.

“Well then. We have two options,” Captain Andrews said, slightly amused by the coroner’s bluntness, “Now let’s go back to the station and get working!”

They made their way back to the station, divvying up the work. One group of officers was to pursue the first possible explanation, another was to pursue the second, and another larger group was to do any other things that came up during the course of the investigation. Rachel was to consult with both groups, playing devil’s advocate and helping them to reach the conclusion.

After they got back to the station, she stopped the coroner as he was about to go down to the morgue. “Ted, are you sure that we can totally rule out option three?” she asked.

Ted’s raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. I said he was too well preserved to be killed during the blizzard.”

“But are you sure? He could have been easily preserved. It was cold everywhere.”

Ted’s face darkened for a moment and he sighed. “Rachel,” he said, adopting a smug look, “how many years of college did you attend?”

“Four, just like most people.” She couldn’t see where he was going with this.

“And how many years of medical school?”

“None,” she said, annoyed. She saw it now. He was going to try to make her feel stupid for suggesting it.

“Ah,” he said, his face becoming even more smug, “So you don’t have a medical license?”

“No,” she said quickly, trying to suppress the anger that was bubbling up inside her.

His face changed to a patronizing look of mock surprise. “Really? I would’ve thought that you were at least pre-med, challenging me that way. It seems pretty clear to me that you don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.” He paused to watch her face turn red. “I, however,” he boasted, “have spent half of your life studying to get where I am. And you? Did you even major in one of the sciences?”

“No,” she said hotly.

“And just what did you major in?”

“Liberal arts,” she said, pained.

He snorted in the most infuriating way possible. “Ha! Liberal arts! You’re less qualified for your job than I thought! I thought you would have at least had some qualifications. You’re just some girl the captain picked up at a crime scene.”

“And yet, I’ve solved so many crimes,” she said through gritted teeth.

He snorted again. “Still I think it’s clear. I know what I’m talking about on this one. Good day,” he smiled obnoxiously, entering the elevator.

“UGH!” Rachel exclaimed as soon as the elevator had gone down.

Lieutenant Smith came over to her. “Don’t pay any attention to Ted. He’s just a jerk. Even Jay hates him, but he does the job.”

Rachel gave him a slight smile and they started for the main homicide block.

“You heard?” she asked.

“Most of it. Seriously though, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You’re a smart one, even if you aren’t good at making decisions,” he joked.

She gave him a playful punch in the arm.

“Careful,” he laughed, “or I’ll charge you with assaulting an officer.”

She smiled. He shuddered. She gave him a quizzical look.

“I was just thinking of his gross little fingers performing an autopsy on me. You know that would’ve happened to me if it hadn’t been for you. If it hadn’t been for you and Jay putting your heads together, we still wouldn’t know who was trying to kill me, and they might have tried again and succeeded,” he gave her a serious look and then went on, “Still, I suppose we should cut Ted a little slack. When your only company is dead people, you’re gonna lack some people skills.”

“There you guys are,” Sergeant Grayson said, pulling them through the door, “the captain’s been asking for you.”

They walked into Captain Andrews’ office where they were greeted with, “Option one is out, he was definitely murdered.”

“Huh?” Lieutenant Smith asked, caught off guard.

“He was murdered. Whacked. Bumped off. Iced,” the captain listed, not looking up from his file folder.

“Iced?” the lieutenant repeated. He was the only one who saw the statement as humorous.