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“We’ll have to wait for the coroner, Mister Thorn. You can wait in the house and I’ll wait in the truck. You allow hunting on your property?”

“If guys are hunting back in the bush far away from the house, it don’t bother me. My ranch abuts public land and the hunters wander over the property line sometimes.”

“We’ll talk again when Doctor Olson gets here. Go get warmed up. I appreciate you calling me right away.”

“No problem, Sheriff.”

I went back to the truck and thought about the frozen body and the way Thorn had acted. The body had been placed there so Robert Thorn could act like he found it, but why call it in? Why not leave it in the bush to be discovered in the spring? A lot of questions.

I’d been sitting in the squad with Tammy for about ten minutes when Billy parked behind us and jumped into the back seat.

“Where’s the body?”

“Behind the house—what’s left of it. Waiting on Doc to get here and take a look.”

“You get the rancher’s statement?” asked Billy.

“Yeah. He claims an animal, probably a bear, unearthed the dead hunter and dragged him from the bush at the back of his ranch all the way to the house.”

“Let me go look for drag marks,” said Billy. “You stay put and wait for Doctor Olson.”

“The guy has his rifle still slung over his shoulder. Don’t seem possible to me, but it would leave marks.”

Billy raised an eyebrow. “That sounds weird.” He jumped out on the run and he was gone. He had a lot more energy than I did.

I lit up a smoke and offered one to Tammy. She was a little young to smoke but considering who had raised her, I wasn’t a bit surprised when she took one. She was probably well acquainted with weed too.

Doctor Olson’s van pulled in a few minutes later and I left the truck to show him where the body was.

“Sorry to drag you out on such a cold day, Doc.”

“I’m dressed for it, Travis. You get used to it.”

I never will.

We rounded the ranch house together and he stopped and stared at the body in front of him. “That’s a frozen mess.”

“Yes, it is. He has ID and he’s obviously been dead for a while. I’m wondering if he’s been reported missing.”

Doctor Olson knelt down next to the corpse and shook his head. “I can’t tell how long he’s been dead because he’s frozen solid, but it’s been more than a couple of days. We’ll get him bagged and put it in the van. I’ll have to thaw him out before I do the preliminary exam.”

“I’ll give you a hand to load him.”

“How did you hurt your arm, Travis?”

“Sliced wrist to elbow in a knife fight.” I laughed. “Guess I lost.”

“This county has gone downhill in the past couple of years. We never had crime like this when your uncle was sheriff.”

“Maybe I attract it.”

“No, it’s not that. It just wasn’t present like it is now. I can’t explain it, but I don’t like it.”

Mister Thorn popped out of the house to watch us bag the body and put it in the van. I told him I might have more questions for him after the doctor did his examination of the body and he seemed cooperative.

Something was off but I was only going by my gut. I’d get to the bottom of it and have another run at Mister Thorn.

Billy came running back from the bush and I noticed he wasn’t saying anything in front of the rancher. When we jumped into the truck, he said, “No drag marks from here to the bush.”