Winter Kill

  A Lake Superior Mystery

  by

  Trevor Scott

  Calabria Publishing

  United States of America

  Also by Trevor Scott

  Jake Adams International Espionage Thriller Series

  Fatal Network (#1)

  Extreme Faction (#2)

  The Dolomite Solution (#3)

  Vital Force (#4)

  Rise of the Order (#5)

  The Cold Edge (#6)

  Without Options (#7)

  The Stone of Archimedes (#8)

  Lethal Force (#9)

  Rising Tiger (#10)

  Counter Caliphate (#11)

  Gates of Dawn (#12)

  Counter Terror (#13)

  Covert Network (#14)

  Shadow Warrior (#15)

  Sedition (#16)

  Choke Points (#17)

  Deadly Cabal (#18)

  Cold Enemies (#19)

  Terminal Force (#20)

  Lake Superior Mystery Series

  The Fall

  Winter Kill

  Max & Robin Kane Mystery Series

  Truth or Justice (#1)

  Stolen Honor (#2)

  Relative Impact (#3)

  Without Virtue (#4)

  Sweet Home Betrayal (#5)

  Powder Keg (#6)

  No Retreat (#7)

  Deadly Crossing (#8)

  Abusive Power (#9)

  Dystopian Novel

  Liberty Lost

  Karl Adams Espionage Thriller Series

  The Man from Murmansk (#1)

  Siberian Protocol (#2)

  The Spy Within (#3)

  Double Impact (#4)

  Ratchet Up (#5)

  Into the Darkness (#6)

  Endless Resolve #7

  Supreme Power #8

  Tony Caruso Mystery Series

  Boom Town (#1)

  Burst of Sound (#2)

  Running Game (#3)

  Chad Hunter Espionage Thriller Series

  Hypershot (#1)

  Global Shot (#2)

  Cyber Shot (#3)

  Keenan Fitzpatrick Mystery Series

  Isolated (#1)

  Burning Down the House (#2)

  Witness to Murder (#3)

  Mysteries, Thrillers & Fiction

  Vegas Murder Mystery

  Fusion Target

  The Perfect Murder

  Fantastic Encounter

  Edge of Delirium

  Strong Conviction

  Fractured State (A Novella)

  The Nature of Man

  Discernment

  Way of the Sword

  Drifting Back

  The Dawn of Midnight

  The Hobgoblin of the Redwoods

  Duluthians: A Collection of Short Stories

  Non Fiction

  West Pac: A Young Sailor’s Journey

  Author’s Note:

  My Lake Superior Mystery Series is set in a small community on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Although there is no Bay City, I have used a few cities along the shore as the basis for my fictional town. I do mention a number of real places, but these are sometimes placed in positions that are not real. I have lived in three communities along Lake Superior in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. I will always cherish my time on the lake, as well as the hearty people who call it their home. Thank you for indulging my fictional world.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and not intended to represent real people or places. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.

  WINTER KILL

  Copyright © 2024 by Trevor Scott

  Calabria Publishing

  United States of America

  Contents

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  Trevor Scott Bio

  “A damned good writer.”—David Hagberg, New York Times bestselling author.

  “I enjoyed it very much. . .akin to Ludlum and Higgins. . .your background and writing skill should make this one a slam dunk. . .”—Dale Brown, New York Times bestselling author

  “Non-stop action and intrigue from the first page! Get this book and enjoy the thrill ride!”—Scott McEwen, #1 New York Times Bestselling Co-Author of American Sniper on Cyber Shot

  “A riveting thriller all the way through.”—Midwest Book Review on The Cold Edge

  “Watch out Jason Bourne, you had met your match with Jake Adams!”—Suspense Magazine

  “Not as technical and certainly shorter than Tom Clancy’s books but can be read in lieu of them.”—Library Journal

  “Trevor Scott never fails to please.”—Midwest Book Review

  “Vital Force is the riveting novel of rapidly paced, non-stop, action adventure. The stuff of which block-buster movies are made, Vital Force is very highly recommended reading for those who enjoy a well-crafted spy-thriller story.”—Midwest Book Review

  “Author Trevor Scott takes us on a thrill ride full of spycraft, geo-political espionage, advanced weaponry, treason, and a man’s fine appreciation for the female body, even when its owner is a stone killer.”—Jules Brenner, Mystery Scene Magazine

  “Previous titles have fit the Tom Clancy techno mold, but this topical tale of DNA research and a possible cure for heart disease falls more in the James Bond tradition of fancy cars and fast women.”—Publishers Weekly on The Dolomite Solution

  “Scott has the high-tech jargon down pat...he takes readers around the world for a thrill-packed adventure. Technothriller fans looking for an alternative to Clancy will find Scott a somewhat smaller-scale but perhaps even more authentic alternative.”—Booklist on Extreme Faction

  “The formidable protagonist zooms through densely detailed, entertaining...international adventures.”—Publishers Weekly on Extreme Faction

  “While the story is almost too close to reality…kudos to Scott for a job well done and expectations of more to come.”—AudioFile

  “Trevor Scott’s action-packed post-Cold War spy thriller is certainly that—a thriller. Extreme Faction takes the reader around the world, into different cultures, lifestyles and ideals with flawless ease. I’d recommend this adventure highly.”—Duluth News-Tribune

  “Extreme Faction is fast-paced, realistic, and more than a bit frightening.”—Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon

  “Fatal Network is a masterfully written, splendidly executed, superb thriller.”—Midwest Book Review

  “A real gut-buster of a thriller.”—Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon on Fatal Network

  “Unique twists and turns...a deadly cat and mouse game.”—Duluth News-Tribune on Fatal Network

  1

  The snow came early to the North Shore of Minnesota this year. At least that’s what the locals told Interim Police Chief Vic Gorski.

  Vic stood now on the frozen shore of Lake Superior watching waves lap against piles of ice that had come ashore over the past twenty-four hours. For the first time since coming to Bay City in October, Vic was starting to see the stark reality of this place. He could only image what that would look like if Lake Superior was completely frozen over, which he was told didn’t happen that often.

  Part of him had tried his best to replace himself with a permanent Chief of Police, after the murder of the last Chief. Perhaps a shrink, if he believed in them, would say he had torpedoed every candidate that had applied for the position. But none of those who had applied seemed right to Vic. They all wanted the position more than the position wanted them.

  He watched now as his young officer, Liv Romano, stepped carefully on the ice below, making her way to what was obviously a dead body. A long-haul trucker, sitting high enough in his cab to see the body this morning, had called it in to 911 dispatch, and they had called the Bay City Police Department.

  “What does it look like to you?” Vic asked Romano.

  She glanced up the embankment at her boss and said, “Like a bumsickle they find in Duluth every winter on First Street.”

  He wasn’t sure what she meant by that, so he simply nodded. “Back out the same way you came,” he said to her.

  Instead of turning and moving out, she took his words literally, backing up to the embankment before turning and climbing back up the small hill toward Highway 61.

  Vic reached his hand out and pulled Romano up the last few feet.

  “Male or female?” he asked.

  “Male,” she said. “But I couldn’t see his face.”

  “How do we proceed?” he asked, testing her.

  Romano glanced back at the man on the ice. “If we don’t get him out of there soon, he’ll be stuck there until Spring and we’ll need a chainsaw to get him out.”

  “How long do you suspect he’s been there?” Vic asked.

  “Not long.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “If I had to guess, and I know you hate when I guess, I’d say the heavy waves threw him ashore last night. If you see the bank over by the body, it’s all iced up from the waves last night. I’d say he washed ashore and the waves kept flowing over him, covering him in a sheet of ice.”

  “Okay,” Vic said. “What now?”

  She glanced down Highway 61 to the north and said, “If he had come ashore a half a mile down the road, this would be a problem for the Arrowhead County Sheriff’s Department.”

  “But it’s not,” he reminded her. “How do we get him out without damaging evidence?”

  Romano gave him a critical stare and said, “You think this is a murder?”

  “We don’t know,” he said. “We have to assume that’s possible.”

  Things had been quiet in Bay City since the murder of the old Chief and the capture of his two killers in October. Now it was the second week in December, and there was another body.

  “Right, Boss,” she finally agreed. “We’ve got some equipment at the city garage. I can go get it.”

  The two of them had driven to the scene separately. Romano had the black four-wheel-drive department SUV, and Vic had driven his own white Ford F-150, which still had his Texas license plates on it.

  “Should I get Paul to come out also?” she asked.

  “Is he the only one on?”

  “Kent is still on nights.”

  “Still trying to avoid his newborn baby?”

  “Apparently.”

  “I’ll need Paul to do something else,” Vic said. “I thought Bob was still on the job.”

  She shook her head. “He’s using up some vacation. I heard he took Mary on a cruise to the Caribbean for Christmas. You know he’s done at the end of December.”

  Vic knew this. Bob had been done ever since Vic had met the man in October. But that happened with short timers.

  “Go ahead,” Vic said. “I’ll get the local volunteer firemen to bring their ambulance for transport. Don’t they have extraction gear?”

  She let out a heavy breath. “Yes, of course. I’ll get them over here.”

  While she moved aside and made her call, Vic got on his phone to Paul Beck, one of three full-time officers he still had on the job.

  “Yeah, Boss,” Paul said. “Is it a body?”

  “Afraid so,” Vic said.

  Paul spoke to someone else in the room and Vic guessed it was Jane. “I win. You owe me five bucks.”

  “Focus, Paul.”

  “Yes, sir,” Paul said. “What do you need?”

  “Check for any missing persons reported,” Vic said.

  “Do you have an age or description?” Paul asked.

  “Not until we chisel him out of the ice. Just send out a search.”

  “Should I include Wisconsin and Michigan?” Paul asked.

  “And Ontario.”

  “Good idea,” Paul said. “Lake Superior is cold. It can preserve bodies for a long time. Just ask old Grandpa in the wreck of the SS Kamloops off the coast of Isle Royale.”

  “I’ve heard the song about Lake Superior never giving up her dead,” Vic said. “Is that what you mean?”

  “Yes, sir. Divers say the fully preserved body of the sailor who went down with that ship in December of Nineteen Twenty-Seven still floats around down there. White as a ghost. Some call him Whitey, but I’m sure that’s racist now.”

  Vic glanced down the bank at the man again and thought the guy might be wearing an old wool coat. Could this have been an old-timer who died in a shipwreck years ago? Nothing was impossible, Vic guessed.

  “All right, Paul,” Vic said. “Get on it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  They both hung up and Romano wandered back, putting her phone in her front pocket as she approached.

  “They’re on the way,” Romano said. “What now?”

  “What’s the temp expected to get to today?” he asked.

  “Low twenties,” she said. “Why?”

  He glanced at Lake Superior again and saw steam rise up from the water where the warmer lake tangled with the cooler air. Yeah, there was a certain beauty to this place. Besides the dead body, of course.

  “Now we wait,” Vic said.

  But instead of waiting, he first called the local doctor at the clinic, who was officially the County Coroner, but would probably be useless in any murder investigation, assuming that was what they had here. Still, they would need someplace to put the man’s dead body until he could get a team from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to Bay City. But he didn’t want to jump the gun and call in the BCA until he knew this wasn’t just some slip and fall and freeze to death situation.

  Once the local fire department crews got there with their ambulance and one of their engines, Vic decided to give directions and let Romano learn from him. Vic went down to the scene himself and made sure they protected any possible evidence. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much there, other than the body.

  Surprisingly, the body wasn’t as firmly stuck in the ice as either of them had thought. Using an ax and what looked like a long chisel, they had the body loosened from the surface of ice within a few minutes.

  Based on a quick observation and photos taken by Romano with both a cell phone and a professional digital camera, Vic noticed that the body was laying on a sheet of ice. He was sure someone would be able to determine, based on the weather in the past few days and the movement of Lake Superior in the last day, how much ice had accumulated in that period, both on the dead man and under him.

  Before placing the dead man in the body bag, Vic had them turn the man over. What he saw now was shocking, to say the least. He knew this man. Well, he had come across the man months ago during Vic’s first few weeks in Bay City.

  “What’s up, Boss?” Romano asked.

  “Do you know him?” Vic asked.

  She looked at the man as the firemen zipped up the body in the bag. “I think I’ve seen him around town,” she said. “But he’s not a local. Maybe a tourist. You know him?”

  “I’ve met him,” Vic said. That’s all he wanted to tell her for now.

  After the firemen left with the body, Vic lingered back to make sure he wasn’t missing something. He stooped down and viewed the man’s final resting place. No, there was nothing else here unless it was at the microscopic level, and there would be no way to protect that from the surging power of Lake Superior. The wind was starting to pick up, and the waves were getting ready to take over the scene.

  “We need to back up,” Romano said. “The lake is getting ugly again.”

  They wandered back up to their vehicles and Vic stopped by the front of his truck, watching the firemen load the body into the back of the ambulance.

  He turned to Romano and asked, “What are your thoughts?”

  She shook her head. “Are we sure the clinic has a place for the body?”

  “The doc said they can hold a couple of bodies,” Vic said.

  “Will he thaw out there?”

  “Morgues are required to be at thirty-six to forty degrees Fahrenheit,” Vic instructed.

  “Like my refrigerator,” she concluded.

  “That’s right. It preserves the body, but in this case will also thaw it somewhat.”

  “And the body bag should hold the evidence,” she said.

  “Correct.”

  As they watched the ambulance and fire truck pull away, Vic thought about the dead man.

  “All right, Romano,” Vic said. “Let’s drop off your rig and take my truck.”

  She looked confused. “Where are we going?”

  “To the Bed and Breakfast,” he said.

  2

  They got to the only Bed and Breakfast in Bay City and knocked on the front door. Vic hadn’t been back to the place since he stayed there when he first arrived in town last October.

  A surprised Cindy Johnson came to the door still wearing her long robe, which showed off way too much cleavage. Vic guessed she wasn’t wearing a bra yet.

  “Mister Victor Gorski,” Cindy said. “Long time no see. What can I do for the new Chief of Police.”

  “Interim Chief,” Vic corrected. “May we come in?”

  Cindy waived the two of them into the foyer area, where both Romano and Vic stamped off their boots on the large rug.

  He wasn’t exactly sure how to start this conversation, but he decided the best way was always abrupt and straight forward.

 

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