Mountaintop Murder

Chapter 1

At two thousand, one hundred eighty feet, Poke-O-Moonshine was not part of the New York forty-six. In order to be a part of that group of mountains, the peak needs to be higher than four thousand feet. Poke-O was still a decent hike, with many challenging spots, especially for the casual hiker. The ranger trail was just under four miles long, it had several spots where there were natural steps and several scrambles.

Kim and Steven Reynolds had hiked a few trails in Vermont, where they lived. They had heard about the group known as the Adirondack Forty-Sixers and wanted to join. They had never experienced trails as challenging as those would prove to be, so had decided to start smaller.

Kim was thirty-five and relatively new to hiking. Steven had hiked most of his life and had introduced Kim to it when they started to date. She was in decent shape, though she felt that she could lose twenty pounds. Her red hair and pale skin made hiking the perfect outdoor activity as most of the time she was under the tree canopy.

Steven was five years her senior and had been told he had the body of a Greek god most of his life. He never had to work to attain the muscle definition that he started to get as a teen. By fourteen he had a six-pack and had never really done any crunches or sit-ups. He looked very much the part of an outdoorsy man, with long black hair and a beard that went down past his chest.

Their honeymoon was spent on the Long Trail in Vermont, and that was where they had come to the decision to try and join the Forty-Sixers. On the one-month anniversary of their September wedding, they made the hour-long drive from Burlington over to Chesterfield, New York to begin their hike.

They had arrived at the parking area on Route Nine just before seven in the morning and reached the summit shortly after ten. The pair unstrapped their packs, placed them on the ground and looked at the fire tower that stood before them. The tower stood roughly sixty feet above their heads, with five flights of stairs leading up to the entrance.

Without the need to speak their desires, Steven led the way up to the top. He was tired and sweaty from the hike but knew that the view from inside the tower would be well worth the additional climbing. The landing after the fifth flight of stairs formed a sort of balcony with the entrance to the tower at the far end. The aluminum bar and wooden plank construction seemed sturdy enough, but the tower swayed slightly with strong wind gusts. Kim was happy that the air at the summit was relatively calm this day.

As Steven reached the last step, he smelled something that reminded him of days old garbage that had sat in the sun for too long. Having spent a lot of time in the woods, he had come across dead, rotting carcasses quite a few times, and his mind told him that that was what he now smelled. A squirrel or perhaps a raccoon must have climbed into the tower and died.

The enclosure at the top of the tower was made from wood. It was all held together by large bolts and nuts. The windows that were cut into the walls did not contain any glass, so it would be easy for an animal to have gotten in. The couple was so enthralled by the view of the area around them, that they failed to notice the source of the smell until it was too late. As Steven entered the enclosure, he tripped over the body that was lying on the floor.

Kim heard the sound of her husband grunt and hit the floor. She let out a scream when she saw the body that was partially covered by her husband. It had been there long enough that it was difficult to say if it was a woman or a man, what age they were or really anything else.

The sight and the smell were too much for her, so Kim turned and vomited over the railing. Steven clambered to his feet and took a wide path around the body to rejoin his wife. When he reached her, he pulled out his cellphone and was relieved to find that there was a strong signal up here. He said a quick thanks to Verizon Wireless and dialed nine-one-one.

The phone rang only once before the operator picked up. "911, what is your emergency?"