Dreaming of White ✔ [Completed]

Chapter 5 - Swept Off Her Feet

Riddhima watched as Vansh shoved a probing finger into the frozen dead man's chest, finding herself ridiculously relieved when the action only resulted in a hollow tapping sound. Somehow she had expected the human ice sculpture to tip over and fall to the ground, shattering into a million pieces.

She knew it was absurd.

She also knew the odds of anything absurd happening were increased by at least twenty percent when you had to factor the "Vansh co-efficient" in.

Both mathematics and experience supported this theory.

So, just to be on the safe side, she stepped closer and caught his wrist before he could prod and poke the frozen corpse again. Once Vansh started to lower his arm, she let go of him. When the arm prepared for another upward movement, she shot him a stern look. The arm dropped to his side, the fabric of his jacket producing a muffled deflating noise of defeat.

"Wrong frozen dead man has a badge on his chest", Vansh remarked in a clearly bored tone, signalling his disappointment at being prevented from adding a little more drama to his discovery.

"So that explains where the deputy is", Riddhima said, turning around and scanning the area, trying to see beyond the trees and the snow and the yellow police tape, wondering if the person responsible for this was still out there. She felt the urge to reach for her gun, but tried to ignore it for now.

"Hmm", Vansh said, tilting his head a little and leaning forward, obviously trying to see through the reflections of the ice and catch a better glimpse of the man's face. Riddhima turned her back on Vansh, keeping her eyes on the area around them, letting her right hand edge closer to her gun.

"You think he is still out there?"

"Probably", Vansh agreed, circling the corpse again. When Riddhima cast a glance at him, he was craning his neck to check out the watch on the man's wrist, then he moved behind him, looking over the frozen deputy's shoulder into the ravine.

"This is exactly where the first victim was placed", he said.

"Why? And what happened to the first victim?", Riddhima asked, turning her attention back to the edge of the forest. For a second she thought she'd seen something move. But now there was only white, black and grey. Maybe the lack of sleep was finally catching up with her. Vansh appeared next to her with a shrug.

"Well, to answer your first question: I don't know. But…"

He took two strides to the side, then crouched down and beckoned for Riddhima to follow him. She did so reluctantly, casting one sweeping glance in every direction before kneeling down next to him. He pointed to a chunk of ice, almost invisible on the snow-covered ground.

"Turn it around", Vansh said. When Riddhima looked at him in annoyed confusion he raised his hands and wriggled his fingers.

"No glove. No shove."

Rolling her eyes at him, she carefully turned the block of ice over. It was heavy, about ten inches thick and more than twice as long. One end of it was smooth and round, but the other end was a mess, spiky and splintered, clearly indicating that this had once been a piece of a larger structure. Her eyes wandered along its surface and she frowned. Now it was gone, but there had been something enclosed in the ice before. Something round and…

She shuddered as her eyes caught hold of what were evidently the outlines of a clenched fist.

"… our first victim seems to be in pieces", Vansh said.

Riddhima's stomach lurched. She got up with an exasperated sigh.

"This is crazy. Insane. Why would anyone do that?"