When it was over they stayed in the café kitchen and sat in silence over cups of coffee liberally laced with brandy. Dan was grateful Molly and Todd had left.

Finally he spoke. "You didn't happen to notice if she was…"

Westerby shook his head. "No. No, I'm sure not. I saw a little of that back when I was an MP, but no she didn't look like, I mean, well, I suppose you'd really need a rape kit but I didn't see any bruising that might indicate… damn." He exhaled and took another swallow of his drink.

"You wouldn't happen to have another joint, would you?"

It was the first time Dan had seen Westerby smile and it surprised him. It was a big, hearty, almost goofy grin and he warmed to the man.

"Sorry, Doc, it's in the other kitchen."

They were silent again. Dan didn't object when Westerby poured a little more brandy into the coffee.

"Usually when you think of a slit throat you picture a longer gash."

Dan nodded. "This was short, sharp and probably fast. Tell me about the place you found her."

Westerby eased his shoulders, rolling them as he had done a thousand times before under stress. "Well, the original owners of the lodge used it as a greenhouse. Y'know, all glassed in like they are."

"In the middle of the woods?" Dan didn't hide his skepticism.

The older man chuckled a little. "Well, it did have a small earth cellar, if you get my drift."

"It was a cover." Dan knew exactly what that cellar had been used for.

"Yeah, but strictly for personal use. People in charge turned a blind eye to it; we're all friends up here. Anyway, when they sold the lodge they filled in the cellar, but not very well."

Dan frowned, "And they left the greenhouse above it?"

Westerby shrugged. "Yup."

"What happened?"

The older man shrugged. "What you'd expect. The ground compacted, the foundation sagged, it all fell in," he shrugged again. "No one's ever really cleaned up the mess. It's been an ongoing project for the past few years trying to get all the glass out of there. It'll probably go on for a few more."

"No wonder Jackson's so cut up. She fell into the cellar and he must have been trying to get her out of there."

"The cellar's nothing more than a deep ditch now. My guess is he found her and jumped into it. But without knowing about the glass and the ground around is slick from all the rain he probably lost his footing and fell a lot."

Dan nodded, the scene playing out in his mind. "She was angry after the argument. Probably stomping her way around the forest not paying attention and just, well, went in. Then when she tried to get up she slipped, fell and hit a shard of glass just right…" He stopped as Westerby looked at him like he knew he was grasping at non-existent straws. "What?" he asked.

"It doesn't explain the bruises on her face and shoulders. Or the fact you asked if she'd been raped."

Dan rubbed his chin and cheeks. "Who else is on the mountain?"

"No one. That I know of."

Possibilities ran through Dan's mind. "There's got to be someone. Skiers?"

"No snow."

"Hunters?"

Westerby shook his head. "Off season. There's never hunters up here at the same time as skiers. Keeps everyone alive… well, you know."

"Is there another lodge nearby? Is anyone staying at it?"

"No other lodge, no one staying. And the weather's too miserable for camping."

Dan didn't want to look at him. He looked to the left and started to look right but that meant his eyes would have to pass over the door hiding the mutilated body of Mara.

Westerby's next words made him look at him. "Doc, someone killed her."

"Not Jackson." Dan's eyes never left Westerby's and Westerby never looked away.

"I didn't say that." He answered.

It put them on equal footing: Two men trying to find out what had happened to a young woman in the woods.

"But who?" Dan objected. "You say no one is around, no skiers, no hunters, no other lodge or lodgers. No one is here."

This time Westerby poured him brandy straight up, and one for himself. "But there are people here. You eight – well, seven now – and that brings up the question, which one of you wanted to see her dead?"