Chris stepped forward, holding out a hand. “Phil, right?”

The ranger shook his hand and squinted at Chris. “Yeah, you own the place up on Road 359, right?”

His brother nodded. “Right. You helped me out with some permits.”

“Glad to see you’re not snowed in,” Phil said. “Frisco is out making rounds to check on people in the area.”

Chris and Gianna exchanged a look.

Phil picked up on the tension. “What happened?”

“Frisco came out to my place this morning,” said Chris. “He’d already been to the Abell cabin where Gianna and Violet were renting.” He gestured at the two women. “The Abell cabin burned down the night before last. These two were lucky to get out. I smelled the smoke and went over there and brought them back to my place. When Frisco and Gianna went back to the Abell place this morning, someone shot at them.”

“What?” Phil’s thick brows shot halfway up his forehead.

“Frisco was killed.”

Phil stared for a long moment at Chris, and then looked to Michael, who nodded. “You’re saying Frisco Green was murdered this morning,” he said slowly. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No,” said Gianna. “I was on the porch with him when he was shot. I managed to get out of there with his snowmobile.”

Phil tilted his head to one side, considering her. “Maybe he wasn’t dead. Did you check? Maybe—”

“I’m a medical examiner,” Gianna cut in, her voice cracking. “His head injury was lethal. He died instantly.” She sniffed and wiped her nose with her glove. Violet stepped closer to her mom, their shoulders touching.

“I need to make a call,” Phil said slowly, his gaze moving between the adults as if hoping one of them would say they were kidding. He started to take a step back to the hallway.

“That’s not all,” said Chris. “Someone was murdered inside the Abell cabin. Or murdered and his body left in the cabin.”

Phil froze, his wide eyes blinking slowly, reminding Michael of an owl. With a small turn of his head, he yelled down the hall. “Jason?” His gaze stayed on the group. “You’re telling me you’re reporting two murders. Frisco and who’s the other one?”

“We don’t know,” stated Chris.

The group went silent. Michael heard a chair with squeaky wheels down the hall. A second man appeared and headed their way. Jason was young, his skin red with acne, and Michael wondered if he was old enough to drink. The young man’s eyes lit up when he spotted Oro, and his gaze lingered on Violet as he joined the group. Chris frowned.

“Have you heard from Frisco today?” Phil asked, still looking at the adults.

“Not since he left this morning.”

“I need you to take a statement from these folks while I try to reach someone at OSP.”

“I’ll grab a notepad.” Jason left.

“I know you guys are swamped with the wreck toward town,” Michael said. “I passed it coming up here. OSP is helping out with it, too.”

One eyebrow rose this time. “How’d you get past the roadblock? They’re not supposed to let anyone through.”

“I know the right people to ask, and I wanted to get these guys out and back to town. But you’ll need to have someone go back to the cabins and figure out what happened.”

“With an active shooter possibly hanging around?” Phil shook his head. “I’ll contact OSP to handle it.”

Jason reappeared, a yellow legal pad in his hand. “Why don’t you head back this way and we can use the conference room. I started a fresh pot of coffee.”

They started to follow the young ranger.

“Jason,” Phil said. The ranger stopped and looked back. “It appears that Frisco was murdered this morning and that these folks witnessed it. There was a shooting at the Abell cabin.”

Jason didn’t move as his face whitened. “Is that true?” Jason whispered, looking at Chris and then Violet. The young man seemed to shrink inside his uniform.

Violet nodded, her eyes wet.

He looked at all their faces a minute longer, seeing the confirmation, and his expression grew numb. Jason gestured for them to follow as he turned down the hallway. Phil stepped into an office and closed the door.

Chris waved the women in front of him and followed. Michael had already reported the deaths to his contact at the Oregon State Police. Hopefully Phil’s call would speed up the response and they’d get some investigators on the scene.

Three hours and several pots of coffee later, they were still waiting for the OSP detectives to show up.

During the long wait, Chris felt sorry for Violet, who’d stretched out on the ragged couch in the forest service break room. She’d fallen asleep in minutes. Gianna cast longing looks at her sleeping daughter, and Chris knew why she wasn’t sleeping. Too many questions buzzing around her brain; he had the same problem.

Who shot Frisco?

Whose body is in the cabin?

He and Gianna had been watching old DVDs of the TV show Friends, because there wasn’t cable or dish service in the remote station. “I could never decide if I wanted to be Monica or Rachel,” mumbled Gianna, during an episode with Tom Selleck. “Neither one was quite right.”

“I never wanted to be any of the guys,” answered Chris. “They weren’t exactly role models.”

“Who did you idolize growing up?” Gianna asked.