Colder Than Ice Part 17

Sarah turned to Dianne. "I found it pretty interesting. And, in this case, helpful. Allison, I can review the body for you without creating too much of a mess, and at the same time try and determine a cause of death. I've already got an idea regarding the cause of death, but that's all it is at this stage." Her gaze trailed the length of the body and she pointed to a box under the feet. "What's that?"

Allison gently removed the box from its resting-place. "It's a suitcase, as if someone left it there in the hope it would some day be found. It's heavy too. Let me see if I can open it."

She gently put the suitcase on a wooden table and tried the clasps but they refused to budge. She gave the clasps a determined jiggle and it finally opened. "Oh my."

Rob peered over her shoulder. "What are they?"

"They're gla.s.s photographic plates. I'd say this belongs to the expedition's photographer, Ian Ross, and I a.s.sume that's his body on the bed. This is physical proof the expedition did indeed spend time on the continent. Here's our pictorial history." Allison reverently sorted through the plates. At the bottom of the case her fingers closed around a book, and she pulled it out and opened it. Reading the front page, she nodded. "It's the diary of Ian Ross."

Rick seized the diary from her hands. "This is fantastic. If we find nothing else this will make the museum a tidy sum and more than cement my, er, our position in the museum."

Allison smugly smiled at Rick's egocentricity. "Yes, it'll be interesting to see what kind of information it contains. It'll need to be photographed before we leave the site, in case something happens to it."

Rick put the doc.u.ment to his chest. "Di and I can do that. You can occupy yourself with the body."

Before Allison could object Rick and Dianne strode out of the hut.

"No worries, mate," Rob muttered. "So what do we do now?"

"Alli, do you want me to do a preliminary inspection of the body?" Sarah asked.

Allison drew her brows together and tilted her head. "What, you mean an autopsy?"

"Not exactly. That'd involve inspection and dissection and I'm not really prepared for that. All I'd like to do is inspect the body. I think this will confirm my preliminary a.s.sessment regarding death. Is that okay with you?"

Allison thought about it and then nodded. "But where would you do it?"

The room was silent as everyone thought.

"What about the storage container for the sno-trak," Allison suggested. "You know, the container we brought a lot of our gear in. We could rig up some lighting and put up a makes.h.i.+ft table. It would be tight, but it should suit your purpose."

Sarah nodded. "Yes, it should do. Michela, do you mind helping me with this? I'd ask Rob, but he's been known to faint at the sight of blood." She dodged a mock blow from Rob. "And the way Alli's looking at those photographs, I think I know what she'd rather be doing, am I right?"

Allison looked up. "What? Oh, yes. The diary would've been more interesting, but these should prove quite a challenge to wade through. But the next diary that's found is definitely mine. Do you two mind working on the body?"

Michela shook her head.

"We'll have to get the container ready and then, Rob, we'll probably need your help to move the body," Sarah said. "Where do you two intend to study the photos?"

Allison carefully closed the suitcase and handed it to Rob. "We'll be in the mess hut. That way we should be able to spread these out so they can be photographed."

MICHELA AND SARAH s.h.i.+fted the majority of the boxes from inside the sno-trak container to make a temporary morgue. Rigging a string of temporary lighting from the xenon glow sticks, Michela made the container look more like a Christmas decoration than a repository for stores. After setting up a makes.h.i.+ft table in the middle of the s.p.a.ce, with Rob's help, they brought the body to the container.

Sarah removed her outer layer of clothing. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

Michela shook her head. "I can't say I have, although I'm a fast learner."

"Promises, promises." Sarah smiled before holding up her hands. "Only joking. Could you take notes while I dictate? They don't need to be detailed, but should anyone question what we've done, then we'll have a record. Plus, Alli can use it for her research."

Sarah cut the twine that encased the body within the sleeping bag, while providing a running commentary on her actions. She pulled back the flap and smoothed her hand across the fur that comprised the inside of the bag. "Hmm, this looks to be like some sort of animal fur. If it's like the bags made by later explorers, it's probably caribou or something like that."

Michela jotted down her notes. "What makes you say that?"

"Caribou fur's remarkably warm. The hairs are hollow and trap the heat, making for a pretty toasty sleep. Not warm by our standards, but comfortable all the same." Sarah unraveled the rest of the thick twine, revealing the body.

"He looks as if he's just asleep." Sarah lightly ran her hand over his clothing. "And look at these old clothes, they're almost new. In fact, given the amount of time he's been down here, he's remarkably well preserved, but I believe the bag helped to ensure there was no real deterioration of the skin.

"He's a white male. By the graying whiskers on his cheeks and his face, I'd say he's in his late thirties, possibly early forties. However he died it was peaceful, as there are no signs of struggle or rigor in the face to indicate otherwise. Could you give me a hand to get this bag off him?" Michela stood on the opposite side of the table to Sarah, and they peeled the stiff bag from the frozen body.

"Right. I want to check his body." Sarah carefully cut through the man's jumper, and then undid the b.u.t.tons of his vest and s.h.i.+rt. After spreading them open, she cut through his undergarment to reveal the torso of Ian Ross. "I don't think we need to go any further."

Michela looked down at the body. "What do you mean?"

"See how his stomach's concave?" Michela nodded. "Now look at his ribs. You can count every single one of them. His pelvis is the same as is his collarbone. This man didn't die of natural causes, but he did die of starvation. Hang on, look at the displacement of his left foot."

Sarah felt the length of the Ian Ross' leg. She cut his left trouser leg, revealing a rudimentary splint. "Poor b.u.g.g.e.r, he broke his leg at some stage. That must have hurt like Hades."

Michela nodded. "Probably the reason why someone as important as a photographer was still in the hut rather than part of any inland expedition."

"You're right," Sarah said. "Without a full dissection, I don't think we're going to get much more out of Mr. Ross. I suggest we re-dress him and re-sew the bag. Once we've done this we'll put him back where we found him. At least there we can preserve his remains."

THE TABLE OF the kitchen hut was strewn with the mess made by Allison and Rob.

"Look at this one," Rob exclaimed. He held a gla.s.s plate to the light. The image was of a group of people standing on a wharf, as if in the process of bidding someone or something farewell. "Can you read the name on the banner there?"

Allison held up her magnifying gla.s.s and strained her eyes to read the infinitesimal writing. "It says Christchurch. This must have been taken during their last stop." She slapped Rob's back. "Bless the industriousness of Ian Ross, he's left us with visual proof of what sort of expedition Finlayson led. And bless the person who had the presence of mind to lay him to rest in proximity of his photographic plates. Let's see if we can divide these into some logical sequence."

A half hour later Sarah wandered into the hut. "b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l. He certainly was a shutterbug."

Rob and Allison looked up. "Yep, he sure was." Rob pulled his chair in to allow Sarah access to the sink. "Did you and Michela find out anything?"

"In a way, yes. I think we can a.s.sume by what was found at the foot of the bed, if not the diary in the suitcase that the body we're dealing with is that of the expedition's photographer, Ian Ross. He must have suffered a fall at some stage during the expedition as someone's done a pretty good job of splinting his leg."

"Did he die from the fall?" Allison asked.

"Nothing that dramatic. By the state he's in I'd say he died of starvation. His body was pretty thin. I've put him back in his sleeping bag and Michela and I returned him to his bed in the hut. That should keep him well preserved until you work out what you want to do with him." Sarah took a mug from the drying rack.

"Still that's a pretty terrible way to go, getting progressively weaker and weaker," Rob said, a concerned look on his face.

"You're right, but in the end he most likely went to sleep and didn't wake up. It could have been a lot worse." Sarah's words hung in the air. Allison knew that Ewan was still on everyone's mind.

Dianne and Rick, carrying the diary, entered the hut.

"He starved to death," Rick said.

Allison looked up, a nonplussed expression on her face. "We know that already. Sarah told us."

Rick scowled at Sarah. "But does she know there were two expeditions, the first one leaving within days of arrival and in direct contravention to Finlayson's orders. They never returned. Only a handful of dogs made it back. The second expedition left and Finlayson couldn't go with ita"he'd badly sprained his ankle."

Allison eagerly sat forward. "Does he say what happened to him? Did he go after the others?"

Dianne shrugged. "We don't know. We only got so far into the diary and then, well," she looked sideways at Rick, "we got sidetracked."

Ugh, too much information and by the look on Rick's face, he's glad she said it as well. The sooner I see the back end of you, mister, the better. Allison maintained a calm outward stance. "I'd be grateful if you could keep working on it. Are you photographing as you go along?"

"Of course we are. What do you take us for? Amateurs?" Rick asked. "When's dinner, I'm starving." He jumped at the voice behind him.

"It'll be cooked as soon as I can get some s.p.a.ce in here." Michela walked around him and stared at the photographic plates spread across every flat surface in the hut. "Alli, Rob, I'm sorry but if we're to eat I really do need a little s.p.a.ce. The last thing I'd want to do is spill something on those plates."

Rob smiled. "No worries. If you like, Alli, I'll take these back to my hut and see if I can group them as we were discussing. When you're ready you can come and take a look."

Allison smiled, grateful to have her attention diverted from Michela's close proximity to her. "Not a problem. Let me know when you're ready."

The group dispersed, allowing Michela the s.p.a.ce she needed to prepare dinner. She hummed silently and started at the movement behind her.

Sarah snagged a biscuit from Michela's preparation bench. "So, did you see that?"

Michela lightly hit her with a mixing spoon. "What do you mean?"

Sarah munched loudly on her ill-gotten gains. "With Alli just then. She changed when you arrived, almost as if she wasn't all that comfortable being near you."

Michela slapped the spoon down on the bench. "And that's supposed to prove what? That she likes me? If anything I think that proves she's not at all at ease in my presence and that's d.a.m.n great."

"For a psychologist you really don't have a clue, do you? Didn't you ever read that verse, and I'm paraphrasing here: I search for your face in a crowd and then turn away, afraid of the love others might see."

Exasperated, Michela shook her head. "My friend, I think you've been on one too many trips to Antarctica. It's time you found yourself a woman to waste your romantic ideals on."

Sarah chuckled as she walked to the door. "Mark my words, Michela, mark my words."

SARAH WAVED ACROSS the compound at Michela, who was struggling with several bundles. "Hey, do want a hand with that?"

Michela handed half of the bundles to Sarah, relieved to have relinquished some of the weight. "Thanks. This darned frozen food weighs a ton. Besides, I don't know why I'm cooking anyway. No one seems to be bothering eating these days."

Sarah laughed. "Yeah. Things have changed around here with the Ross discovery. It's as if those three have gained a new burst of energy."

"I know what you mean. It's a shame half his diary was ruined by water. The mystery of the expedition's demise remains unsolved." Michela nudged open the door of the mess hut.

They walked in and Sarah closed the door behind her. "At least the mystery of his leg's been solved. Imagine a crate of your own gear falling on your leg. That must have hurt like blazes."

"I'd have preferred they didn't find out that information. The way Rick carried on when he found out there was the possibility of another hut around here, I could have wrung his neck."

Sarah chuckled. "You'll need to get in line with that one. I think Alli would've beaten you to it."

Michela, a wistful smile on her face, looked at the small pile of photographic plates on the table. "She's really begun to stand up to him and I'm glad to see that. So what have they been up to this morning?"

"Di and Rick were bagging and tagging the artifacts they're taking back to Australia and then they were going to join Rob and Alli in the hut. I think they've been trying to track a course around the internal walls of the hut." Sarah headed for the door. "Are you coming over?a aLet me finish here and I'll be there shortly."

AFTER GAINING DIRECTIONS from Allison, Rob skillfully maneuvered around the hut's internal walls with his blade. At one place, the blade sunk a little further, heralding a possible entrance that was plugged by ice. As he peeled away at the barrier, more evidence of a smaller room came into view, surprisingly free of all but a few icicles that clung to the ceiling. Despite his growing excitement, he continued until he'd uncovered a s.p.a.ce large enough for a human to walk through.

"Alli," he called softly.

Allison got up from the wooden bench she'd been cataloguing on and went to Rob's side. She was lost for words. Lying within a sleeping bag, his hands calmly folded over an encased doc.u.ment, was a man, his face weathered by the exposure to the elements. Unlike the other body, no one had gone to the trouble to sew him into his sleeping bag. His pose reminded Allison of one of the knights of old.

She walked quietly across the small confines of the room and peered down at the encased doc.u.ment he was holding. In bold on the doc.u.ment were three letters: ERF. She crumpled to the floor, the shock of the discovery too much to take in.

Rob rushed to her side, afraid she'd fainted. "Are you all right?"

She looked up at Rob's concerned face, her eyes glistening with tears. "You've found him," she whispered. "You've found Eric Finlayson."

"No kidding? b.u.g.g.e.r me." He stepped out of the small room and turned to the others, preoccupied in various corners of the room. "Hey, we've found the man himself." He quickly stepped aside as the group crammed around the doorway.

Allison stood and cast her eyes around what had been Eric Finlayson's final resting-place. The personal area wasn't that dissimilar to the others they'd found. A small shelf contained his belongings; a faded silk sled pennant, half family crest, half American flag was tacked to the wall. There was a record on an opened phonographa"possibly the last tune he'd heard before he closed his eyes forever. She reverently touched each of the items before returning her gaze to the man laid out on the small bed, his features surprisingly calm, a glimmer of a smile around the corners of his lips.

Rick forced his way into the room and attempted to pull the monogrammed doc.u.ment from the dead man's hands. "d.a.m.n it, he doesn't seem to want to give this up too quickly, does he."

"What do you think you're doing?" Allison screamed in outrage at the desecration of the man whose existence she'd sought to prove for so long.

Rob clasped Rick's shoulder with a vise-like grip. "Why don't you step back, mate. This is Alli's find, not yours. Besides, you had your turn with the last diary."

Rick turned and saw the murderous look in Rob's eyes. Stepping back, he rubbed his shoulder while Rob calmed Allison.

"That proves again the ability of man to conquer all he sees. Here we have the proof." Rick pointed at the bed.

Allison, having recovered from the shock of Rick's attempted theft, laughed. "He can't be too b.l.o.o.d.y skilful. He died in the attempt."

Sarah chuckled. "Congratulations, Rob, and congratulations, Alli. He must have been the last. Otherwise, I've no doubt someone would have wrapped him in a shroud as well." She looked at the frozen hands that grimly clutched the prize of what could only be Finlayson's diary. "How about we see if we can release that without too much injury to the body itself. Rob, can you tell Michela?"

"I'm here." Michela stepped into the room and stared at the man in the cot. The words of Charlotte Finlayson echoed across the miles before spiritually rebounding off the walls of the small room: "Bring my ancestor home."

His features, although withered, were as Michela had remembered seeing him in the painting behind Charlotte Finlayson's desk. With the exception of the pallor of his skin, the only thing that was missing were the eyes that had seemed to radiate from the painting, now in death, forever closed. She glanced sideways and took in Allison's shaking figure. Without thinking she stepped closer and lightly touched Allison's arm. "Are you okay?" she softly asked.

Allison looked down at the hand softly stroking her arm and then at Michela. "I'll be fine," she quietly replied, giving Michela's hand a small squeeze.

Sarah cast an "I told you so" smile at Michela before turning her attention to Allison. "So what do you want to do?"

"If possible I'd like to try and remove the diary. Once that's done, I think I'll take it back to my hut and see what it holds," Allison said. "Michela, I know Mrs. Finlayson's requirements, but do you think it would be okay if we tried to work out how her ancestor died?"

Michela nodded, only now able to think coherent thoughts as opposed to the ones that had rushed through her head at Allison's gentle touch. "I don't think that would pose a problem, especially if we take it slowly."

Rick took Dianne's hand. "If you think I'm going to give you a hand then you've got another thing coming. Come on, love, we may as well continue with the cataloguing.

"I'll give you a hand to move him," Rob offered.

"First things first," Sarah said. With Michela's help, she managed to carefully pry Finlayson's fingers open enough to pull out the encased doc.u.ment. "Here." She handed it to Allison.

Allison held the doc.u.ment as if it was the most precious thing on earth. "Thank you," she whispered and smiled at them. "This is a dream come true."

ALLISON ENTERED HER hut and carefully placed the diary on the table. I think this is going to be a long morning, and my camera's still in the mess hut. I better grab that and a coffee while I'm at it.