Mountain Ice (David Dean Mysteries)

"That's what the police are supposed to be doing," Dean said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"By my read, all the police are doing is making a case against David Dean. That means it's up to you and me to solve this caper." He looked up, his face somber. "That's all of your list?"

"Yup. I can't see any of the ice climbers taking Shipton seriously enough to bother to dump him. He didn't have any significant contact with them that I could see."

Fred rose and began pacing the room. "What about the three of us? We'd sure all be near the top on anyone else's list-anyone who was looking at this business objectively. You're sure number one with them State guys. Maybe Fred O'Connor ought to make the list too." He turned to Dean, and added, "And Cynthia. She sure had a top-notch motive."

Sometimes Dean wished Fred O'Connor wasn't so damned perceptive. This was one road he didn't want to travel. "You're serious, aren't you?" he asked.

"I don't want to be. I love her like she was my daughter, but you said it, a woman's scorn and all that stuff. She sure hated Shipton. With good reason. I didn't want to say it, but I saw her, real close to where Shipton fell. She was hurrying away and looked frightened to death." There was no conversation for a long minute. Then Fred asked, "What did she have to say about Shipton's fall when the two of you drove to the airport?"

Dean just shook his head. "Nothing. She wouldn't talk about it." Then he added, "She was upset about her mother's condition. I didn't press her." Dean leaned back his head. "God, I can't be sitting here considering for even a minute, my wife might be a killer! This is ludicrous!"

Fred put his hand on Dean's shoulder. "Look, if she did go and do something rash, we both know the jerk deserved it. I'm not saying she did try to kill him, but I'm just letting you know I'm with the both of you, all the way, no matter how it comes out. I'll help any way I can."

"Cynthia didn't do it," Dean answered, trying to make his statement sound forceful, but unsure of whom he was trying to convince. "The knife was left up there to implicate me. That certainly wasn't my wife's doing."

"I thought about that too," Fred answered. "That Edgar Poe guy wrote a story about the obvious being overlooked. Why couldn't whoever cut the rope have just dropped the knife by mistake? Especially, if they was in a hurry? Maybe it was left up there to implicate you, but there's a good chance it was just plain dropped by accident."