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.The space was twelve by ten and dark.But the corridor threw light in over his shoulder.Standing at center in the room was a large white box.There was a low humming sound coming from the room.Pierce stepped in and his eyes registered the white string of a pull cord for the overhead light.He pulled it and the room filled with light.The white box was a freezer.A chest freezer with a top door that was held closed with a small padlock that Pierce knew he would be able to open with the second stranger key.He didn’t have to open the freezer to know what was in it but he opened it anyway.He felt compelled, possibly by a dream that it might be empty and that this was all part of an elaborate hoax.More likely it was simply because he knew he had to see with his own eyes, so that there would be no doubts and no going back.He raised the second stranger key, the smaller one, and opened the padlock.He removed it and flipped up the latch.He then lifted the top of the freezer, the air lock breaking and the rubber seal making a snik sound as he raised it.He felt cold air puff out of the box and a damp, fetid smell invaded his nose.With one arm he held the lid open.He looked down through the mist that was rising up out of the box like a ghost.And he saw the form of a body at the bottom of the freezer.A woman naked and crumpled in the fetal position, her neck a terrible mess of blood and damage.She lay on her right side.Blood was pooled and frozen black at the bottom of the freezer.White frost had crusted on her dark hair and upturned hip.Hair had fallen across her face but did not totally obscure it.He readily recognized the face.He had seen it only in photos but he recognized it.It was Lilly Quinlan.“Ah, Jesus …”He said it quietly.Not in surprise but in horrible confirmation.He let go of the lid and it slammed closed with a heavy thump that was louder than he had expected.It scared him, but not enough to obscure the complete sense of dread that had engulfed him.He turned and slid down the front of the freezer until he was sitting on the floor, elbows on his knees, hands gathering the hair at the back of his head.He closed his eyes and heard a rising pounding sound like someone running toward him down the hallway.He then realized it was internal, blood pounding in his ears as he grew light–headed.He thought he might pass out but realized he had to hold on and stay alert.What if I pass out? What if I am found here?Pierce shook it off, reached for the top of the freezer and pulled himself up.He fought for his balance and to hold back the nausea creeping into his stomach.He pulled himself across the freezer and hugged it, putting his cheek down on the cold white top.He breathed in deeply and after a few moments it all passed and his mind was clear.He stood up straight and stepped back from the freezer.He studied it, listened to its quiet hum.He knew it was time for more AE work.Analyze and evaluate.When the unknown or unexpected came up in the lab you stopped and went into AE mode.What do you see? What do you know? What does it mean?Pierce was standing there, looking at a freezer sitting in the middle of a storage room that he — according to the office records — had rented.The freezer contained the body of a woman he had never met before but for whose death he would certainly now be blamed.What Pierce knew was that he had been carefully and convincingly set up.Wentz was behind it, or at least part of it.What he didn’t know was why.He decided not to be distracted by the why.Not yet.He needed more information to get to that.Instead, he decided on more AE.If he could disassemble the setup and study all the moving parts, then it might give him a chance at figuring out why and who was behind it.Pacing in the small space in front of the freezer, he began with the things that had led him to discover the setup.The scramble card and the padlock keys.They had been hidden, or at least camouflaged.Had it been meant for him to find them? After stopping his pacing and contemplating this for a long moment, he decided no.It had been luck that he had noticed that his car had been entered.A plan of this magnitude and complication could not rely on such luck.So he now concluded that he had an edge.He knew what he was not supposed to know.He knew about the body and the freezer and the storage unit.He knew the location of the trap before it had been sprung.Next question.What if he had not found the scramble card and had not been led to the body? He considered this.Langwiser had warned him of an impending police search.Surely, Renner and his fellow searchers would leave no stone unturned.They would find the scramble card and be led to the storage space.They would check his key ring for keys to the padlocks and they would find the body.End of story
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