'And?'
'Guy I talked to in Mexico hears we had a hell of a storm.'
Sara laughed; so, after a moment, did Maher.
Cormier was continuing, 'The county guys were probably up all night, with that damned chain reaction accident out on the interstate. If they get out here today at all, it probably won't be till afternoon.'
Maher turned to Sara. 'Cell phone?'
'Oh, I haven't tried it yet this morning.' She took it from her purse, punched in Catherine's work number-it was what, 3:30 A.M. back there? She got nothing, not even the robotic voice.
Sara shook her head glumly, returned the cell to her purse.
'Snow might have screwed up the tower,' Cormier said, with a twitch of a humorless half-smile. 'Happened before.'
The waitress returned with coffee for the men and tea for Sara. 'Breakfast'll be up in a few shakes,' she said.
'So,' Maher said, sighing, 'we're still on our own.'
'Looks that way,' said Cormier.
'If I'm not out of line,' Sara said to the constable, 'you don't seem horribly disappointed.'
A smile flickered on the Canadian's lips. 'I like a challenge.'
'Me, too. So we're getting to work?'
Maher nodded curtly. 'Mr. Cormier's going to help us gather some gear, and I've got some things in my room I brought for lecture purposes. Breakfast first.'
Sara sipped her tea. 'You're the boss…. Just don't tell Grissom I said that.'
He chuckled. 'We've got a lot to haul-any problem with that?'
She grinned. 'The bellboys went home, so I'm ready. Bring it on.'
He nodded to her. 'That's what I like to hear.'
Amy brought their food and, as they ate, Maher outlined the morning's plan, then turned to Cormier. 'I'm going to need a medium-speed snow dispersal device.'
Scratching his chin, Cormier gave the Canadian a cockeyed look. 'I don't believe I've got one of those, much less heard of one, before.'
'Are you sure, Herm?' Maher grinned. 'Aka, a leaf blower?'
'Well, hell! Sure, I got a beauty-gas-powered too. Which is a good thing, 'cause I'm not sure there's enough extension cords in the whole hotel to reach up the side of that mountain.'
After breakfast, they went off respectively for their outdoor apparel, collecting their various equipment, and reconvened outside the rear entrance, for one last check. Sara had both her case of equipment and Grissom's (Pearl at the desk had loaned her Gil's spare room key), her camera and tripod. Maher also had two cases, one of which held his metal detector. Cormier looked as though he'd cleaned out the toolshed-scattered around the edge of the parking lot were a leaf blower, two shovels, a push broom, a kitchen broom, a whisk broom, a roll of garbage bags, and a toboggan.
'That's your wish list,' the hotel manager said to Maher.
'Good job, Herm,' Maher said. 'Leaf blower gassed up?'
Cormier said, 'You could disperse snow from here to New Paltz with that sucker.'
'And the toboggan's a fine idea.'
'Thanks.'
Sara asked, 'Too steep for snowmobiles?'
'Yeah, too steep and too many trees up there, too easy to wind up twisted around one of 'em. Rocky, too. Toboggan's safer.'
They loaded their equipment aboard the sled, then Cormier and Maher lashed everything down. Though clouds still covered the sun, daylight filtered through, and the reflective shimmer of ice crystals on the snow was breathtaking. That the snow had stopped was a blessing. A good foot of white had fallen since Sara and Grissom had come upon the burning corpse, and despite the Canadian constable's confidence, she wondered if there would truly be any evidence left to collect.
'At least it was a wet snow,' Maher said.
He and Cormier still looked like Eskimos to her, in their parkas.
'Is that good?' she asked.
'Real good, for us-limited drifting.'
'Won't that make snow dispersal harder?'
'It'll be harder to blow; but as long as it doesn't go slushy on us, it'll hold together better, and give us good detail.' Nodding to himself, he added, 'If there's such a thing as an ideal winter crime scene, this should come close.'
Then they marched up the hill, Maher and Cormier taking turns leading the way, and pulling the sled; Sara offered to take her turn dragging the heavy toboggan, but somehow it never happened. Instead, she wound up bringing up the rear, to one side of the thing, making sure nothing tumbled off, due to hitting a rocky patch.
The walk to the crime scene-which before had taken just short of half an hour, in the deep snow-took nearly an hour as the load constantly shifted, causing them to stop again and again, and check it and reset everything.
After the fourth time this happened, Sara said, 'I thought this was the twenty-first century.'
'Back at the lodge it is, just barely,' Cormier said. 'Out here, time isn't just relative, it's pret' near nonexistent.'
They were already late and Sara started to worry that maybe they'd get up there and find Grissom frozen to that tree. Or maybe that lynx would be standing there studying Grissom, with Grissom more than likely studying it back.
When they arrived at the site, however, Grissom was already pawing in the snow near the body, like a kid on Christmas morning who hadn't waited for his folks to get up before getting at his presents.
'Dr. Grissom!' Maher called.
The CSI supervisor continued on as if he hadn't heard. Leaving the toboggan with Cormier, Maher strode on ahead and called Grissom's name again. This time Grissom, looking comical in the stocking cap and muffler, turned.
'Plenty of time to do the body later,' Maher said.
'All right,' Grissom said, stepping away. 'What's first?'
Maher was at Grissom's side now. 'If this was a crime scene back in Vegas, what would you do first?'
'Take photos of everything-I presume Sara brought her camera today.' Grissom was nicely ambiguous about that, Sara noted.
Maher was nodding, saying, 'What else?'
'Look for footprints.'
'Then let's do that.' Maher gestured to the white landscape. 'We don't want to risk trampling the killer's footprints, so let's find them.'
Sara had joined them, by now, and asked, 'How, exactly?'
Maher extended a hand, like a hypnotist before a subject. 'Grid it out in your mind-like you would any other scene. Ignore the snow.'
She stared at him, eyebrows arched. 'Ignore the snow?'
Maher gave her a gentle smile. 'Just for now.'
She looked all around the buried crime scene. 'All right, Gordy…I've got it.'
Grissom said, 'Gordy?'
Maher said, 'That's my name. Feel free to use it, too, Dr. Grissom.'
Grissom said nothing, just glanced at Sara, who shrugged.
'Mr. Cormier,' Maher said.
'Yes, sir?'
'Would you unpack the leaf blower, please?'
'You got it.'
Soon the hotel owner was bending over the toboggan, untying ropes.
