After the suicide season over Christmas, when the lack of daylight drove depression rates soaring, the thawing of the winter snow was always the next busiest time of year.

Anders Sand had already cleared two cases in the past week, bodies unearthed from the retreating white blanket: one a climber who had been missing for three months; the other a young girl who had disappeared after a night out. Both had been the victim of circumstance and weather conditions rather than any foul play.

He parked the car and trudged through the woods, following the sound of the forensic team and first responding officers. The ground was wet and mossy, the vegetation taking in it’s first breath of cold air after months of enforced hibernation. On the surrounding peaks the snow and ice still held sway; only on the lower fields had it given up it’s dead.

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