Chapter 1 Summary

Ethel Lambston's killer drives to Morrison State Park to hide her body. The falling snow covers his footprints. He puts the body in a crevice behind a large boulder. He decides at the last minute to remove the plastic bag that he had covered her body with for fear that police forensic teams would be able to link the bag to him. He covers the body with rocks. He disposes of Ethel's luggage and purse in a lake then throws the plastic bag in a garbage bin. He returns the rented car back to the gas station that doesn't keep rental records.

When he returns to his apartment, he showers and has some bourbon. He thinks about the last minutes of Ethel's life. He believes that she'd known he was going to kill her when he got the antique dagger from her desk...