Cold Death by S. Y. Robins

Chapter One
    Milly Dupont laughed with glee as her two terriers Daisy and Mildred chased each other, tumbling over rocks and nipping tails. Edgar, her very black cat was still too civilized for such games, or so the disdainful flick of his tail seemed to say. Edgar carried on over the edge of the pile of rocks, investigating there. Walking in the hills was now a morning routine for Milly and her pets, despite the cold, though Milly didn’t keep them out as long when there was snow on the ground. She worried about the paws of her three friends and checked each one when they went back home. Today was clear, however, the sun shining for a change and Milly was looking forward to decorating her shop for the coming Christmas season.
    Milly held her face up to the oncoming wind, her dark-brown hair flying out behind her. She’d had her curly hair straightened, and it now reached well below her shoulder blades. Over the last few months of walking with the dogs she’d lost weight, and she’d also gone from wearing rather strange long skirts and frumpy sweaters, to form-fitting jeans and tighter sweaters, but she’d kept her glasses. Contacts just made her want to pull her own eyes out so she’d kept her glasses. She hadn’t changed much, really, but she made more of an effort now and as the winter months blew in, the colour added to her cheeks from the cold had more than one single man noticing Milly for the first time.
    Unlike some of the other major stores in the area surrounding Wirkster, Milly and her fellow business owners waited until the first day of December to put up any decorations. She loved this time of year; the cold air, the warm coats and fuzzy scarves, the parties and celebrations. People came together, of course, in the summer months but winter just seemed to draw people even closer together. Milly had no family of her own, but she was often invited to the homes of friends, and this year Callum and Jake were coming over to her flat for Christmas dinner.
    Callum lived in the flat beside Milly’s and helped to run the corner shop below. He was also Milly’s very best friend now, and secretly, her crush. Perhaps not so secretly anymore, she pondered. She’d given him enough signals now that he should know she was interested. Especially now that he’d broken up with Maria, finally, this time swearing it was for good. Callum had broken it off with the woman a couple of months ago, soon after Callum and Milly saved his nephew Jake from a couple of lunatics that had moved to the area. Callum told Milly that he’d run out of patience with Maria’s constant disappearing acts, especially at times when he really needed his partner around, so he’d broken it off with her. Milly had privately done a little dance in her kitchen after that discovery.
    Milly looked down at her watch and then called for the dogs, it was time to head home. Walking over to Edgar, still piddling around behind the rocks with only his tail visible, she planned on nudging him back in the direction of the shop but stopped when she saw the way his tail danced as he circled around something. The movements of his tail were mesmerizing, similar to a snake being charmed out of its basket. She’d only seen his tail doing that when he found something he wanted her to see. It usually ended with the police being involved and she didn’t know if she could cope with another bad experience. She’d had two in the last four months; one more might send her over the edge of sanity.
    Brushing off the instant panic and the notion that she’d lose her mind, Milly braced herself and walked over to see what was hidden behind the rocks. When she came to the top of the pile and looked down she wished she’d followed her first instinct and run; there was a body down there, and she looked familiar.
    Sighing heavily, she looked down at the body, stunned into doing absolutely nothing. Another body, this one was Maria, Callum’s ex. Milly watched as Edgar noticed her