"Murder in Ice "
an excerpt

My Nano Novel will again be dedicated to my mentor, Lysiasthewolf of Writers Incubator! ( may he rest in peace) Without him I would not have the guts to attempt writing anything! Miss you a lot, my friend!

Chapter 1
Murder in Ice

Frank left the comfortable heated work trailer , his refuge by night against the bitter cold and ticket office in the opening hours of the “Christmas in Ice” event. He was dressed in a Carhartt insulated coat and overalls and had his trusty flash light in hand. The 20 ice carvings who just 5 hrs earlier had been bade in light were now only illuminated by the sparse street lamps. As he passed whimsical figures dancing around a Christmas tree and reindeers gleaming by his lighted flashlight, he wondered how these sculptures had grown out of a single block of ice. Every exhibit had a thematic a depiction of something related to Christmas. Some were Santa related others Christ inspired. The winning sculpture was a Santa figure kneeling by the infant Christ, laid in the manger. As he came upon the winning figure he found that it despite the lack of light had a lot of color shining back at him… Nothing seemed out of place but as he came closer he studied the sculpture closer.. Coming around the front he came face to face with the face of Santa… NO, not Santa but another human like figure…. How did the artist make it so lifelike he thought… Then he realized it was not a sculptured face and color that gave the sculpture its realistic look. It looked like someone was standing behind the statue, his face reflecting thru the ice.
Come out here at once, he demanded… But the figure didn’t move…
I will call the police he warned and reached for his cell phone in his trousers.
He walked slowly around to the side of the sculpture and found no one.
He was confused. The back of the ice block hid no one and he cause he could see the persons back he yelled, that is enough fooling around. You get outta here NOW! Show yourself!
But nothing moved and suddenly the reality of the situation grabbed him. He fished out his phone stepped back and dialed 911. The person was inside the sculpture! And he was dead!

The red and blue lights from the police car’s light bar illuminated the ice sculpture in an eerie way…. Detective Terry thought she had seen victims of the most terrifying crimes displayed in any possible form. But this took the cake.. She starred at the distorted features of a person encased in ice. His features magnified by the crystal clear ice in the beautiful carving that had just won first prize in the “North Pole Christmas in Ice” ice carving contest in the little Alaskan city of North Pole. There were a million questions floating in her head. Who was the victim? How did he get incased in the ice. And who put him there. She knew that she had a big job a head of her. She was newly promoted to detective on a small force of 16 officers in a growing city with its share of crimes. The city had grown with leaps and bounds the last five years, and finally a council man had suggested that the police Chief expand his department with a detective . Before that the officers often spent long ours following up on leads and writing reports taking them off the patrol duties where they were needed. When crimes against property occurred there often was not any one there to follow up and the local pack of thieves and drug pushers soon figured that out. The city council had approved the promotion of a qualified officer to Detective and Detective Terry had received the promotion. The sole female officer on the force she was always teased a bit by her male counterparts, but had proven her self over the previous 3 yeas on the force. She was well liked by her fellow officers and superiors . But most of all the community seemed to like and trust her too. She had shown to be a solid officer who was able to treat the public with respect and at the same time get the job done.
The call had come from the old volunteer night watch man. When the call came in to the dispatch in Fairbanks, the dispatcher had at first thought it was a prank. Old Mr. Frank as everyone called him , had a slurred speech after a stroke several years ago, and to strangers could give off the impression of a drunk person. It took him a wee minutes to convince the lady that this was no prank call. She dispatched a unit and within a few more minutes the phone had rung at Detective Terry’s bedside. Her husband Pete had taken the call and handed her the cordless phone. ”Hun“ he had said” they have found some one at the ice park …you are needed .
She was instantly awakened and received just a few details from the officer at the scene. “No the Chief is outta town, he reminded her . Ok, give me about 15… don’t touch anything…!
" No hurry Detective Terry" officer Johns said… the evidence is well protected…it is encased in about 1000 lbs of ice…

So there they were, starring at a person in the ice… He was dressed in blue jeans and a western dress shirt and a navy blue air force type windbreaker not zipped up, not out door clothing and as far as they could gather from the preliminary search of the surrounding area the body had not been slain on the premises. There were no indications of blood or signs of a struggle, but then the body did not show any signs of outside trauma.
How long has this sculpture been here
It was finished this afternoon and actually received first place.
First place, huh?
Yes the watchman said the judges rewarded it for its great realism and detail
Wow and no one saw the body….?
No apparently not….
How did the watchman discover it then…
It might have been the lights. The lights back lit the sculptures and by the time the bright lights are turned off in would be possible that the flash light revealed something different.
Ahh
Well the artists use colored gels to bring out colors in the ice when they can not use colored ice. As you can see this is richly colored and that would have helped hide the body inside.
Who is the artist
A Chinese artist Chao Ling