No Body, No Crime?

A note from Opal: Hi. I’d like to thank Madelle Morgan for filling in for me again this month.  Madelle is also Canadian and writes Hot Romantic Suspense.

  Be warned: I started to write a light post on how mystery writers draw from real life for ideas on where to hide a body, but quickly realized that I’d stumbled upon quite a dark topic.

Police detectives have a real life mystery on their hands when people go missing. Adults disappear either voluntarily or involuntarily. Detectives check internet and credit card usage and medical history. They question family, colleagues, friends and acquaintances. They publish photos in the media and ask the public to report any sightings. Unobtrusive video cameras are everywhere these days, and internet users can be traced. It’s very difficult to hide a living person’s existence in this electronic age, even if he or she does not want to be found. The evidence accumulates. Most cases are solved quickly, thank goodness.

But what if there is no evidence, no body, no suspects and no trail to follow?  Months or years pass. It becomes a cold case. A missing person mystery. Then one day, perhaps decades later, a lucky break occurs….

Truth can be infinitely sadder than fiction. A very sad case in Canada involved a man who murdered his young wife and buried her in the backyard. He hired a woman to write letters to his wife’s family, even inventing the births of children over the years. Since the family was not close, they never missed visits or speaking to her on the phone. They never reported her missing.

The killer eventually moved out of the home he’d shared with the victim. Then one day the new occupants decided to dig in the backyard… After the gruesome discovery of a skeleton (no one will ever eat vegetables from that garden), the police became involved.

It emerged that the killer had subsequently preyed upon an older woman without local family. When she disappeared and he moved into her apartment, he told inquirers she’d moved to Florida. No one investigated her sudden disappearance. This serial killer escaped detection for decades. Did he murder other women? Unfortunately, I doubt he will volunteer the information.

We live in an age when the internet often replaces personal contact, say with a bank or utility. While service providers, neighbors or acquaintances may suspect something is amiss, many “do not want to become involved” or tell themselves “it’s the family’s responsibility”. Isolated persons can become victims.

As a mystery and suspense writer, one aspect pops out: if a person is not well connected to others socially, he or she is vulnerable. A sitting duck.  A target for con artists, thieves and even murderers.

Do you know of any socially-isolated persons who have been victimized?  How can we protect them?

Bio: 

When Madelle Morgan wrote her debut romantic suspense, Diamond Lust, she had to dispose of a murder victim at an isolated Arctic mine site with 400 employees working 24/7 where the flat treeless ground was permanently frozen, there was no road access, and worst of all there was no dark of night in which to sneak a body away from the murder location. She drew on her engineering education to figure out a place to hide a body. Find Madelle at www.madellemorgan.com and on Goodreads.

Diamond Lust

A note from Opal: Hi. I've had an amazing new project land in my lap with a very short time frame (and two current projects already underway), so my friend, Madelle Morgan, has agreed to fill in for me for my September and October posts. Madelle is also Canadian and writes Hot Romantic Suspense. She has a facinating story to tell you about the inspiration for her book, Diamond Lust.

In a place where the sun doesn’t set, where can a girl hide from the bad guys?

I set my debut romantic suspense novel, Diamond Lust, at a mine site accessible only by air in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

The spark for a novel about a beautiful young geologist who poses a threat to desperate diamond smugglers originated in the 80s when I was an adventurous junior engineer travelling to construction sites throughout the Arctic. Back then most remote communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories had populations of less than 300 (not including sled dogs). For those inland from the ocean and the Mackenzie River, the only access was by air. To combat alcoholism, several community councils had banned alcohol.

One summer day my survey equipment and I were flown in a tiny plane to a native community of picturesque log cabins clustered along the shore of Great Bear Lake. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer greeted me and the pilot at the dirt runway. Because this was a “dry” community, he met every arrival to inspect the baggage and freight for smuggled alcohol.

Later, the very cute young officer entertained me with tea and stories of how creative locals had attempted to sneak alcohol past him. One method especially impressed me: in a crate of oranges he’d stuck his hand under the top layer of fruit to discover some squishy imposters. They’d replaced the oranges with round plastic bladders filled with alcohol and individually wrapped in green paper. Twenty years later I adapted the method when devising a way to smuggle diamonds through very tight security at the fictional Ptarmigan Lake mine.

Petra Paris discovers diamonds aren’t her best friend when murder traps her at the mine. Her only ally, an undercover RCMP officer with the Diamond Protection Unit, races to find the killers before Petra becomes the next victim. In exchange for Seth’s protection, Petra reluctantly agrees to let him pretend to be her boyfriend so he has an excuse to overnight at the mine. Here’s an excerpt.

Shortly after midnight, Seth quietly let himself into Petra’s room with his key card. Soft rhythmic breathing emanated from a mound under the bedding he could barely discern in the dimness. She’d closed the curtains to block the daylight. In mid-July this far north the sun barely kissed the horizon to mark the transition from one day to the next. He advanced in the gloom and cursed as he tripped over the duffel bag he’d left just inside the door.

The mound erupted. “Who’s there?”

“Seth,” he said in a normal tone, moving to part the curtains a crack. “Time to get up.”

Petra levered herself into a sitting position and clutched the blanket to the neck of her white thermal underwear. “What are you doing here?” Sleepiness fuzzed the edge of her words.

A grin tipped the corners of his mouth. She apparently shopped for lingerie at Work Warehouse. “This is my room too, remember?” Seth dropped heavily onto the edge of the bed to remove his boots.

“What are you doing?”

He quirked a brow. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m preparing for some shuteye.”

“Oh no. Not yet! I mean, let me get dressed and out of here first.”

“Don’t panic.” Seth patted the two lumps that were knees drawn up to her chest. “I’m so beat I can barely keep my eyes open. Besides, you’re sporting long underwear like ever-lovin’ armor. It’s hardly a turn-on.”

“These are my p.j.’s.”

“Right. Well, I don’t wear any.” He shucked his T-shirt and tossed it on top of the leather jacket draped over the back of the chair.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” came the mutter from the other end of the bed.

“Pardon me?”

“Nothing.”

“Nobody’s forcing you to watch.” He unbuckled his leather belt and unzipped his fly to the accompaniment of a muffled moan.

“Where’s your gun?”

“I’m undercover, remember? A gun sure woulda triggered the security alarms.”

“Get undressed in the bathroom. Please,” she pleaded, her voice pitched high.

“Too late.” Seth, naked but for boxer briefs, yanked at the blanket she clutched in a death grip. “Move over, darlin’.”

The e-version of Diamond Lust is available for only $1.49 or less at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Ellora’s Cave. Read Chapter 1.

Bio:

Madelle left Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, now known as the Diamond Capital of North America, after the birth of her son and one too many close calls in small planes. She moved to Ottawa, Canada and joined the local chapter of RWA. After completing three novels “for practice”, she sold the fourth to Ellora’s Cave who had faith in the hot but not erotic Diamond Lust. Recently retired from a demanding management position, Madelle is working on a romantic suspense novel (the story of Sophia from the free short read The Next Big Thing) and a steamy novella for publication in 2013. Find Madelle at www.madellemorgan.com and on Goodreads.