Death by Exposure
ALSO BY ERIC WALTERS
The Bully Boys
Caged Eagles
Camp X
Diamonds in the Rough
Full Court Press
Hoop Crazy
The Hydrofoil Mystery
Long Shot
The Money Pit Mystery
Northern Exposures
Off Season
Overdrive
Rebound
Ricky
Road Trip
Royal Ransom
Run
Stand Your Ground
STARS
Stranded
Three-on-Three
Tiger by the Tail
Tiger in Trouble
Tiger Town
Trapped in Ice
Visions
War of the Eagles
An Interactive Mystery
ERIC WALTERS and KEVIN SPREEKMEESTER
Copyright © 2004 by Eric Walters and Kevin Spreekmeester
Second Edition 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor: Michael Carroll
Production and Design: Jen Hamilton
Front Cover Photograph: Kevin Spreekmeester
Author Photograph (Eric Walters): Paula Esplen
Printed and bound in Canada by AGMV Marquis Imprimeur
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Walters, Eric, 1957-
Death by exposure : an interactive mystery / Eric Walters and Kevin Spreekmeester.
ISBN 978-1-55002-632-0
I. Spreekmeester, Kevin, 1960- II. Title.
PS8595.A598D41 2007 Â Â Â jC813'.54Â Â Â Â C2007-901095-4
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J.Kirk Howard, President
Visit Eric Walters at
www.ericwalters.net
and Kevin Spreekmeester at
www.bluedoorphoto.com
.
The authors especially thank Tourism Saskatchewan and the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture for their help with the contents of this book.
Dundurn Press | Gazelle Book Services Limited | Dundurn Press |
To this beautiful country
of Canada and the undiscovered treasures within.
âE
RIC
W
ALTERS
To my wife, Sue, my son, Ben, and my daughter, Katie.
You continually support my dream of travelling to wonderful,
faraway places with my camera and pen, and love me so
much that the moment I leave I can't wait to be with
you again. What a fantastic life I have!
âK
EVIN
S
PREEKMEESTER
Fun with Latitude and Longitude
Photography Notes and Web Sites
Death by Exposure
is a unique hybrid book that fits within no set box. It combines mystery fiction with photography, geography, mapping, history, secret codes, and Internet exploration. In short, there's a lot to do in this book. At the heart of the story is the puzzle of who the man in the glacier is and how he came to be there. The key to the riddle might be found in the latitude and longitude of photographs the iceman appears to have taken. So, after reading the story and studying the photographs, you're encouraged to do a little geography sleuthing and mapping in “Fun with Latitude and Longitude.” There may be a different number code that supplies the answers to the enigma of the iceman, and you're invited to take a look at “Fun with Secret Codes” to see if you can crack the cipher.
But there's more! At the end of the book you'll find notes on the photographs and some great Web sites you can visit to learn more about various places and things in Canada. And, if you have a creative knack, take a look again at the photographs and the fragments of writing, get some paper, and see if you can finish the iceman's story about each picture. The important things, though, are to explore, experiment, create, and enjoy!
“I'm not a helpless little kid, Mom!” Ben complained.
“I know you're not, but you
are
only twelve and your sister is only nine.”
“It's not like I haven't baby-sat her before.”
“I'm not a baby!” Julia exclaimed.
“Sometimes you act like it,” Ben snapped.
“Look who's talking about being a-”
“Both of you stop it!” their mother said. “I know you've taken care of your sister before, but I've never left you two alone for the whole day.”
“We'll be fine.”
“Do you two really think you can get along together for the entire day?”
“No problem. We get along fine,” Ben said.
“Since when?” their mother asked.
“Since always.”
“Yeah,” Julia agreed. “We only fight when you're around.”
“If that's the case, maybe I should go away more often.”
“I don't know about that,” Ben said, “but you should go out today. We hardly have anything to eat.”
“What do you mean?” their mother said. “There's plenty of food.”
“Yeah, but there's nothing
good
to eat.”
Their mother opened the refrigerator. “Nothing good? We have plenty of cheese and meat, and the fruit bowl is full and-”
Ben frowned. “I don't mean good for you. I mean
good.
There are no more cookies, and the only cereal we have left doesn't even have sugar in it, and Julia ate the last two fruit roll-ups-”
“That's because you ate the first four in the box!” Julia protested. “So those two belonged to me!”
“Well, I didn't eat half the cookies andâ” Ben stopped in mid-sentence when he realized that was exactly what their mother was worried about. “And I guess I should have eaten only three of the fruit roll-ups. How about if Julia gets four out of the box you buy today?”
“That would be fair,” Julia agreed.
Ben turned to his mother. “You better leave now if you want to get there and back before dark. You know Dad doesn't like you driving these roads by yourself at night.”
Their mother nodded. “At least I don't have to worry about the road conditions. These roads can be pretty dangerous in bad weather. But not today. They're clear and dry. I don't think there's ever been a winter with so little snow before.”
“Nineteen twenty-seven,” Julia said.
“What about 1927?” Ben asked.
“My teacher told our class that was the only year that had less snow than this year.”
“And probably the only year that had less snow days when they cancelled the buses and we didn't have to go to school,” Ben added.
Their mother smiled. “That's right. You haven't had one day this year when school had to be cancelled because of the weather.”
“I know,” Ben said. “It isn't fair. Last year we had seven snow days. Seven days to get together with my friends.”
“Come on, Ben, it isn't like you don't see your friends when you go to school,” their mother said.
“I see them, but it's a lot different to see them sitting at the next desk
than to play pickup hockey on the pond, or build a snow fort, or have a snowball fight, or go tobogganing.”
“I guess you're right there,” their mother said. “I think this was also probably the worst winter we could have gotten you a toboggan for your birthday.”
“You can say that again.”
All Ben had had the chance to do since his birthday on January 14 was look at the biggest and best present he'd ever receivedâa new, shiny, hardwood toboggan. No snow had fallen for almost three weeks, and the little bit they'd seen before that had been melted by the last Chinook that had blown in from the Rockies.
“Don't worry, Ben, you'll be able to use it next year,” Julia assured him.
“I'm not waiting for next year. I'm going to use it
this
year.”
“Well, let's hope for some snow,” their mother said. “Just not too much and not today.”
“Then you
are
going shopping today?” Ben asked.
“Yes, I think I will.” Ben's mother studied her son warily. “You seem awfully anxious to get me out of the house.”
“I'm just anxious to get some
real
food into the houseâthat's all!”
Their mother cocked an eyebrow and gazed at Ben intently. Her son had a habit of glancing at the floor when he was lying or had a scheme up his sleeve. But this time he was looking her straight in the eye. Ben had realized recently that his mother knew he was up to something when he stared at the floor. He wasn't going to make that mistake anymore.
“Okay, then, tell you what,” their mother finally said. “I'll just make sure the Thompsons are going to be home so you have somebody to call if there are any problems.”
“Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson must be ninety-nine years old!” Ben objected. “What problem do you think could come up that they could help me with?”
“I just like to know there's somebody you can call on if you need help.”
“Fine,” Ben said which, of course, meant it wasn't fine but there was no point in arguing.
