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“Do you have cell reception?”
I pull my phone from my pocket to see I don’t.
“No!” I holler back.
“Okay, listen up! Go back to the house, find a signal, and call the station. Tell dispatch I’ve got a body and need a team out here. I can’t leave, those damn birds have already done too much damage. But I need you to wait for my guys at the house and direct them here.”
We’re about a twenty-minute hike north of the house, but going back downhill is less effort than up, and it’s easier to follow the trail with the overgrown underbrush already trampled down some.
I finally pick up a signal when I’m able to make out the house from the ridge above the property and put in a call. After I relay Savvy’s message, I give the dispatcher the address. Then I walk the rest of the way down and take a seat on the porch steps to wait.
At the sight of the first cruiser coming up the driveway, I jump to my feet. For some reason, I’m not surprised to see Rick get out, his face a steel mask as he stalks over. His hands immediately come up and curl around my neck on either side as he leans down.
“You okay?”
I nod, feeling mostly numb at the moment.
He blows out a hard breath through pursed lips.
“Good.”
His hands slide down to my shoulders, giving them a light squeeze before they let go.
“Tell me from the start.”
I explain about the vultures, Savvy’s urge to investigate, and an approximate idea where the body is located. By the time I’m done, three more vehicles have pulled up to the house.
“Sit tight,” Rick suggests as he walks away to confer with the new arrivals.
A few moments later he’s back, a coil of caution tape in his hand.
“If it’s okay with you, I’m going to have Deputy Torres stay here to handle communications.”
I nod. “Of course.”
“And if you wouldn’t mind showing me the way, I’ll mark the trail for whoever comes after.”
My legs are certainly getting a workout, climbing that mountainside twice in one morning. Luckily, Rick takes his time, tying strips of yellow caution tape to branches and tree trunks every so often to mark our way.
“Savvy?” I call out when we get close to where I turned around earlier.
“Over here!”
Driven by morbid curiosity, I push ahead, Rick close on my heels.
Savvy is standing on the edge of a shallow depression in the ground, holding a branch in her hands. By her feet I can see part of a head, turned toward me with only half of the face visible. The single cavity where an eye used to be a dark hollow, staring vacantly over the edge.
“Shit,” Rick swears as he pushes past me and blocks my view.
“Well, excuse me,” I grumble, but I don’t think he hears me.
He’s too busy studying the body’s disfigured face.
“Talk about a fucking coincidence,” he directs at Savvy. “I was just on my way back from the Starlight Motel outside Lutton, where I picked up the belongings of a man who hasn’t been seen since Thursday night, when I was called out here. And I’m willing to swear I’m looking at the guy whose duffel bag is sitting in the back of my cruiser as we speak.”
“Who is it?” Savvy wants to know.
“I’m ninety-nine-percent sure this is Doug Severin, foreman of the road crew who had a run-in with Levy before the weekend.”
