Her throat tightened with grief. She didn’t want to finish the thought.
“How long do you think he’s been out here?” Jason asked, snowflakes catching on his eyelashes as he studied JJ’s lifeless body.
Olive did a quick mental calculation. Temperature, wind, snowfall thickness over the tracks. “Less than an hour.”
Long enough to die alone in the snow.
Though she hadn’t known JJ that well, her heart panged with sadness.
The wind howled around the corner of the shed, the sharp sound a warning of more treacherous weather to come.
Olive pulled in a breath so cold it made her lungs ache. “We should get him inside.”
Jason’s gaze slid to her. “He’s already gone. Getting him inside won’t save him.”
“I know.” She swallowed, her throat raw. “But leaving him out here feels wrong.”
It wasn’t just the storm—it was the thought of JJ lying alone in the cold while they sheltered by the fire.
“Moving him could destroy evidence,” Jason reminded her.
“But leaving him could also destroy evidence. The snow, wildlife—they’re all working against us.”
“You’re right,” Jason said. “His body will be covered by snow within another hour or two. I’ll document the scene first. Then we’ll bring him inside.”
Using his camera phone, he began snapping pictures.
Olive stood and shivered, the wind going through her coat.
How had this happened to JJ? She didn’t know, but shewouldget to the bottom of this.
So much for their relaxing week.
After the scene was documented, Olive and Jason worked JJ’s stiff body out of the snow. His limbs didn’t move naturally, and the weight of him was awkward.
As Jason hoisted the younger man over his shoulder, Olive gathered JJ’s knitted hat that had tumbled into the snow beside him.
As she did, something glinted near where his hand had been.
“Wait.” She brushed away the thin layer of snow.
A metal object lay half-buried there, pressed into the frozen ground. A small rectangle, silver, no bigger than a stick of gum.
Smooth, no markings. Not a key. Not a lighter.
A flash drive.
Jason adjusted JJ’s weight. “What is it?”
She picked it up carefully, holding it with the tips of her fingers. “Possibly evidence.”
Her skin prickled. Had JJ been clutching this when he died? Had he been trying to open the shed before his demise? Perhaps trying to hide the jump drive—or maybe even retrieve it?
And if his death wasn’t an accident—if it was murder—why hadn’t the killer taken it?
The questions collided in her mind.
Olive slipped the drive into the back pocket of her jeans. Questions could wait until they weren’t standing in a snowstorm with a dead body.
