Then I saw it.
“What the fuck…” I breathed out and dropped into a crouch beside him.
It was a body.
Or what used to be one.
Now it was just bones, sun-bleached and cracked, with scraps of clothing that were so old they looked like they’d been sewn out of shadows.Nothing fresh.No smell.No flesh.Just a skeleton on its back like it had been dropped there by God himself.
“This isn’t new,” I muttered.“Had to have been dead for years.”
Lost nodded grimly.
I scanned the ground around it.No disturbed earth, no leaves covering it, no roots weaving through the ribs.None of the natural buildup came from time.
This thing hadn’tsathere for years.
It had beenputhere.
Recently.
Which meant whoever placed it knew exactly where we swept.Knew where the blind spots of the cameras were.Knew how to sneak past all of us.
The thought made my stomach twist.
“When’s the last time this area was searched?”I asked.
Lost ran a hand over his jaw.“Had to have been late last night.I think Piney was sweeping this side.”
“Get him on the fucking phone,” I growled.
Lost pulled out his phone and hit the call button.He put it on speaker.
Piney answered on the second ring.“Yo!”
“You actually search the west side of the island last night,” I spat, “or did you just take a fucking nap?”
“I searched it,” Piney snapped right back.“Walked every damn inch.”
“Then you must’ve seen the deadfucking skeletonabout five feet from the cliff edge?”
Silence.A shocked, offended silence.
“There wasn’t a fucking skeleton out there,” Piney said louder.“The only thing out there was a fucking skunk I kicked up.”
I looked at Lost.
He shrugged.“I mean, maybe he missed it.”
“I didn’t miss shit,” Piney growled.“There was not a fucking skeleton when I swept.I swear on my bike, Prime.”
I ended the call.
Lost exhaled hard.“You believe him?”
“Yeah,” I said.“I do.”Which meant only one thing.
Lost nodded slowly.“Someone put this here.”
