“Did I hear right?” Anders says. “You found a body, and it’snotour other hiker?”
“It’s a man.” I look at April. “Yes, I dug up another random corpse in the wilderness.”
“I was not going to say it.”
“Sure you were.”
“Not yet. You are obviously distressed and so I was withholding my joke for a better moment.”
I shake my head and lead them in. Dalton has the man uncovered to his shoulders.
“That’s a fresh corpse,” Anders says.
“No, it is several days old,” April says. “Despite having been buried, there are clear signs of early decomposition—”
“I meant it’s recent. Which is significant because we just found a dead man and we’re looking for a missing woman, the wife who might have killed him.”
“I believe this is further evidence that Gretchen is not his wife,” April says.
Anders arches a brow.
April continues, “In addition to the new wedding band, which belies their story of being a long-married couple, we postulated that they might have been spying on either Haven’s Rock or the mining company. The existence of a second corpse—likely a third party to their group—would seem to confirm that they were not who they claimed to be.”
I lift a hand. “I would prefer not to speculate on that yet. We have the corpse of a man who likely died in the past week, which suggests he may be connected to our hikers. That’s all. He could just as likely be connected to the mining camp.”
“One of the miners or guards,” Anders says. “If so, then I’m going to guess this isn’t some guy who died of a heart attack on the job. Not with the weird way they’ve buried him. Unless it’s some kind of religious or cultural thing?”
We all look at each other, in case someone has heard of this. No one has, which doesn’t discount it.
“Wait,” Anders says. “Are we sure he’s standing up?”
“Excellent point,” April says. “This might only be half of him. The other half might be elsewhere.”
“Er, not what I meant. Only that there’s a reason we dig shallow graves here, and it’s not because we’re lazy.”
Dalton curses. “Permafrost.”
“Okay,” I say. “Let’s find out what we have.”
What we have isnota six-foot hole with the corpse standing upright. That wouldn’t be possible with the permafrost. Instead, he’s been put into a hole with his knees bent, as if compacting the body into the smallest possible shape. We’d speculated that whoever buried him was minimizing the size of the hole to better disguise it. While that could be the answer, it’s just as likely they were being lazy. They dug the smallest possible hole and shoved him in.
Finally, we have the man stretched out on the ground. As April said, the burial would have slowed decomposition. He wasn’t exposed to air or insects. The signs of decomposition are still there, equivalent to what I might see on a day-old exposed corpse. That suggests he was buried, as my sister also speculated, in the past week.
There are no obvious signs of trauma, though. No bullet or stab wounds. No hemorrhaging in the eyes. We check his scalp for signs of a head injury and find only an old tattoo under his hair.
“He’s a fit guy,” Anders says, looking down at the body. “His hair’s too long for a guard, but maybe a miner? Hiker is just as likely, given that tan.”
I examine the hands for calluses. There are faint ones, but that could work for either mining or hiking. I check the man’s feet. Some signs of chafing, including a covered hot spot. Boots would have helped decide whether he was a miner or hiker—hiking boots and steel-toed work ones—but his feet are bare. He’s been stripped down to his underwear.
“The lack of clothing would suggest someone is concealing his identity,” April says.
“True,” I say. “But if he’s a miner, his clothes would have been standard issue, and I can see Rogers saying he wants them back.”
Dalton snorts. “Company property.”
“There’s one way to check whether he’s a miner,” Anders says. “See if he’s chipped.”
He’s right. The miners—and the guards—have implants that track their whereabouts. From what I’ve gathered, the guards are aware of it. The miners are not. As horrified as I am at the thought of “chipping” employees, Dalton and I have actually discussed this with Émilie. Missing residents are one of our biggest problems. Would voluntary tracking help?
