“Someone has to.” Jack walked away from the paved path.
“Where are you going?” Chandler asked.
“I want to look around.”
“Now? We couldn’t do this during daylight?”
“No. I’m trying to understand the victim. See what Stacy saw. Understand what she was thinking.”
“You know this is creepy, right?” Chandler’s head swiveled around as he hurried to catch up.
“We found her body over there.” Jack pointed down to the pond.
“I’ll never forget.”
“The path bothers me.”
“The path to the pond? The killer…” Chandler looked quickly around, then lowered his voice. “You know whoever killed Stacy made that path when he dragged her body to the pond.”
“I know. But that’s not the path that’s bugging me. Remember, there was another one.” Jack panned the light across the woods until it landed on an opening in the brush. He walked toward it.
The hum of the patrol car broke the silence. “Cops,” Chandler said. “They’re coming back around.”
Jack snapped the flashlight off. “Get down here so they don’t see you.”
“If we go home, that would solve the problem of them seeing us too, you know.” Chandler hurried down the slope beside Jack. “I can barely see.”
“Shut your eyes for a minute. The moon’s bright enough. You’ll get used to the dark.” Jack looked around. “There’s no reason for anyone to come this way. You saw the state of things down by the pond—even the trash was ancient. If Robyn hadn’t found the handbag, they wouldn’t have located the body for a while.”
Chandler took a step closer to Jack. “What are we doing here again? I still can’t see. Can we come back in the day?”
Jack waited until the sound of the patrol car disappeared, then he turned the flashlight on. He pointed it at the top of the hill. “The killer dragged her over the hill and to the pond.” He traced the path beside the trees with his circle of light. “But where did the killer start from? Was he walking along the path behind her, or was he waiting here?”
“I changed my mind. This is super creepy,” Chandler said.
Jack walked toward the trees.
“Now where are you going?”
“To the trail. The one you were going to explore before we found the body.”
The trail ran into the woods and was hidden by the hill. Branches pulled at Jack’s shirt and the undergrowth got thicker, but then the bushes gave way to a little clearing. As Jack shined the light around at the dense brush cover, he had the feeling of being in a small nest.
“Wait,” Chandler said. “Shine the flashlight back over there again. Directly across from us.”
Jack followed Chandler’s outstretched finger to some bushes on the opposite side of the clearing. As the flashlight’s beam swept over the brush, Jack realized that someone had made a little lean-to shelter. Its backbone was a stout branch stretched between two trees at waist height, and its angled side was made of thin branches that someone had woven together. Leaves covered the outside, camouflaging it.
“We made one of these in Boy Scouts,” Jack said.
“Ours didn’t look as good.” Chandler chuckled at the memory.
They walked over to it. “There’s a blanket there.” Jack shined the light under the branches.
The blanket was neatly folded into a square. Jack lifted one corner of it; the ground underneath was dry. “Someone’s definitely sleeping here.”
Chandler accidentally kicked a beer can with his foot, and when it rolled over, he saw that someone had cut it open and placed a candle inside. “Okay, listen… whoever has been sleeping here could still be around. Are you done?”
What if the killer was camped here? Jack stared out into the dark woods. It was a warm evening, but the skin on the back of his neck felt cold. He scanned the shadows, but he didn’t see anyone.
Somewhere off to the left, a branch snapped.
Chandler ducked down. Jack shined the light toward the sound.
“Crap,” Chandler whispered. “This is probably some overprotective homeless guy’s bed. He could be crazy.”
Jack ignored him and headed toward the sound.
“No, no, no,” Chandler whispered through clenched teeth. “No chasing crazy people in the woods at night. That’s like a top-ten rule.”
Jack stopped and swept the flashlight beam in a wide arc, but the woods appeared empty. He snapped off the flashlight.
“Hey!” Chandler jumped. “Turn it back on, Einstein.”
“Shh.” Jack closed his eyes tightly and let them adjust. When he opened them, he started to move. At the base of a large maple tree, he stopped and listened.