Page 58 of The Scenic Route
The skin between his eyebrows wrinkled.
“Like good cop and bad cop?” She was definitely a little shocky. “Good witness and bad witness?”
He gave her a long look, but even he couldn’t completely hide his amusement. “Start the car.”
“Yes, sir.” After carefully turning around and starting down the logging trail, she shot him an innocent sideways look. “Remember, you approved that hike. This is all your fault.”
“Isn’t this the fault of whoever smashed that person’s head in?”
“True.” She slowed to take a hairpin turn, resisting the urge to fly recklessly down the hill, to escape the dead body and the militia members who very likely caused the person’s death. “They’re the most at fault, then you’re next, and I’m last. Blameless.”
His snort was amused. The sound of it was so Bennett-like that it was comforting, and her fingers relaxed their grip on the steering wheel. Bennett was here with her, so everything would turn out all right.
She almost laughed at the thought.Nothinghad gone right since she’d partnered up with Bennett. Despite that, she was still happy to have him there.
Once they were parked on the side of Moose Peak Road, Felicity realized she didn’t have Chris’s direct number—well, except for 911—so she texted Callum for it. His response was quick, with the contact attached to a single word text:Problem?
She thought for a second, her fingers hovering above her screen, before she tapped out her response.Not urgent, but the murder ladies will be excited.
The ellipsis showing that he was typing flashed by as she saved Chris’s contact information and called his number with her phone on speaker.
Great.Callum didn’t even need to use the eye-rolling emoji for Felicity to hear the sarcasm in his short text, and she gave a bark of semihysterical laughter. When Bennett looked at her in question, she showed him the screen, and he gave an amused huff as Chris answered.
“Chris Jennings.” His voice was clipped and formal.
“Chris, it’s Felicity Pax and Bennett Green. Hope it’s okay Callum gave us your direct number.”
“Hey Felicity.” His tone lightened dramatically, and he sounded like his usual friendly self. “I’m glad you called.Would you be available this afternoon to have that talk we discussed?”
“Um…I’m not sureyou’regoing to be available this afternoon,” she said. “We made a bit of a discovery in the gully just northwest of the militia complex.”
Chris muttered what might’ve been a curse. “Don’t tell me you found a body.”
After a surprised blink at the phone screen, she said, “Your guessing skills are on point.”
This time, he definitely swore. “Just what we needed, another body.”
“It’s not awholebody.” She wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not. From the choking sounds coming from her phone, it probably wasn’t.
Chris’s voice sounded strangled. “It better not be missing a head.”
“It’s not,” she assured him, glad she could give him some good news. “It’s pretty muchjusta head. Well, most of a skull at least. And some vertebrae.”
“You sure it’s human?”
Exchanging a glance with Bennett, Felicity said slowly, “It’s askull, Deputy. Unless it’s from an alien, a human skull is pretty obviously, you know,human.”
Heaving a deep sigh, he said, “Okay. I’ll send the troops. Did you disturb the scene?”
“Just got close enough to make sure it was what we thought it was.” She crossed her fingers at Bennett’s mocking look. “It’s pretty disturbed already though. I think animals got to it, and thebones look sun-bleached, so I doubt this was where the victim died—or even where they were originally dumped.” There was a speaking silence, and she hurried to backtrack. “Not that they were dumped necessarily. They might’ve not been murdered, just happened to bite it right next to a militia compound.”
Chris’s sigh this time was even heavier and ended in a groan. “I can already tell this is going to be a mess, and the investigation hasn’t even started yet. You still with the remains?”
“No reception up there,” Felicity said. “We’re parked on Moose Peak Road.”
“Always comes back to Moose Peak Road, doesn’t it?” Chris asked with a hint of his usual good humor. “Sit tight. I’ll let the sheriff and the CSU know, and then we’ll head your way.”
“Got it. Bye, Deputy.” She ended the call and looked up at Bennett. “Not really the way I expected to spend our afternoon. Here comes the time-wasting part.”
