Blood lure

Harry felt for a carotid.

"We checked first thing," Gary said. "She'd been dead awhile, I'd guess. She was sort of cold. But that might have been the rain."

"Any ID?"

"None that we could find."

Ruick handed A

As the body rolled onto its back, Gary looked away. He'd seen what was there and made the choice not to see it again. A

"We just kind of started to roll her-you know, see if she was-then figured we'd better leave well enough alone. Bear'd been feeding on her," Gary explained disjointedly, eyes still fixed on a place only the gods call home.

His words pattered meaninglessly. A

Eaten. A

Ruick stayed where he was, squatting on his heels, till A

"I'd rather it had been a bear," Ruick said at last. "I'd whole hell of a lot rather it had been a bear."

"A person killed her?" Gary said, and for the first time A

"Looks that way," Harry said. "Did you check the rest of the body?"

"No, sir, just the face." Clearly that had been enough for Gary.

Ruick rocked back on his heels. In the spill of light from the flashlights, he studied first Gary then A

"A

Gary held the lights as best he could while keeping his eyes off the ruin of the corpse's face. A

Harry's check of the body was cursory. No defensive cuts on hands or arms. Nothing apparent under the nails. Given the lack of light it was impossible to ascertain much in the way of detail. The woman had no identification on her. The pockets of the army coat produced unused rolls of film, a three-by-five card, much battered, with measurements written on it, lip balm, three pe

Ruick finished the search, then lacking anything with which to cover her, he rolled the body back on its side and the ruination of her face was lost in shadow. He and A

"No pack," A

"No water bottle anywhere," Gary added.

"Film suggests she was carrying a camera. Could be the pack was stolen. Could be it just got left off if she was chased or killed someplace else," Ruick said.

He got on the radio and set the machinery in motion for the body recovery. With the weather clearing, a helicopter would be able to come at first light to airlift it out of the park.

While he talked, A

Finally Ruick put his radio away. For a long minute no one said anything. A

Nobody could guarantee another's safety in the wilderness.

Brain nominally in gear, she said, "We carry her out?"

"Can't see how to avoid it," Ruick replied. "Can't leave her here. We're between a rock and a hard place. We carry her out and trash what might remain of the crime scene or we leave her here and the scavengers do the job for us. They may anyway. The smell of blood is bound to attract some."

There was nothing in which to wrap the corpse. To facilitate carrying, they removed her arms from the sleeves of her jacket, zipped them inside and tied the sleeves over her chest. A

Harry Ruick took the head, Gary Bradley the feet. A

During their absence Joan had not been idle. The other members of the team had convened on West Flattop Trail. It had been too late and too dark to return to A

Though they'd known each other little more than five days, A