Skeleton Canyon

“She told me, too,” Hacker continued with a pained expression on his face. “I’m afraid I did something unforgivable. I laughed.”

“You did what?”

“I laughed. Look, I can explain…”

“I don’t think I’m interested in your explanations, Mr. Hacker,” Joa

“No, she was fine-”

Joa

“But it’s getting hot. She didn’t take any water with her. If she drinks water from the stream, there’s no telling what will happen. She could come down with giardia-or worse.”

“Thank you for your help in finding the pickup, Mr. Hacker,” Joa

“Yes.”

“How about if you go home and look after your parrots. We’ll give you a call when we find her.”

Joa

“But, Sheriff Brady…” Hacker began, flushing beet red under his tan from the top of his khaki collar to the roots of his straw-colored hair.

Joa

Leaving De

By the time Joa

“What gives?” she asked.

George pointed to a boulder that was perched beside the top of the cab. “No sign of any survivors,” he said. “‘That rock down there on the other side of the engine is what stopped it. The problem is, with the truck’s center of gravity up in the air like this, we can’t be sure the rock is strong enough to hold it secure.”

“So what do we do?” Joa

Ernie nodded. “We sure as hell can’t do any investigating this way. I’m worried about tipping it, though. On this kind of steep grade, depending on the momentum and what it hits going down, it could still roll a long way. Hopefully, though, we’ll accomplish two things-uncover the body so George here can get at it, and have the truck come to rest against something solid enough that we can actually get inside.”

“The grass around here is tinder dry,” Joa

Ernie shook his head. “Fortunately, I don’t smell any leaking fuel. If it didn’t catch fire when it came rolling down the hill with the engine ru

Hearing the sound of falling rocks and pebbles behind her, Joa

He paused for a moment and surveyed the situation. “I don’t think that boulder’s enough to hold it. Want me to try prying it out of the way?”

“Sure,” Ernie said. “Let’s see what happens.”

Since Ernie had already agreed, there wasn’t much point in

Joa

“Be careful,” was all Joa

The worry had been that with the rock out of the way, the truck itself might slip loose from its precarious mooring and come rolling down on Hacker. It didn’t. Moments later, the four of them, all wearing disposable rubber gloves, were once again uphill from the wreck.

Joa

“Way to go,” Ernie panted. “That tree should hold it.”

But by then Joa

For Joa

Faced with that horrifying full view of Bree O’Brien’s mangled and naked corpse, Joa

“I’m going to need my stuff,” George Winfield was saying as he picked his way across the mountain’s steep grade all the while struggling to maintain his balance.

“I’ll go get it for you,” De

Joa

While De

In the process of falling the first time, the camper shell had been knocked loose. There was debris scattered all over the hillside. Careful not to touch anything, Joa