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Lance took out his phone “I’ll call the SFPD and let them knoe found the car”
“We should probably call Nick and see if he’s seen her”
Lance shook his head “Let the police handle that in case there’s a problem”
“A problem?”
“Someone slashed all her tires” His eyes were flat in the darkness as he turned away
“Nick wouldn’t do that” But Morgan didn’t make the call
While Lance called the police, she circled the vehicle, scanning the car and the ground around it for clues Solinted in the dirt a dozen feet away: a set of keys The largest was a Honda ignition key Why would Tessa’s keys be on the ground? If she dropped the away
Morgan walked past the keys She played the bea pink on a mossy tree root closer to the lake She walked closer A cell phone She stooped to pick it up There was so dark spattered on it
The wind shifted, and a sense of vulnerability swept over Morgan Shivering, she glanced around at the dark woods Branches and their shadoayed in the dark
She called back to the clearing “Lance?”
The hairs on the back of her neck twitched Had Tessa gone this way? Morgan could see her accidentally dropping either her keys or her phone, but both? She glanced back down at the dark red dots on the phone case
Blood?
And Morgan knew
Tessa hadn’t been walking away She’d been running
Morgan followed an iinary arrow that connected the two objects Underbrush plucked at her jeans as she scanned the ground but saw nothing but dirt, ame trail led toward the lake
“Morgan, where are you?” Lance called fro?”
A twig snapped as he approached She ju that so
Very wrong
“I’m here” She waited until she heard Lance behind her, then followed the trail toward the lake Cattails rose froround turned ht paused on some broken cattails
Was that blue cloth?
“We should wait for the police,” Lance said behind her
“I see so with her sense of dread Apprehension prickled at her spine as shein theto like what she saw
Morgan took another step forward The cloth was blue Denim blue The sleeve of a jacket ht a length of long, dark hair Her stomach went cold
Tessa?
The cattails had nearly closed over her
“I found her!” She rushed forward Six feet froirl’s body Blood on her torso had dried to a dark red Lance’s arm swept out to block her path
“Don’t go any closer,” he said “You’ll contaminate the scene”
“But what if she’s” Even as she said it, Morgan knew Tessa wasn’t alive There was simply too much blood
“She’s not” Lance’s voice softened
The flashlight shook in Morgan’s hand She leaned forward to see Tessa’s face Trean’s body, yet she couldn’t take her eyes off the treht and what it illuminated