“Possibly killed, then. Can’t tell if it was an accident or deliberate at the moment,” Hallie said, moving a little so she could see the face. “If we’re guessing, then can we perhaps assume this is Waller Howther?” The man who had been the Conclave liaison, and who had been out of contact for a few days. The limited information that had been available on her tablet had not included any photographs or physical description of the man. “He’s wearing plain working clothes, but I don’t think that tells us much. This is a new settlement after all.”
“Without more information, impossible to say for sure who he is, but I think that’s a decent guess,” Girard agreed. “And the fact he’s been buried out here, carefully hidden in the trees, suggests to me that whoever buried him didn’t want his body found. We’re pretty deep into the woods here.”
“They left his eyes open,” Hallie commented. That flat stare was making her skin crawl. “So probably not buried by someone who cared about him all that much.”
“Another decent guess,” Girard said. “And I’d also say he was carried here. I don’t see any drag marks through the shrubs. That would suggest someone with a bit of strength.”
“Digging that hole would have taken a bit of strength, too. It’s not very deep, but the ground is hard with winter, so it would have taken a lot of effort.”
Hallie straightened to her feet, a shiver running across her skin. Far from the director’s expectations of a simple fact-finding mission, she and Girard hadn’t been on the island for even one hour and had already found a corpse. She couldn’t helpwondering what other disturbing discoveries lay in wait in the profound and oppressive silence.
They covered the body again. Even though it was a makeshift grave, Hallie thought he deserved the bare dignity of a bit of concealment.
With that grim task done, she looked across at Girard. “This isn’t what we expected,” she began, not sure exactly what she wanted to say.
“Agreed. Let me try to get through and update the director,” Girard said.
Hallie followed him back through the shrubs to their packs and watched while he pulled a bulk, matte black phone out of his pack and powered it up. The green screen was bright in the shadows, highlighting his frown.
“No signal,” he said. “Most likely because of the storm.” He powered it down and stowed the radio phone away again. He paused, looking at Hallie. “I know the director said to stay put if there were signs of trouble, but I’d like to go further, learn more.”
“Yes,” Hallie agreed. “Right now, we don’t know anything apart from there’s a dead body. I’d like to know more, too. There might be some answers in the settlement.”
“I’d like to take a look around a bit more before we head in,” Girard said.
With the image of the dead man imprinted on her mind, Hallie couldn’t find anything to argue with in that and fell into step behind Girard. The dense shrubs made walking side-by-side impossible. He wove a path around the mature trees and avoiding the more tangled of the plants until he reached a pointwhere the trees and shrubs fell away. As if someone had cut them down, Hallie thought, and then realised that, of course, that was exactly what had happened. The settlers wouldn’t have wanted this much undergrowth right up against their homes.
There was no time to be distracted, though. They were finally in sight of the buildings.
Her first sight of Paradise’s second settlement just made Hallie confused. There was a solid wall built of what looked like tree trunks. At this distance, she thought they were lashed together with crude rope. Then she realised that there was a ditch of some kind in front of the wall, with a few jagged points poking up from the ditch itself. Possibly wooden stakes, although Hallie couldn’t imagine what business they had in the ditch. Beyond the height of the wall, Hallie could see what looked like a half dozen roofs formed of bare branches and reeds making a basic thatch, apart from one which seemed to have a tiled roof, standing out from the others. That building also had a tall, thin metal structure on its roof.
“I thought this was a settlement, not a military camp?” she asked Girard, keeping her voice low.
“It is. The wall and ditch might be protection against wildlife,” Girard whispered back, although he didn’t sound absolutely convinced. “I can only see one way in. Farther round from where we are. Over there.” He pointed. Hallie thought that it was close to where the path from the fields would have led them, if they’d stayed on it. Narrowing her eyes, she saw she was right. She could just make out the trace of the path leading through the shrubs and straight up to the wall. There was a wooden ramp set across the ditch, leading to a gap in the wall. It might be a good defence against wildlife to only have one way in or out, but it meant that any person approaching the settlement was vulnerable. And if that was the only way in or out, it alsomade everyone in the settlement vulnerable, too, Hallie thought, frowning.
At Girard’s direction, they moved back into the woods, and, finding the trail they had made, followed it back until they were almost opposite the gap in the wall.
“Let me go first. Just in case there’s trouble. I’ve got body armour,” Girard said. He sounded determined. “If anyone starts shooting, shoot back. If you’re not sure of your target, aim high, over the wall.”
Hallie frowned at Girard for a moment. On the one hand, he made a logical point - if someone did fire at him, his body armour would protect him far better than the simple fabrics Hallie wore. On the other hand, they’d already found one body. She was also perfectly used to going into dangerous situations on her own, and it seemed somehow cowardly to stay hidden. Logic won out, narrowly, so she nodded, drawing her gun and holding it carefully in both hands, muzzle pointed to the ground, watching as Girard crept forward out of the shrubs and onto the open land.
Once out of the shrubs, Girard straightened to his feet and walked with unhurried strides along the path, heading for the gate. He had holstered his gun, but Hallie noticed he kept his hand near it, ready to draw if needed. She had to admire his apparent confidence, not knowing what lay behind the wall or who or what might be watching him.
As he walked, the smell of burning drifted through the air again and Hallie wrinkled her nose in distaste. There was something foul in the stench. It wasn’t the clean smell that might come from a cooking fire or fire in a hearth. There was something rotten and dark mixed in.
She tensed when Girard reached the ramp over the ditch. He paused, looking down into the ditch and she saw his whole body stiffen, hand gripping the hilt of his gun. Her grip on her ownweapon tightened, but she managed to hold still. After what felt like a long pause, Girard moved forward again, through the gap in the wall and into the settlement, leaving Hallie completely alone, the silence roaring in her ears, skin prickling with unease, heart beating in her throat.
Chapter six
Halliecouldn’thearanythingbeyond her harsh breathing and the roar of the quiet and still air all around her. The silence seemed to drag on, weighing more heavily on her with each passing moment. She wasn’t sure what she disliked most. The waiting, or waiting while someone she cared about had walked into potential danger. It was so much easier when she worked alone, and just had herself to worry about. She only realised she had been holding her breath when Girard reappeared in the gap in the wall and raised his hand, beckoning her forward. She sucked in air, heart slowing a fraction. He was unharmed. She put the gun away and rose to her feet. Despite his signal, and the emptiness around her, her skin prickled with unease as she crossed the open space to the ramp across the ditch.
As she reached the edge of the ditch the smell of burning grew stronger and she looked down, seeing what had caught Girard’s attention. The bottom of the ditch was thick with black, heavyash that looked almost oily in the daylight, and also full of small bones. Too small to be from people, which was something of a relief after the discovery of the body in the woods.
“That’s disturbing,” Hallie commented, pausing before she set foot on the ramp.
“Yes. It looks like the residents burned small animals in the ditch. It stretches out to either side.”
Hallie shivered, gaze following the line of the ditch to one side and then the other, seeing that Girard was right. Almost against her will, she crouched down by the edge of the ditch to get a better look at the remains. “Some kind of small creature. A bit bigger than a rat, I’d say. Any idea what they could be?”
