Hannah uttered a phrase she never would have voiced if her nieces had been within earshot. “Sorry, Lisa. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You weren’t going that fast. And don’t worry about what you said. It’s exactly what I was thinking. Did you hit that tree branch?”

“I don’t think so. I’m almost sure I avoided it. It must have been something else.”

Hannah leaned forward to wipe fog from the inside of the windshield and Lisa did the same. Then both of them peered out into the driving rain. “Can you see anything?”

“Not much. There’s something there and I think part of it is light-colored, but . . .” Lisa stopped her description as lightning flashed and then she gave a little cry. “Oh, Hannah! I think it’s . . . it’s a person!”

As if of one mind, both women opened their doors and jumped out into the elements. Hannah didn’t feel the rain that pelted down with the force of a spewing faucet. She didn’t flinch as a second and then a third bolt of lightning arced down only feet from where they were standing. She was concentrating solely on the motionless figure on the gravel.

“I can’t quite tell what . . . Oh, no!” Lisa was clearly badly shaken as she arrived at the front of the truck. “It’s a man, Hannah! And I think he’s . . . he’s . . . dead!”

Hannah heard the panic in her partner’s voice, but she was too busy to deal with it now. She knelt down beside the man on the ground and with cold and wet fingers, she felt for a pulse. For one brief moment, she thought she felt a slight sign of life, but that hope quickly faded when she saw that the man’s neck was bent at an impossible angle.

“Is he . . . ?” Lisa attempted to ask the question again.

“He’s dead,” Hannah answered.

Lisa swallowed hard, and then she asked another question. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before.”

“A stranger,” Lisa said in a shaking voice.

“Come on, Lisa.” Hannah motioned to her partner as she got up and walked back to the truck. “We need to call this in to the sheriff’s station.”

A few moments later, the call had been made and the two partners were silent, sitting in their respective seats, staring out at the rain splattering big, fat drops against the windshield. Tree branches were dipping low with the weight of the rain, thunder was rumbling like a prehistoric beast, and flashes of lightning caught the scene outside in freeze frame. It was a bad storm, a nasty storm. Inside the truck, they were lucky to be protected from the elements.

“Where are you going?” Lisa asked as Hannah grabbed her umbrella from the back seat and opened the driver’s door.

Hannah didn’t answer. She couldn’t find the words. Head bent, her eyes on the ground, she walked around to the front of her truck, opened the umbrella, and propped it up over the dead man’s face. No one should have to be outside and unprotected in this storm. It just wasn’t right.