Then she was dragging me up the hill, out of the lot. The snow was noticeably deeper already (goodbye crime-scene footprints) and I punched through it up to my calf with each step. As we got closer to the flat-roofed shadow, I could see huge mounds of snow caked on the roof. We approached from the side, even though the front would have been a better wind buffer, battling the last few steps until our backs were pressed against the corrugated iron. The wind split around the shed and reformed just in front of us, like we were sheltering behind a rock in a river, and the crinkle in our ears reduced to a ghostly moan. I took a few heavy gulps of uninterrupted air and shook an inch of powder from my arms and shoulders. I didn’t have gloves on so I shoved my hands in my pockets, clenching and unclenching them to warm them up. Above me, long-fingered icicles hung from the awning. I saw a horror movie once where someone was skewered by a falling icicle, which I knew was impossible, but sucked myself as far back against the wall as I could anyway.

Sofia leaned around the corner, then quickly pulled her head back and elbowed me in the ribs, making eyes at me. Look. The shed door was open. The padlock Crawford had used to seal it was lying in the snow. It hadn’t been cut; the handle he’d looped it through had been entirely pulled off, screws and all.

‘We should get Crawford,’ I said.

‘You go get him then.’ She made to round the corner.

I put an arm across her, flattening her to the wall. ‘Stop!’

‘I want a closer look at the body, okay? And I’m not going to get a better opportunity. Crawford won’t let any of us near it again. And like he’s going to solve it. He may as well be playing dress-up. If this is’—she exploded an imaginary balloon in her hands— ‘something bigger, then we could all be dead by dawn. We have to arm ourselves with knowledge. And here we are and the door’s open. The killer’s probably been and gone.’

‘And if they haven’t?’

‘Well, that’s why I brought you. Bodyguard.’

‘Bad choice.’

‘How about this? We take a look through the door, just the tiniest glimpse, and if someone’s in there, we barricade it, lock them in. There’s only one entrance. And then we go get everyone else. Capiche?’

I had a lot of questions. How would we lock them in with a broken handle? How was it possible to barricade the door and run for help at the same time? What if they had a weapon? How do you spell capiche?