Lily pulled the two students aside, asked their names, and asked if they consented to her recording their recollection of the event. They did.

“Josh Petrie,” the young man said. “I’m a fourth year at Albany Med. I will be, I mean, in September.”

“Ada Marinda,” the second student said. “Me too.”

“Can one of you go over everything you saw and did one more time?”

Josh looked at Ada, who nodded. Their story was still the same—no one was sure how long the man had been lying there before the second hiker came upon him. Both agreed that when they found him, he showed no signs of life.

“You did all that could be done,” Lily said when they had finished.

Ada repeated what they’d both already said. “We got here as quickly as we could. We didn’t wait more than twenty seconds before starting CPR, and we never let up.”

Lily nodded. “I’m certain of it. We won’t know what happened until there’s a postmortem, but I suspect it was a massive coronary. There was probably no chance of resuscitating him even if you’d been standing beside him when he occluded.”

“Will someone call us when the post is done?” Josh asked quietly.

“I will. One of you put your number into my phone. I’ll text you.” She handed it to Ada to enter the information just as two rangers and a sheriff’s deputy arrived with a stretcher. While the deputy talked to Chase, the two rangers covered the deceased with a blanket, carefully transferred him to the stretcher, and strapped him in for the trip down the mountain.

“I’ve got the interviews here,” Chase said to the female ranger, a young blonde about Chase’s age who lingered a moment to say something to Chase in a low murmur.

Lily looked away.

“Thanks for the assist,” the blonde said, engaging the lift on the portable stretcher. She and her male partner each took a side to guide it on the trek down the trail to where they’d left their vehicle. The deputy followed them a minute later.

“Do you two need a ride?” Lily asked the two students. “We’re not too far from here—it would be crowded, but we can get you down the mountain.”

“I’d rather walk,” Josh said.

Ada nodded. “Me too.”

“Thank you for everything that you did,” Lily said.

The two of them still looked uncertain and discouraged, but she knew that would pass. She understood their feelings. Losing a patient never got easier.

“They okay?” Chase asked quietly.

“They will be.” Lily sighed. “As well as they can be. This is probably their first time losing someone.”

“How about you?” Chase asked.

“Not my first time,” Lily murmured, “and it still makes me sad and damn angry.”