She and Case each grabbed water bottles from their packs and drank, then began their search again.

A hawk screeched above them.

Case clapped his hands loudly to scare animals away from the area. Terra had received her training at FLETC, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, in Georgia, as all federal law enforcement agents did, but that didn’t mean she had grown accustomed to the sight of death or, in the forest, what animals could do to a body.

Case signaled for her to stop, though he still crept forward.

“What is it, Case?”

“Up ahead, just past that white pine. I see jeans and a pair of boots.”

Dread churned in her gut. “We’ll skirt around until we can get a good look from a distance.”

Sarnes had asked for their assistance to secure the area and body—protect it from animals if needed—but nothing more. As a special agent, Terra was responsible for complex investigations—crimes against natural or archaeological resources—but crimes against persons, such as homicide or property crimes, fell to local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies.

She and Case made their way through the trees to get a closer look.

“I assume the deputy who called this in had his reasons for relaying that we’re looking for a body rather than someone who was simply injured or unconscious,” Case said. “But how does he know the person is deceased?”

“You want us to check, is that it?” she asked.

Case suddenly stopped, and she nearly bumped into him.

From where they stood, she saw the bent form. “Okay, then.”

“I could still check for a pulse.” He eyed Terra. “Stranger things have happened.”

Terra wasn’t so sure. She removed her sunglasses and took in the broken form. She didn’t want to think too hard about just how broken.

Case crept closer to the body.

Forcing down the rising bile, she kept her composure. “Only one of us needs to check. If this turns out to be part of a crime scene, we want this area protected.”

Soft voices drew her eyes up. A few SAR volunteers approached and then, seeing Terra and Case, stopped as though imaginary crime scene tape blocked their path. Their soft murmurs were the only sounds in the forest. Terra could hardly consider herself fortunate to be one of the first on the scene.

The body of a man lay twisted. Terra was relieved that his face remained turned away from them, but the angle left no doubt that his neck was broken and he had likely fallen from the cliff. “I don’t think we need to get a pulse, after all, Case.”

Case crouched next to the body and angled his head. “His watch is broken too. Eight twenty-five. It probably broke with the fall, but we don’t know if that was this morning or last night. My guess is . . . last night.”