It was already hotter than yesterday, still a little before noon. Even the cicada chorus seemed to have packed it in for siesta. I took a deep breath and could feel the heat in the air. I brought my friends over to where I’d found the body, pointing out the depression in the grass. A day after the event, the foliage had almost completely recovered, so you’d have to know it was there to even notice it.

“Where was the truck when you hit the alien?” Patrick asked.

I looked around, then paced back about twenty feet along the road. “Maybe here?”

“You were out of the curve, so you were going straight, right? So for the body to end up on the side of the road here, he must have been coming from there.” Patrick pointed to the meadow. “We should check that area first.”

“Damn, Patrick,” Natalie said. “Nice detective work.”

Patrick took a slight bow, then said, “Let’s do this.” He marched off across the road and vaulted the old fence. We followed him and climbed over the fence at a more sedate pace.

Trees and random clumps of brush competed with straw-colored grass that was waist-high in places. “This feels like a busted ankle in the making,” Nat commented. “Watch out for gopher holes.”

“On the other hand,” I said, “if there’s a flying saucer in here, maybe it will have made an impression, even if it’s invisible.”

“That’s great, Jack. We could do an aerial search, if only you owned a helicopter,” Nat said.

“Or a drone,” I replied. “Oh, wait … ” I glared at Patrick.

Patrick laughed, unrepentant. “I said I’d buy you a new one. Another paycheck or two.”

“There are a lot of trees,” I said. “Maybe someone can climb up and get an aerial view.” I looked pointedly at Natalie.

“Someone?”

“Well, you are the lightest. And the best climber.”

Nat glared back at me for a moment. She didn’t like being told what to do, but there was no denying the logic. She briefly examined a few candidates, then made off for one of the taller trees.

Nat spent several minutes high up in the branches, saying nothing, while those of us on the ground became increasingly impatient. Finally, Patrick yelled up, “Well?”

Nat looked down at us. “I see two spots that look funny. Can’t tell much more from here, though. We’ll have to check out both. First one’s in that direction, maybe a hundred yards.” Nat pointed, then shifted around. “Second one over there, maybe three hundred.”

“What do they look like?” I called back.

“Like the grass isn’t as tall, or maybe is partly crushed. I can’t really be sure.”

A quick glance in the directions Nat had indicated, and with the help of my phone’s compass I was able to mark the spots on Google Maps, at least close enough for our purposes.