"Why do you think it fell from there?" he asked. It wasnt the most important question she thought he might ask, but somehow, in the way that people deal with stressful situations, it made sense.

"Because it looks like theres a red sock on the branch about two-thirds of the way up and the body is wearing one the same color."

Dash looked at her and for a second, she wondered if he thought she was crazy. But then he nodded and walked back to his truck. He was making a call and carrying flares when he came back.

"Here," he said, handing her two of them. "Im trying to reach Ian, the county sheriff."

"Not the police?"

"Were in an unincorporated part of the county, Ians team has jurisdiction here, but Im sure hell call in the police."

Matty didnt really know what that meant; well, she knew what jurisdiction was, but it was safe to say that who had it in which parts of the county was a bit of knowledge she never thought shed need to know. Dash walked ahead of her, away from their trucks, gesturing that hed lay the flares furthest away. She nodded and lit and laid the other two closest to where they were parked.

When the flares were all lit, they met at the front of his vehicle. She went to lean against it then jumped as the heat of the metal made contact with her bare skin.

"You okay?" he asked. "Can I get you anything? I have some water and soda in the cab. It will be cold," he offered.

She shook her head, though distantly she remembered sugar being good for shock victims. Not that she was actually going into shock, but it wasnt every day that a body fell from the sky into her vehicle.

"Ian MacAllister is on his way. He should be here in about ten minutes," Dash said.

"The sheriff?"

Dash nodded. "Used to be the deputy chief of police but the last sheriff just retired and Ian was asked to run and was voted into the position. Hes a good guy, good at what he does."

Absentmindedly, Matty nodded. They stood in silence waiting for him to show up. The heat from the road snaked up her legs and curled around her body; she began to feel sweat beading on her skin. Remembering the hair band on her wrist, she swept her hair up into a ponytail and tied it up off her neck. Dash moved toward his cab, came back with a cold bottle of soda, and handed it to her.

"Thank you." She wasnt much of a soda drinker, but now that it was in front of her, the thought of the cold, sweet drink made her mouth water.

"Youre welcome. Im going to have a look," he said, taking a step forward.

"Dash," she put a hand on his arm, stopping him, "I wouldnt recommend it. Between the heat, the rain, and the bugs, hes not a pretty sight."

"How do you know its a he?" he asked with a small frown.

Involuntarily, her lips twitched in morbid humor. "That red sock I mentioned earlier?"

He nodded.

"Its all hes wearing."

Dash looked at her for a long moment, then, without a word, walked to her truck, leaned over the tailgate for a few seconds, then walked back.

"An interesting getup for a walk in the woods," he said, returning to her side. "You seem to be doing okay with all this though?"

His question was part concern and part curiosity. Matty let out a little huff of air; it was a sad commentary on her life that the sight of a dead body didnt upset her more. Thats not to say she was completely okay with it, but it didnt send her screaming into the hills.

"Yeah, well its not the first dead body Ive seen," she answered. "You?"

"Not mine either. I was in the military right after college; they paid for vet school. You?"

"I grew up in the projects of New York City. It was a violent area. And now, because of what I do, I have a lot of friends with interesting jobs that let me tag along every now and then."

She felt his eyes on her.

"I thought Brad grew up in Greenwich?"

"Brad did grow up in Greenwich. I grew up, with my mom-who-used-to-be-the-Brooks-housekeeper-until-I-came-along, in the Bronx." Her voice was more caustic than shed intended. On the rare occasions she talked about her fathers family, she was always careful to keep her tone neutral, void of any emotion.

"I see," he said. "I was wondering why Brad never mentioned you. I take it you arent close?"

"Ive spoken to him three times in my life, and two of those conversations werent good," she responded, intentionally lightening her tone.

Dash stared at her for another moment, then walked to the cab of his truck and returned with his own halffinished bottle of soda. Twisting the top off, he took a long sip.

"If you dont mind my asking, if you and Brad arent close, how did you end up here?" he asked, closing his drink.

She thought about saying that she did mind him asking; she wasnt used to talking about herself, not on this topic of family. But instead, she found herself shrugging and answering.

"Im up here mostly because of what I do for a living," she said, starting to explain. "Im a writer and I think I was feeling a bit listless and stuck working at home in DC. We moved to DC when I was twelve," she added as an aside, remembering shed told him shed grown up in the Bronx. "I think I was already thinking about a change in scenery when Brad called. For some reason I have yet to understand, I actually answered the phone when I saw his number. We talked a bit, he asked me to come up, and I agreed." She went on to tell Dash about Brads additional incentive of introducing her to Chen in exchange for watching the dogs.

"But you have no idea where he went?" Dash asked when she finished.

She shook her head as they heard the sound of a car in the distance. "Since we didnt talk much, I didnt think much of it. But given that he left me more than I bargained for, I think its strange. But then again, maybe he just wanted to be sure I couldnt reach him once I realized what Id walked into."

As she finished talking, a big SUV pulled up and, right behind it, a police car. A brown-haired man exited the first car; Matty recognized him as the man Dash had been talking to outside the gas station on the day shed arrived. Behind him, the two police officers she recognized from Franks-Marcus and Carly-followed.

"Ian, this is Matty Brooks, Brad Brookss half sister. Matty, this is Sheriff Ian MacAllister and the new Deputy Chief of Police, Marcus Brown, and Officer Carly Drummond," he said, introducing the officers respectively.

They all shook hands and the three law enforcement officers walked over to have a look in the truck. Matty watched as they talked amongst themselves, their voices too quiet to be heard from where she and Dash stood. The three gestured and pointed in various directions quite a bit before walking back.

"That must have been quite a shock," the sheriff said as he stopped right in front of her.

"Yes, it scared the shit out of me when it hit the truck bed, Sheriff." She caught her language a moment too late-it happened to her often. But at least she could blame shock this time around. And the sheriffs strikingly unusual shade of green eyes that had caught her attention. She filed away the color in her brain-something she often did-to give to one of her characters at some point.

He smiled and even let out a little male chuckle. "I bet," he said. "And call me Ian, everyone does. Vivienne is on her way," he said, turning to Dash. "My fiancee is a medical examiner," he said, shifting his attention back to Matty. "She was just coming back into town from Boston when I called her and will be here shortly. In the meantime, do you want to tell me what happened?"

And so she did. And it took approximately thirty seconds. Ian asked a few follow-up questions, questions she didnt have any answers to, and just as she was thinking that they were going to be forced to move on to idle chitchat if they wanted to keep talking, a third car pulled up.

She saw the smile in Ians eyes, if not his face, as he moved toward it.

"The fiancee?" she asked Dash. He nodded.

She watched as an athletic-looking woman with a long brown ponytail exited the car. Pausing beside her car, the woman smiled as her fiance came toward her. Ian stopped just inches from her and said a few quiet words, making her smile even more, then dipped his head and gave her a sweet kiss. Together, they walked back to the gathered group.

"Ms. Brooks, this is my fiancee, Dr. Vivienne DeMarco."

"Holy shit," Matty said, smiling in surprise. She quickly continued when she realized that, yet again, her mother would be ashamed of her language. Not to mention that everyone was looking at her with open curiosity. "Ive heard all about you, Dr. DeMarco," Matty gushed as she took the womans hand. "Pinky Patterson is one of my really good friends. She talks about you all the time. I always seem to be traveling whenever you come to town but Pinky is always telling me I need to meet you," she explained. She knew she was babbling, but on top of the surprise in the truck, to meet a woman out here in the middle of nowhere that one of her closest friends had been telling her about for years was almost too much.

"And call me Matty," she added with a look at everyone else, including Ian.

Dr. DeMarco laughed as she shot Ian a reassuring look; apparently he was the protective type. "I love Pinky," she said. "You must be the famous Hilde Brooks shes always telling me about. And, please, call me Vivi."

Matty smiled. "Im not sure if famous is the right word, Im pretty sure Pinky would be more likely to call me infamous, but yes, thats me. Its so nice to finally meet you," she paused then frowned. "Albeit under very bizarre circumstances."

Vivi inclined her head. "So Ian told me. Of course, when I first came into town, I found a dead body, too. Its how I ended up staying here and meeting Ian. Maybe its just the towns way of greeting people it likes."

"Good god, I hope not, Vivienne," Ian muttered and she gave him a bump with her hip to make him smile. He shook his head at her, but an unmistakable look of affection passed between the two of them.

"Something good came of it all, we are getting married," Vivi rejoined. "Maybe the town has plans for you, too," she added with a look and a grin directed at Matty.

Matty recalled the serial killer Charlotte had told her about and wondered if that incident had anything to do with what Vivi was referring to, but it didnt feel like the time or place to bring it up, so she went in a different direction.

"As attractive as you three are," she said, looking at Carly, Marcus, and Dash, "And statistically unrealistically so, I might add, I have no intention of getting married, so Im hoping its just a weird fluke thing thats happened and not some strange town portent of things to come."

Vivi laughed. "Well," she said, pulling a pair of latex gloves from her pocket. "Only one way to find out. Well be back in a minute."

The four walked to the truck, leaving Matty and Dash again. "I promise I dont have cooties," she said, offering Dash a sip of the soda hed given her. His was long gone in the heat of the August day. He gave her a look before reaching for the bottle and a taking a sip.

"Hilde Brooks?" he asked. "The writer?"

She nodded. "My full name is Mathilde. My friends call me Matty, the rest of the world, or at least those that read me, know me as Hilde."

"I dont read a lot of fiction, but even Ive read you."

She laughed at the disbelief in his voice.

"Youre famous," he said.

"My books are popular, theres a difference."

He tilted his head as if he wasnt sure whether or not he believed her, but in Mattys mind there was a big difference. Her books were her books, things she made up and created. Sure they were a part of her, but not as much as some people thought. She was simply someone who had a job she loved and happened to be good at. She wasnt all that different from most successful professionals-within the world of her genres readers, her name was well known; outside of it, she was virtually unknown.

"Well," Vivi said, walking back with Ian after leaving the other two officers at Brads truck, "The good news is your truck isnt a crime scene." She removed her gloves and slipped them into a small evidence bag Ian held. "The bad news is its definitely not a natural death and Ian is still going to have to requisition your vehicle until we move the body and any evidence it leaves behind."

"Murder?" Dash said.

"I fucking hope not," Ian said with a look heavenward. "Sorry," he added when Vivi nudged him. "Its just that weve had enough of that recently." A pained expression crossed Ians face and he cast a worried look in Vivis direction.

Vivis expression turned sympathetic. "It might not be murder. The cause of death appears to be, from what I can tell, a gunshot wound. We wont know for sure until we get the body up to the lab. But even if it is a gunshot wound, that doesnt mean it was intentional. As we all know, people hunt around here all the time."

"But what was he doing up in the tree?" Matty asked.

Ian shrugged. "Who knows? Well have to identify him and then see what we can find from there."

Matty was curious and wanted to ask more, but she had enough cop friends to know that at this point very little could or would be shared. So she simply nodded.

"Do you have a ride home?" Vivi asked. "I can take you if you like."

"Ill take her," Dash interjected before Matty could answer. Vivis eyes went from Mattys face to Dashs then back again. Matty recognized the silent, female language and gave a small nod to Vivis silent question of whether or not Dashs proclamation was okay with her.

"Thanks, Dash. That way I can stay here with Ian and the team," Vivi responded.

"I cant tell you how long it will be before you get your truck back, though," Ian said.

She shrugged. "Its fine. Its Brads truck. I have my own car back at his house. Ill just need my purse from the cab and I have some grocery bags in the back seat that Id like."

Ian called to Deputy Chief Brown asking him to grab the items and in short order she was seated in Dashs truck, headed home.

"Thanks for the ride," she said.

"No problem. Are you sure youre okay?"

"A little shaken, nothing I cant handle."

He glanced at her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Get drunk and go to bed with me popped into Mattys head. "Thank you, but Im fine. Ill probably bake today," she said instead.

"Bake?" She saw his lips tilt into a smile.

"Its a great reliever of stress and has the secondary benefit of using some of those eggs."

He opened his mouth to say something then closed it.

A moment later he asked, "What will you bake?"

"Cookies, brownies, that sort of thing."

"Sounds good."

"Feel free to come and pick some up. I almost never eat what I make, or at least I almost never eat all of what I make."

He laughed as they pulled onto Brads driveway.

When they reached the house, she thought about asking him in for lunch. She wasnt all that hungry and hadnt left town all that long ago, even if it felt like hours had passed. But she had asked him twice before, once for drinks and once for dinner, and twice hed declined. He may be attracted to her, but something was holding him back. It was possible he was married or had a girlfriend, in which case, she didnt want to make things awkward for him.

"Thank you again," she said, sliding out of his truck and reaching for her bags in the back.

"Ill help you with those," he said, moving to unbuckle his seat belt.

"Too late, I got it." She pulled the last bag out and shut the door with a bump of her hip.

Ignoring her, Dash got out, rounded his truck, and took the bags from her hands. He followed her to the door and as she unlocked it they were greeted by the barks and yips of the dogs, which turned into jumps, doggy head butts, and tail wags when the door swung open. She knew Dash wouldnt stay, but she knew the dogs, particularly the Ridgeback, Isis, would be there to keep her company. And for that she was glad.

She set her purse down then took the bags from Dash. "Thanks again, I appreciate it."

He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and rocked back on his heels, looking uncomfortable. The thought that he might have a wife or girlfriend entered her mind again.