Woodsmoke wafted over from a fire that burned in a ring of circular stones. A pan of burnt eggs sat on top of a grate to the side of the fire. Their breakfast had probably been interrupted when news of a body spread through the campground.

"And how did you hear that a body had been found?" Jo had finished with the personal information and was starting to ask questions.

"We were finishing up breakfast." A short redhead named Tara Barrett motioned toward the picnic table where six waterproof lunch bags stood. "I had just finished packing the lunches for our hike today when we heard a big commotion, and someone yelled something about a body. We ran down and…" Her voice trailed off in a sob.

"Didn’t you notice that Lynn wasn’t here?" Their eyes all flew to a red tent that was situated at the base of a tall scotch pine.

"We didn’t think much of it." Amber’s eyes darted around to the others. "I mean, she was pretty drunk last night, and I guess we just thought she was sleeping it off."

She slipped her hand into that of a tall guy—Noah Brickey—and stepped closer to him as if for comfort.

"That’s right. I was just about to check on her." The brunette, Julie Swan, blew her nose into wadded-up toilet paper she’d ripped from a roll that was sitting on the picnic table. "I never thought she’d be… well, what exactly happened to her?"

"That’s what we’re going to find out," Jo said. "Did any of you notice anything strange last night? Do you know why she would be in the river?"

"She probably went swimming," Tara said. "I mean, unless she hooked up with that guy from the bar."

Sam’s brows shot up. "Guy from the bar?"

"We went into town last night and drank at some bar." This came from Joshua Moore, who stood next to Tara. Sam figured them for a couple. Noah and Amber were a couple, but the others looked as if they were solo. Which made him wonder, had one of them been with Lynn? Probably not on this trip if she hooked up with a guy from the bar, but maybe one of them was an ex-boyfriend.

"That place that looks like an old church," Noah added.

"Holy Spirits?" Jo asked. Holy Spirits was an old decommissioned church turned into a bar complete with original pews and altar. It was quirky and somewhat of a local hangout that made the best burgers in Coos County.

"Yeah, that’s the place. Anyway, Lynn met some guy there, and they seemed to hit it off. He came back here afterwards. I don’t know if he was camping out or lived around here," Noah said.

"What did the guy look like?" Sam asked. He knew all the locals that hung out at Spirits.

Amber screwed up her face as if trying to conjure up an image. "Kinda long hair… and he was wearing a baseball cap. Flannel shirt, untucked."

"Was his name Jesse?" Jo asked.

Julie snapped her fingers. "Yes! That was his name."

Jo looked around at the group. "So, one of you isn’t Lynn’s boyfriend, then?"

"You look like couples," Sam added.

"We’re not all couples." Amber clutched Noah’s arm. "Me and Noah are together, and Tara and Josh are together. Everyone else is single."

"We work together at my company." Noah’s voice was tinged with pride. "We make video games. We’ve been working our asses off to put out a new version of the game. You know, nights, weekends, hardly any time off. Our reward was to take four days off and come camping. We left a skeleton crew back at the office to keep things running." His face crumbled as if he was realizing what the reward had cost them. "Lynn worked the hardest, and she was really looking forward to kicking back and letting off some steam."

"So you saw Jesse here with Lynn?" Jo asked.

Julie made a face. "I’m not sure about that. We were partying in the bar. Then we brought the party back here. Some other people joined us for a little while. Some from that campground over there." Julie slapped at a bug on her knee then pointed through the woods to a patch of blue tent and wafting campsite smoke. "I think that guy from the bar was here, but I’m not positive."

"I am," Amber said. "I think he followed us back. I saw him with Lynn, but I’m not sure if he was still here after I went to bed."

"So, who was the last person to see her? This guy from town?" Jo asked.

They all looked around at each other.

"Hard to say. I wasn’t really paying attention," Josh said.

"What do you think would make her go in the water without her clothes on?" Sam asked.

"Swimming? She did that at night. Undies only." Tara’s eyes turned misty. "I always warned her not to do it alone. And she was drunk, and the river has a lot of rocks… I mean, it was an accident, wasn’t it?"

Sam didn’t answer. Instead, he slapped at the high-pitched whine around his ear. A mosquito. Up here, once the bloodthirsty insects got a bead on you, they came in like a squadron of fighter planes. They made a noise like an incoming missile, had the sting of a harpoon, and their bite left a lump the size of a golf ball.

Here in the dense woods, both mosquitos and black flies were out in full force, and their conversation was punctuated by waving arms as the campers swatted at them. Sam had to stop himself from scratching, or he’d have a lump five times bigger than the tiny bug that had caused it.

He glanced through the patch of woods toward the river. There was a thin path leading from the campsite toward it. "Is that where you go swimming?"

"Yeah." Noah swatted at a bug in front of his face. "But her body wasn’t found there."

"She could’ve been carried downstream." Sam walked down the path. The beach was about fifty feet away. Very small, with a thin sandy patch hardly big enough to put a towel on. Good enough for getting your feet wet, though. He studied the area, looking for anything out of the norm. The water ran faster here. Lynn could have entered the water here. The current wasn’t strong enough to sweep away anyone that could swim, but if she’d been unconscious, it would have carried her away. Maybe she’d been so drunk that she’d passed out and drowned.

"Do you see anything?" Julie ventured.

"No." Sam spun and looked at her. "But I’m wondering if Lynn went swimming on her own, then where are her clothes?"

Julie frowned and looked around. "I don’t know. She was wearing a red tie-dyed shirt and cotton pants. But she could’ve taken them off in her tent."

"And walked half naked through the campsite?" Jo asked. "You guys must all be really good friends."

Julie frowned. "No, she wouldn’t—"

"Woof!"

Sam turned to see a large, scraggly dog. It had the markings of a German shepherd, but it was bigger. Some kind of mix, he guessed. Maybe Rottweiler… or bear. The coat was matted, and the dog was thin, as if it hadn’t eaten in a while.

A pang of sympathy for the dog shot through him. They’d seen their share of strays. Usually, they took them in and Reese posted their picture on Facebook, then Sam or Jo dropped them at the shelter. Between him and Jo, they tried to make sure extra effort was made to find the dogs’ families. But this one looked as if it might not have a family.

"Is that your dog?" Sam asked.

"No. Never seen it before."

Sam turned back to the dog. Its whiskey-brown eyes looked at him as if it knew something he didn’t.

The dog turned and walked a few paces into the woods back toward where they had found the body.