Jake nodded. “Agreed. But I can't believe it would just be out here in the open. The clues have gotten progressively more difficult.”

I slid off the bench seat and stepped on to the trail. “But we haven't seen anything else. No clues, no medallion, no anything.”

“I know.”

I walked around the cart and over to the boulder. There was nothing attached to the large rock, nothing tucked in the dirt next to it. I continued over to the bench and sat down on it. It wobbled and lifted a little and I slid to the edge of it, planting my feet firmly on the ground. I felt underneath the seat and around the sides and behind the back rest.

Nothing.

I leaned back, then thought better of it and straightened once again. I sighed. “Nothing.”

Jake climbed out of the cart and joined me on the bench. It wobbled a little more but if he noticed, he didn't say anything. “I'm telling you,” he said, his eyes scanning the canopy of trees above us. “It's on this trail. Or has something to do with this trail.”

I shook my head. “I don't think so.”

I couldn't believe I was going to lose to a jerk like Hackerman. I didn't really care all that much about winning some competition at a campground I knew I wouldn't be coming back to. But to lose to that pompous pig? It felt like I was losing the Super Bowl.

“We would've seen something by now,” I said. “And Hackerman went the other way. In a hurry. I think he knew something.”

“Daisy—”

“I mean, that guy has won six times in a row.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “It's apparently his life. He wouldn't have just hauled out of there for no reason. He knew something. Something we didn't.”

“Daisy—”

I made a face. “I can't believe we're going to have to look that guy in the face,” I said. “After he wins and we lose and—”

“Daisy, would you shut up for a second?” Jake said.

I looked at him. “Well, that's rude.”

“Well, if you don't, I won't be able to point out what I see over there in the bushes,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What?”

He pointed across the trail, on the other side of the cart. “Look over there.”

I saw thick, dense shrubbery beneath the tall trees. A few looked like wild raspberry bushes. “I don't see anything.”

He stabbed the air again with his finger. “Left of the big tree on the right. Look straight through the bushes. Down toward the ground.”

I moved my eyes in the direction he was pointing. I squinted. Then I squinted some more.

Then I saw what looked like a red, white and blue ribbon.

Attached to something shiny.

I squinted some more.

There was something there.

I jumped off the bench. “You think that's it?”

“Assuming I was right about the trail, then it might make sense that you'd see it from a sitting position on the bench,” he said. “But you would have to assume—and admit—I was right about the trail.”

“Fine. I admit it,” I said.

Jake raised his eyebrows. “Admit what?”

I rolled my eyes. “That you were right about the trail and anything else you want credit for.” I reached down and pulled on his arm. “Now, come on. Help me dig through the bushes to get the medallion so I can rub that guy's nose in it.”

“Daisy Savage,” he said, letting me pull him up. “Always gracious whether in victory or defeat.”

“Yeah, well, it's gonna be victory this time.”

We crossed the path and waded into the brush at the base of the trees. Branches poked my skin and tickled my palms. I brushed another bush and sharp thorns grazed my thigh. The forest was thicker than it looked from the other side of the path and maneuvering between the bushes was difficult. So was finding solid footing.

“My legs are already cut up,” Jake said from behind me.

“Mine, too.”

“This is worth it?”

“I can't believe you even have to ask.”

I turned sidewise and sidestepped through bushes that rose up to my shoulders. Another thorn pricked me, the back of my arm this time, and a mosquito buzzed my ear. I tried to crouch down to get a better sightline to the medallion but I didn't have any room.

“I'm gonna move here to my left,” I said over my shoulder. “I think it opens up a little bit and I can get lower to the ground.”

Jake grunted in response, whacking at several of the bushes that were preventing him from moving forward.

I sidestepped a few feet to my left, angling for the small clearing, which was more like a little empty space than an actual clearing. But the branches that had been trying to poke my internal organs did recede, only piercing my skin instead. I squinted through the tops of the bushes and I thought I could make out the ribbon again.

“I think I can reach it,” I said over my shoulder.

“Be careful,” Jake said.

“Duh,” I said. I promptly stepped on a tree root, lost my balance and tumbled face first into the bushes.

“Daisy!” Jake yelled. “Are you alright?”

I wiped the dirt from my mouth and closed my eyes to keep the sand and grit from getting in them, too. “I'm fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I tripped,” I said. “I'm fine.”

I laid there for a moment. I rolled my ankles around and tested my knees. I flexed my arms and  brought both hands to my eyes. None of the major limbs appeared to be injured.

With the back of my right hand, I wiped across my eyes, trying to remove the dirt and rocks that were stuck to my face. It took a couple of swipes, but it finally felt like I'd cleared most of it. I tentatively opened my eyes.

I'd removed most of the dirt, so my eyes were clear.

And I could see the medallion, about four feet away.

Around the neck of a man who was lying on the ground with his eyes open, but who most definitely was not alive.

SEVEN

If I'd never seen a dead body before, I probably would've been completely freaked out. But I had, about six months earlier, in a hidden coal chute in the basement of our century old home. I had screamed loudly upon finding it, loud enough to bring the kids running at a fast clip—and half of the entire town of Moose River.

This time, however, I did not scream.

It was more of a whimper crossed with a cry mixed in with a yell.

Jake crashed through the bushes, nearly stepping on my legs when he reached me. I pointed to the source of my whimper/cry/yell and he swore quietly, pulled out his cellphone and called 9-1-1. Then he pulled me up from the ground and we backed out of the brush, standing there quietly on the trail for a moment.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his expression full of concern.

I nodded but he knew I was rattled. I didn't think anyone could ever get used to seeing dead bodies. The person I'd seen in the woods was no Olaf Stunderson. This man was young, probably early twenties. A shock of dark hair, clean shaven-skin, a small bar piercing his eyebrow. Chocolate brown eyes stared skyward, unseeing.

“Did you see any injuries?” Jake asked. “Any kind of trauma to the body?”

Wordlessly, I shook my head.

“And the medallion was around his neck, right?”

“Yes,” I whispered. I squeezed my own eyes shut, trying to block out the image of the dead man. “I probably should've grabbed it.”

Jake shook his head. “I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that.”

“Just so Hackerman doesn't go and rip it off his neck,” I said indignantly. “I wouldn't put it past that jerk. He'll probably do anything to be the winner, remember? Including taking it off of a corpse.”

“Well, I'm gonna go ahead and say you are the winner at finding dead bodies.”

It was a title I absolutely did not want.

Within a couple of minutes, golf carts were flying down the path toward us and people on foot were jogging down the trail. Delilah was the first to arrive in her hot pink golf cart, accompanied by a man in a khaki uniform. She was followed by a golf cart with two men who looked like they were wearing police uniforms. Other golf carts paraded down behind them.