Ava
The coroner’s grim face did little to ease the knot of dread coiled in my stomach as he approached, peeling off his latex gloves with a soft snap. Chris and I rose to our feet, wringing our hands nervously.
“Well?” Chris prompted, his voice low. “What do we know?”
The coroner’s jaw tightened. “The girl died from a broken neck, roughly eighteen hours ago,” he said without preamble. “My best guess is that the force of the fall snapped it clean.”
A collective shudder rippled through our small group. I felt Chris stiffen beside me, no doubt envisioning the horror—I was envisioning it, too. And to think that that had almost been any of us just a few moments ago.
“So it was just… an accident?” Leonard chimed in. “She fell while hiking or something?”
The coroner opened
