circumstances. We can move her to a room at the end of the hall until the police get here. If the police have a problem with it, they can charge me with whatever they want. I’ll worry about it later. But we should probably try to document the scene first so they can see what it looked like. Even if it’s not admissible as evidence, at least they’ll be able to see it.”
“I can do it,” Tom suggested. “I brought a couple cameras for the wedding, both a video and a Nikon.” A few of the others had actually kidded him about it on the drive up when Scott had mentioned it, pointing out that everyone’s cell phone had a camera on it these days. He’d thought they deserved better images than those captured by a camera phone. That seemed even more vital now that they were talking about things like evidence.
“Thank you.”
Jessica suddenly spoke up again. “You can hate me for saying it, but somebody has to. How do we know the two of you won’t try to destroy any evidence?”
Silence fell again. Tom noted that no one spoke up to say the idea was ridiculous.
“If it would make everyone more comfortable, we could probably use at least one more person to help move...the body, if someone wants to come up?”
He glanced around the group for volunteers. In spite of being the one who’d raised the objection, Jessica didn’t speak up, her lips fixed in a pout. He saw Rachel grip Scott’s hand. Even if she hadn’t, Tom doubted Scott would have wanted to leave her. As Tom thought it, Scott looked up and met his eyes, a hint of apology in his. It wasn’t as though Greg would be much help, his head already starting to droop.
“Why don’t you go, Alex?” Jessica said. “Or would it be too hard for you to see her like that?”
There seemed to be a challenge in the question, one Alex didn’t miss as he glared back at her.
Before he could respond, Rick stepped forward. “I’ll come with you,” he said. “She’s right. Her friends shouldn’t have to see her like that or have to help move her.”
“Thanks, Rick.” Meredith glanced around the room, lingering slightly on Jess. “Any objections?”
Jess pressed her lips together as though she was barely managing to hold one back. She didn’t say anything. Neither did anyone else.
“All right,” Meredith said. “We’ll return as soon as we can to let you know you can come up.”
From the looks on their faces none of them was particularly eager to do so. Not that Tom blamed them, not with the memory of what had happened up there still fresh in their minds.
Tom wasn’t looking forward to moving the body, but it had to be done. He hadn’t been much of a friend to Haley since college, but at least he could do this for her. Not only did Haley deserve to be treated with care, but there might be clues that could indicate who’d done this to her.
And if there was no way out of here, the most important thing was to identify the killer in their midst.
Before he—or she—could strike again.
Chapter Six
The sight of the body lying in the middle of the hallway wasn’t any easier to see the second time. As soon as Meredith stepped onto the second floor and spotted Haley there, she had to repress a shudder, the wave of revulsion rising in her belly.
“Let me get my cameras,” Tom said softly. Moving past them, he headed toward his room, carefully avoiding the body in the center of the hall.
Beside her, she heard Rick swear under his breath, and she realized this was his first time seeing the body. She glanced over at him, his face paler than it had been moments earlier. “Thank you for doing this,” she murmured. “You don’t have to, though, if you don’t want to. I know it’s above and beyond the call of duty.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I can handle it. It’s not my first time seeing a dead body. But I guess you never really get used to it, and I’ve sure never seen anything like this.”
She’d forgotten for a moment that Rick had served in the army and done several tours of duty overseas. She should have realized he’d seen the dead before, though from his expression there was something uniquely horrifying about this.
Tom returned with the handheld video camera and Nikon he’d brought. Meredith and Rick waited out