A/N: My sincerest apologies for how long it took to get this chapter out. It was being a right mean old *censored*. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far! You're awesome.
Disclaimer: Look at chapter 1.
"I hate you, Shawn."
Definitely not a rare thing for Gus to tell his friend.
"You really are an idiot."
In this situation Gus was probably even right about that, seeing as how he was driving his little blue car towards a crime scene with Shawn sitting in the passenger seat. Shawn was equally aware of how Gus kept trying to not look at him and when he lost this battle he would turn his head quickly and give Shawn a furious glare before looking back towards the road. For his part Shawn kept his head leaning against the cool glass of the window, continuously contemplating what had possessed him to think this was a good idea. He'd already prevented Gus from turning the car around and heading back to his father's house twice, so he knew he had to stay awake to make sure that third-time-lucky didn't get a chance.
It had been almost too easy to get Gus to drive him to the crime scene. It had taken a few half-hearted whispered arguments as long as some sympathy coughing and pouting before Gus had finally relented. Who knew it was so much harder to sneak out of the house like a ninja when your chest felt like it was on fire and even the air was against your very existence? Thankfully Gus had had the sense of mind to remind him to change into his jeans, which he had to agree would worker a little better against the wind than his pyjama bottoms.
"When are you going to fall asleep?" Gus asked after a whole three minutes of silence.
"I'm not going to fall asleep just so you can turn the car around and head back to my dad's place," Shawn informed his friend, keeping his head glued to the window, a little annoyed that keeping his head in that position meant that the coolness that the window had provided was dissipating. He moaned and rolled his head against the seat of the car so he was looking at his best friend. "Besides, I feel fine," Shawn croaked and sniffed.
Gus glared at him again, apparently not agreeing with Shawn's sentiment. Honestly, Shawn didn't agree with himself either but maybe saying it repeatedly would make the headache disappear. The headache was actually tolerable right now, probably thanks to the drugs Gus had shoved into his hand along with a bottle of water as soon as he'd got into the car, but that didn't necessarily mean it wasn't bothering him.
He glanced at the water bottle in his hand as he briefly wondered what his father was doing now. He'd probably found out that they'd gone now, meaning it wouldn't come as a surprise if he was currently thinking up evil ways of lecturing Shawn when they came back. The thought had Shawn wanting more than ever to return to his own apartment once this little adventure had run its course. Perhaps his father didn't care. Maybe he was enjoying having his couch back so he could sit and watch his little fishing shows. Shawn rolled his eyes at that thought. There was no way his dad would just accept something he had done. Especially not when there was a really good opportunity to lecture him.
The ringing of Gus's phone startled him out of his musings and he looked towards his friend who was already moving his hand towards the phone.
"Don't answer it," Shawn spoke quickly with a completely justified urgent tone to his voice.
"Why not? It's my phone," Gus said, though he didn't answer the phone and instead let it ring as he gazed briefly towards Shawn.
"It's my dad," Shawn explained, knowing full well that if Gus answered that phone there would be no force in the universe that would keep Gus from turning the car around.
Gus looked towards Shawn again, his hand hovering dangerously close to the phone. The phone finally stopped ringing and Shawn let out a sigh of relief.
"He'll be mad," Gus commented as he turned his eyes back to the road.
"He'll be mad at me, not at you," Shawn corrected as he tried to get comfortable against the seat but it was proving a bit of a challenge.
"I hate you," Gus said again, but the lack of severity in his tone made Shawn's mouth curve into a light smile.
They drove in companionable silence for a good ten minutes. It was a hard feat normally for Shawn (and even Gus on occasion) to stand silence for that long, no matter if it was comfortable or tense, but talking was rather abusive to his throat clearly evidenced by his voice growing raspier the more he spoke. He tried clearing his throat a few times, resorting to the water when it didn't help. Unfortunately the water no longer made the biggest difference but only made him wince slightly when he swallowed.
"It's to the right up here," Shawn said as he pushed himself a little higher in his seat, recognising the dirt road leading up to the crime scene – or rather the dirt road that would take them as far as they could go. At least the cops had cleared the undergrowth enough to get vehicles through, but you could never know if Gus would simply refuse to let his company car drive through the dirt and mud.
"How did you get up here before?" Gus asked as he slowed down and indicated, even though they hadn't seen another car for the past ten minutes at least.
"A cab," Shawn answered casually.
"You took a cab to a crime scene?" Gus questioned and looked over at Shawn again.
"Yeah," Shawn verified, quite aware that Gus was still sneaking glances at him due to the news of his somewhat unusual behaviour. "My bike was back at my apartment," Shawn explained, "and you left for work."
"Because you said you would call your dad," Gus shot back almost defensively but not quite. Shawn heard that slight note of guilt that his friend truly had no reason to be feeling. After all, it had been Shawn's own decision to head to the crime scene after he'd heard word of it over his police scanner. True, it had not been his shining moment to collapse at a crime scene, but somehow his memory leading up to that particular event was still as crystal clear as ever, even though he'd seen the world through feverish eyes.
Annoyingly the crime scene had stuck in his mind. At first he'd thought it was the crime scene photos but he'd slowly realised that there was more to it than that. He'd seen images that were undoubtedly from his own memory and not from the photographs and he'd been unable to force them from his mind. Instead they always lingered just in the corner of his eyes, demanding his attention to the point where he'd had to admit that going to the crime scene was a necessity. Neither Gus nor his dad would ever agree with him on that. Possibly Gus once they found something of profound interest and returned home safe and sound, but not before.
"You can carry on a bit further," Shawn said when Gus started to slow the car down.
"There's hardly any road here," Gus pointed out while the little blue car still slowed its pace.
"It's fine," Shawn countered, "they cleared it for police access."
Gus still didn't look convinced but with a loud huff he eased the car forwards again, his forehead creasing into a frown of concentration as he clearly tried to find the best way for the car. Shawn gave a brief nod of approval and turned to watch the scenery looking for any clues, which proved considerably hard seeing as how his vision chose just then to double as another dizzy spell hit him. Seriously, who gets dizzy in the passenger seat of a car?
"How far did the cab take you?" Gus asked moments later, clearly concerned for his car.
"Oh, it let me out when the dirt track began," Shawn said offhandedly, internally counting down to Gus's outburst. He was spot on.
"You walked up this hill?" There was a strong note of incredulity as well as a hint of concern along with the usual tone that meant that he was concerned for Shawn's sanity. Shawn was at least grateful that it was him and not the car that Gus was worrying about now. It at least made him feel slightly important that he for once came before the car.
"Sure did, buddy," Shawn answered, trying to sound as proud of himself as possible though it came out a bit tamer than his usual efforts.
"And what about my car?" There was no way the car could have not come into this again.
As so many other countless times Shawn decided that, though he could have started a rather fun argument, it was better to just let this one go. All Shawn cared about at the moment was getting to the crime scene, preferably as quickly as possibly so they could get out of here and back to his dad's place. He would then suffer through a lecture where he would, annoyingly, stay awake throughout and then, blissfully, he could sleep again.
The car came to a halt sooner than Shawn would have liked as their position resulted in walking being a necessity in order to get to the crime scene. Gus got out of the car first while Shawn stared at the door handle, hoping against all odds that once he pushed that door open he wouldn't be met by any cold wind, rain, sleet, hail or snow. Sure, the last, well, three options were beyond highly unlikely but unlikely was not the same as impossible, and he'd just discovered that the car was actually pretty nice and toasty warm.
Shawn was cruelly torn away from his musings by a quick tapping against his window. He looked up to see his best friend staring down at him, his lips moving and Shawn could faintly make out his words. Clearly his friend did not care if he wanted to stay in the car. Shawn grudgingly opened the door, at least grateful when he wasn't met with a blast of cold air.
"Took you long enough," Gus commented as Shawn shut the door behind him and pulled on the coat Gus handed him.
"Shut up."
Shawn raised his gaze to the trek that still awaited them. The Echo had taken them a good deal of the way, leaving only a short walk to the actual crime scene, but despite the short distance it still seemed daunting for Shawn, considering the longest walk he'd done since his collapse at the crime scene was the walk from the living room to the car. With an excruciatingly heavy sigh he took a step forward, noticing how Gus stayed by his side, keeping step with him even though his pace was infuriatingly slow.
Talking was kept to a minimum as they walked the rest of the way to the crime scene. Shawn didn't doubt for a second that under normal circumstances the walk from the car to the crime scene wouldn't have taken longer than five to ten minutes. In the end it took them twenty minutes before they actually reached the scene. At one point Gus had even suggested that he go get the car and see if it could make it the rest of the way up the hill, but Shawn knew it wasn't because he was tired so Shawn had told him there was no need. There was also no doubt in Shawn's mind that he might regret that decision later when it came to going back to the car. Every little hurdle at a time.
Even Gus looked relieved at the sight of the yellow police tape. Some of the images that had continuously flashed in Shawn's mind were brought back more vividly as he looked at the scene, trying to remember what it had looked like when there was a body there. He'd never been able to get close to the body and get a good look at it, so the crime scene photos Lassiter had shoved at him actually helped a great deal to recreate the scene as it had been when he'd first been here. Swearing that he would never tell his old man, he closed his eyes and kept a clear image of the scene in his mind while he used his memory to fill in the details, or the body as some might call it.
He remembered that something had bothered him at the scene, besides the splintering headache. There had been something off with the body. He'd noticed it in the photos too but he hadn't been sure, but being at the scene again made him even more certain. He snapped his eyes open and stalked forwards as fast as he was able to where the body had been. He was hardly aware of Gus following him as he eyed the ground. The soil and leaves had been disturbed by the forensics team and cops but not enough so that the drag marks he'd seen leading away from the body had disappeared.
"Gus, look," Shawn said eagerly as he pointed towards the drag marks.
"Is that drag marks?" Gus asked as he stepped closer to peer at the disturbed ground. "Don't you think the police would have already found that?"
"Yes, I believe they have," Shawn answered slightly distractedly, "otherwise this would be way too easy. But it at least tells us that good old Norman was not killed here."
"Norman? That's the guy's name?" Gus inquired and when Shawn nodded he frowned in thought before saying, "Don't you think the police have figured that out too?"
"Yes," Shawn repeated as he crouched down to look closer at the ground where the body had been.
"I think they've cleaned the area around the body pretty good," Gus said almost carefully as he too crouched down.
Shawn nodded again, knowing that Gus was undoubtedly right but he couldn't go to the next scene before he'd at least made an honest attempt to find something. Shawn squinted at the soil, hoping that something would jump out at him that was the clue he was looking for. There had to be something. He knew there was.
"I don't see anything," Shawn admitted dejectedly, rubbing at his eyes in the hope that the action would help clear his vision as well as his mind.
"Let's go to the next scene," Gus suggested lightly, casually placing a hand on Shawn arm when he started to stand up. "I'm sure you'll find something there."
Shawn shifted his gaze to look away from the ground and instead to his friend, allowing a slow smile to work its way onto his face.
"Thanks, buddy," Shawn said sincerely before he started walking forwards, following the line of police tape. He hadn't been at the other scene and sincerely hoped that Gus was right, that he would find something there which could help him piece this together.
The second crime scene was about one hundred and twenty feet away from the first. It was higher up and Shawn was starting to feel his lungs closing off again, threatening with another wracking attack of coughs. He tried to breathe shallowly to see if this would help, but it only seemed to aggravate the lingering irritation in his throat. He stopped momentarily, resting a hand against a tree as he tried to keep his vision from blurring and his breathing from worsening. Gus was eyeing him closely, that much he was aware of and he tried to ignore it and instead pushed forward and up the hill.
The second scene was left in much the same state as the first. Shawn brought his right hand to his temple in a desperate attempt to concentrate as much as he possibly could as he surveyed the scene. The leaves littering the forest floor were starting to annoy him as he was sure they were obscuring that very important clue he was looking for. His eyes flitted across the forest floor, landing on the area where it was clear the body had been. He knew the rain had already done its damage making it that much harder for the cops to actually find any evidence at the scene, but he was still determined to try his hardest.
"It was Marlene Oakville here," Shawn mumbled absentmindedly. "Why would they be killed and dumped separately?"
"Oakville?" Gus said inquisitively as he turned to look at Shawn with a confused frown.
"Yeah," Shawn said offhandedly as he took a step closer to where the body had been and tilted his head to the side.
"Marlene Oakville?" Shawn nodded inattentively. "She's a doctor."
"What?" Shawn said, looking up a little too quickly but he proudly kept himself from swaying on the spot.
"You didn't know that?" Gus asked.
"No, Lassiter never said," Shawn replied, trying to fit this new piece into the equation, which in all honesty wasn't all that hard considering there wasn't even enough information to form an equation to begin with.
"She's a psychiatrist," Gus continued, his frown changing into a look of eager excitement that often came whenever he knew something that Shawn didn't. "She's not on my route, but I know of her."
"You know of her?" Shawn repeated as he raised his eyebrows, turning his head to look at Gus.
Gus glared at him.
"Yes, Shawn, I know of her," Gus retorted irritably. "She was going to be on my route at one point, but my route changed and so did a few of my clients."
"Clients? They're your clients now?"
"Shut up, Shawn. You know what I mean."
"Alright, so she's a doctor," Shawn continued, deciding to stop annoying his friend for now. "What does that tell us?"
"I don't know," Gus said slowly.
"What does her husband do?" Shawn asked as he started slowly walking down the hill, keeping his eyes open for any faded drag marks.
"How should I know?" Gus retorted as he followed Shawn back down the hill.
"Well, you know Marlene, so you might know Norman too," Shawn said offhandedly, a slow smirk creeping its way across his lips.
"I don't know Marlene," Gus snapped as he started walking faster to walk next to Shawn, so he could glare at him, "and I don't know Norman either."
Shawn stopped and looked closer at the ground, blocking out anything else Gus might have said.
"Huh, that's weird."
"What's weird?" Gus inquired, moving his head slightly from side to side as though he thought that would make it easier to catch onto whatever Shawn had seen.
"I need to go back to the first scene," Shawn stated with newfound energy that his body may not agree on, though he didn't particularly care as he hurried back across the hill.
There had been drag marks at the first scene almost leading across the hill instead of down it, but nothing at the second scene. If there had been even the smallest indication that Marlene Oakville's body had been dragged through that soil and those devilish leaves, Shawn knew he would have seen it. He trusted his abilities that much even when he wasn't on top of his game.
"Shawn, what are you doing?" Gus asked once he'd caught up. Shawn had no doubt that his friend had spent a considerable amount of time staring at the ground and after Shawn before he decided to follow.
"Drag marks," Shawn replied excitedly as though this was the answer to all things unexplainable.
"So?" Gus questioned once they both came to a halt next to where Norman Oakville's body had been.
"There weren't any near Marlene's body," Shawn said with a lingering note of enthusiasm.
"So she's wasn't dragged," Gus said slowly with a hint of uncertainty as realisation slowly dawned on him. "Norman was dragged here, but she wasn't?"
"What would I do without you?" Shawn said with mock fondness and sincerity.
"Die of starvation," Gus stated without moment's hesitation.
Shawn frowned at him but didn't say anything but instead proceeded to follow the drag marks as best he could. He had to double back a few times and still he lost the marks a few times. The rain had helped to wash away the evidence and whoever had dragged Norman through here had tried to cover it up. Finally, he stopped, Gus nearly bumping into him from behind, as he looked down at where the drag marks changed course.
"Aha!" Shawn exclaimed and pointed with a flourish at the ground. Unfortunately his exclamation caused his throat to close up uncomfortably bringing forth another round of coughing, effectively ruining his reveal. Once he was able to breathe again he continued, "Look, Gus. The drag marks."
"I don't see anything," Gus admitted, clearly finding this very irritating as he wanted to be as excited about this as his friend.
"Look closer," Shawn urged. "This is where Norman's drag marks end their journey across the hill, but look, they're going down the hill here." Shawn waited for Gus to slowly nod his head before carrying on, "And look here, right next to it. Another set of drag marks."
"So both Marlene and Norman were dragged up here," Gus replied slowly as he started to piece together what Shawn was showing him.
"Yes, but Norman was dragged off that way," Shawn continued impatiently, pointing distractedly back towards where Norman's body had been found, "while Marlene's body ended up, up there," he now pointed up the hill, "with no drag marks."
Shawn started bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet while he watched understanding dawn on Gus's face.
"Marlene wasn't dragged," Gus said, his tone nearing the same level of excitement as Shawn, though he had to absentmindedly put a steadying hand on Shawn's arm when the bouncing proved too much for his already dizzy head to handle.
"At least not all the way up, so why's that?" Shawn continued, forcing himself to tone down his enthusiasm so as not to collapse in these woods again. Once was plenty. When Gus only looked at Shawn expectantly he continued, "Gus, I think this was a two man job. Think about it, two drag marks leading up, then one goes off that way," Shawn again pointed towards the first crime scene, "while the other stops here," Shawn nodded to the ground in front of them and waited for Gus to do this also and look back up at him before continuing, "but the body is found up there."
"I think I've gathered that by now, Shawn," Gus retorted. "What do we do now?"
"I thought you would never ask," Shawn said happily as a smile slipped across his face and Gus looked suddenly worried. "Come on."
Shawn started walking along the two sets of drag marks, careful not to disturb the ground further as it was already hard to see any indication that two bodies had been hauled through the soil.
"Where are you going?" Gus asked as he started walking after him. Shawn felt as if there was a pattern developing here. "The car is over there."
"I'm following the drag marks," Shawn answered determinedly.
"Oh hell no," Gus exclaimed and he jogged up and stopped in front of Shawn, who nearly bumped into him when he momentarily forgot his reflexes were a bit slower than normal. "Shawn, you're sick –"
"That's a little bit harsh," Shawn mumbled, but Gus ignored the quip.
"I've already got you out of your dad's house and driven you to a crime scene," Gus continued ranting, his tone growing increasingly urgent as though he was afraid that Shawn's attention span was limited, which in all honesty was probably a reasonable fear. "Your dad's already going to kill me. I'm not going to let you wander off trying to find two murderers in your condition."
"Alright, first of all," Shawn said, holding up one finger, "we've already been over this. My dad is going to be mad at me, not you. Second of all," Shawn now held up two fingers, "would it make a difference if I made you believe that there was only one murderer?"
Gus glared at him again, drawing in a deep breath before huffing, "Fine. But just for the record, I think this is a bad idea."
Shawn was alright with that so he fixed Gus with an expectant look and waited for his friend to move aside before he continued walking down the hill. Gus fell into step beside him and every so often Shawn could hear him muttering under his breath, and Shawn didn't doubt he was cursing his dear friend. To amuse himself Shawn would occasionally turn and look at Gus confusedly only to earn a glare in response.
Though he would never admit it even if he was threatened by the power of the almighty Furies, Shawn was incredibly grateful when the woodland cleared and gave way to even ground covered in asphalt. Gus stopped next to him and Shawn nudged his arm to get his attention, regardless of whether or not he already had it.
"We drove past this," Shawn said and pointed towards the back of the derelict apartment buildings some sixty yards away from them. "This must be the old parking lot."
"We drove past this?" Gus echoed as he furrowed his brow in concentration.
"Yes, it was just before we reached the dirt track," Shawn answered distractedly as he walked forward a few steps, trying to pick up on anything that could give him the next piece of the puzzle.
"Just before, Shawn?" Gus questioned, clearly unsure of Shawn's accuracy when it came to direction.
"Ish," Shawn offered offhandedly, growing increasingly aware of how much stress his lungs claimed to be under.
"Are you sure the marks in the soil let here?" Gus asked uncertainly as he cast a glance along the empty lot.
Shawn nodded slowly. He understood full well what Gus was saying as he had expected there to be something more here than an abandoned parking lot. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he took in just how quiet this place was. He took a moment to listen as the wind as it rustled the leaves in the woodland behind them, creating a hollow, haunting sound that had him want to desperately turn around to see what monsters from the closet could be lurking just out of his field of vision.
His boots sounded heavy and loud as he walked slowly across the parking lot, making sure to keep Gus in sight almost constantly as his friend was currently walking a different route across the asphalt, both hoping to discover something. The apartment buildings had definitely seen better days, but the dark and somewhat damp feeling they gave off as they towered above him did nothing to make the scene any more inviting. He swallowed as he looked up at the buildings before letting his eyes slide back to look at the ground.
There was something glinting in the dull sunlight just a little ways off to his left. Shawn suppressed a shudder, suddenly feeling as if it wasn't just him and Gus out here but a quick sweep of the parking lot denied his suspicion. He walked towards the glinting object – or rather, objects, as he noticed as he neared, keeping his steps quiet. It felt wrong to be too loud when everything apart from the wind was so quiet.
It was glass, he noted as he crouched down next to the broken objects. Most likely from a beer bottle. He looked a little closer and keeled backwards in his hurry to get off the ground.
"Gus!" He yelled as loudly as he could, but apparently his lungs, throat and head thought he had yelled way too loud for their taste so he had to double over as another Attack of the Coughs took over.
He could barely hear Gus running over due to his own heaving breaths and the blood pounding in his ears.
"Shawn! Shawn, are you alright?" Gus asked, his voice dripping with concern as he now stood next to his friend, keeping a hand on his shoulder which Shawn was actually immensely happy about as it helped to at least keep him on his feet.
"Broken glass," Shawn wheezed as he pointed at the glass on the ground. "There's blood on it."
"What?" Gus exclaimed as he took half a step away from the broken glass, his hand still in contact with Shawn's shoulder even when Shawn straightened. "That's it. We're leaving. No arguments," he added sternly as he held a finger up in front of Shawn.
"I second that," Shawn admitted quietly. He didn't even want to pretend to want to stay here. Sure, normally places that gave him the creeps made him even more interested to go exploring, but it was different when he wasn't on his normal constant adrenaline high.
The slight flaw in Shawn's plan showed when he started walking again. Apparently hiking with a high fever was not the grandest idea which he was so cruelly made aware of when his legs gave out from under him.
"Shawn!" Gus yelled again and Shawn was immensely grateful that Gus had been right beside him to halt his plunge towards the ground.
"I'm okay," Shawn said automatically once he was somewhat on his feet again.
"I should have never taken you out here," Gus said as he slung Shawn's right arm over his left shoulder.
"Gus, don't be a glass of warm drinking water," Shawn mumbled, frowning slightly at his words. That must have been one of the worst he'd ever come up with.
"There's no way you can make it all the way back to the car," Gus said exasperatedly.
"Sure I can," Shawn countered, ignoring how his whole body seemed to had had enough of his idea of hiking and crime solving.
"You said we drove past this, didn't you?" Gus asked, stopping Shawn as he tried to walk forward.
"Yeah?" Shawn answered slowly, slightly uncertain if he wanted to know what Gus was thinking.
"I'll go get the car as fast as I can," Gus said as he started to haul Shawn closer to the apartment buildings. "You wait here."
"What?" Shawn exclaimed, his voice higher pitched than normal even with his sore throat. "I'm not staying here."
"Call Lassiter or Juliet," Gus continued as though Shawn had not spoken, "tell them what you found and I'll be right back."
"Why don't you stay here, we call them, they come and then you can go and get the car?" Shawn asked, knowing his tone was bordering on desperate.
"Look at yourself, Shawn," Gus snapped and Shawn actually found his gaze shifting downwards to look at his coat. "You can hardly keep upright, let alone walk."
"I can," Shawn defended and took one step forward without Gus's help.
"Shawn," Gus sighed. He looked at Shawn for a moment, who did his best to look like a beaten puppy. "At least sit down." They both walked the rest of the way over to the building, Shawn with a little help from Gus. They sat down on the ground so their back was resting against the building and Shawn leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he tried to will his head at least for the thousandth time to stop spinning. "I'll call Lassiter," Gus said after a minute of silence, "if someone doesn't come up here I'm still leaving to get the car."
"Okay," Shawn rasped as he fought against the fatigue his body was now claiming it was going through. Apparently the case had brought him on some form of an adrenaline high, at least enough for him to come off it. Hard. "I think you were right."
"About what?"
"Maybe coming out here wasn't the best idea," Shawn answered quietly. He felt a hand rest briefly against his forehead but he didn't even want to attempt to bat it away.
"You're seriously burning up," Gus said, a slightly panicked edge to his voice.
"I thought I was already burning up," Shawn mumbled, his voice slurring slightly.
"I'm calling Lassiter," Gus said, his tone now a mixture of urgency and finality, "then I'm getting the car."
Shawn opened his eyes and looking blearily at Gus.
"You're leaving me here?"
"No, I'm getting the car," Gus repeated. "There's a big difference."
"Call my dad," Shawn croaked, almost hoping that Gus hadn't heard him.
"Come again? Now you want me to call your dad?"
"He'll come."
Shawn shifted his gaze across the parking lot and his eyes snapped open fully, his back stiffening as he caught sight of something in the trees.
"Gus…" he said weakly as he patted Gus's arm.
"What?" Gus asked, raising his gaze from the phone he'd just pulled out of his pocket.
"I think there's someone in the woodland."
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