#Chapter 121: Familiar Faces

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 his mouth to respond, but I beat him to it. “Or she was pushed.” A tense silence fell over the group again, broken only by the faint rustle of leaves in the cool night air and the s