Page 9 of Silent Neighbor

Finn nodded, growing serious. "It's your choice, of course. Just know that I'm confident you can do it."

"I appreciate that." She cleared her throat, slipping back into work mode. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

Finn ticked off items on his fingers. "We've got to follow up on that string of mailbox vandalisms on Hyatt Street, check in with Mrs. Hernandez about the townhouse fire, and stop by the high school. Principal Watkins called about some graffiti in the boys' locker room."

Sheila considered for a moment. "Let's start with the school. If we catch the kids responsible quickly, it might discourage any copycats."

"Sounds good to me," Finn agreed. "I'll follow you back to town."

Just as they were about to get in their respective vehicles, the radio in Sheila's cruiser crackled to life. "Dispatch to all units. We have a 10-54 in the Valley of the Gods. Any available units please respond."

Sheila and Finn exchanged a grim look. A 10-54 meant a possible dead body.

"Well," Finn said, his earlier lightheartedness gone, "looks like our plans have changed."

Sheila nodded, already moving to respond to the call. "The Valley of the Gods," she murmured. "What the hell happened out there?"

***

The Valley of the Gods lives up to its name, Sheila thought as she and Finn picked their way across the rugged terrain. Massive sandstone buttes and towering rock formations stretched as far as the eye could see, their red-orange hues vibrant under the late morning sun. It was a place of stark beauty, but today, that beauty was marred by the grim reality of their purpose here.

They approached a group of people gathered near the base of one of the larger buttes. Sheila had been expecting to find a body on the ground, the victim of a climbing accident or a fall. What she saw instead made her stop in her tracks.

"Oh, my God," she breathed.

About fifty feet up the sheer rock face, a body hung suspended by climbing ropes. It swayed slightly in the breeze, a macabre marionette against the impassive stone backdrop.

"What the hell?" Finn muttered beside her, equally shocked.

As they neared the group, a tall, lean man with neatly combed black hair streaked with silver turned to greet them. Dr. Jin Zihao, the county coroner, looked as impeccable as always in his crisp white shirt and dark slacks, seemingly unaffected by the harsh desert environment.

"Deputies," he said, his voice carrying a hint of his Chinese heritage. "I'm glad you're here. We have quite the unusual situation on our hands."

Sheila nodded, her eyes still drawn to the suspended body. "I can see that, Dr. Zihao. What can you tell us?"

The coroner's sharp, intelligent eyes studied her for a moment before he spoke. "The victim is male, late twenties to early thirties. Preliminary cause of death appears to be consistent with a fall from a significant height. Multiple fractures, internal injuries."

"So how'd he get up there?" Finn asked.

Dr. Zihao's lips thinned. "Someone must have pulled him up."

Sheila frowned, trying to make sense of it. "After he died, you mean?"

"Precisely," Dr. Zihao said. "Someone went to a great deal of trouble to place the victim in this position postmortem. The rope work is quite elaborate, clearly done by someone with climbing experience."

Sheila exchanged a troubled look with Finn. "But why?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else. "Why go to all that effort? Why not just leave the body where it fell?"

Finn shook his head, his expression grim. "Maybe they wanted it to be found. Hanging a body like this, it's almost like... like they're putting on a show."

A chill ran down Sheila's spine at Finn's words. He was right—this felt performative, deliberately shocking. But to what end?

"Do we have an ID on the victim?" she asked, turning back to Dr. Zihao.

The coroner shook his head. "Not yet. There was no identification on the body. We'll need to run fingerprints and check dental records."

Sheila nodded, her mind already racing with the implications of this bizarre crime scene. "Alright. Let's get a team up there to bring the body down. We need to process the scene thoroughly, both up on the cliff face and down here on the ground. And we need to canvass the area. In a place this remote, someone might have seen something without realizing its significance."

As the team sprang into action around them, Sheila pulled Finn aside. "What are you thinking?" she asked quietly.

Finn ran a hand through his hair, a gesture she knew meant he was troubled. "I'm thinking that whoever did this wanted to send a message. The question is, what's the message? And who is the message intended for?"

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