Page 9 of Only One More Lie

“Of course, I’m worried about you.” Juniper fell onto her knees in the snow beside him. “Are you hurt? What happened? It’s slippery out here.”

He shook his head, though clearly in pain. “It’s . . . not me. It’s . . . her.”

Emmett pointed inside the reindeer pen beside them.

Duke walked toward the wooden fence and peered over it.

His eyes widened at what he saw.

A young woman lay frozen in place, partially covered by drifting snow. Based on the blue tinge of her skin, she was dead.

Juniper climbed to her feet and ran to the fence.

She glanced down.

A soft cry escaped, and then she murmured, “No, Peppermint!”

CHAPTER 3

Andi resisted the urge to run toward the woman, to check her pulse.

The woman was clearly dead. Her face was blue and covered with snow. Her body lay unmoving.

Peppermint . . . the friend Juniper had mentioned earlier. This was her.

What had happened?

Juniper climbed the fence, landed in the snow, and fell on the ground beside the woman. Tears tried to roll down her cheeks but froze before escaping her eyelids. “No . . . not Peppermint. No!”

Andi grabbed her phone to call 911. The police needed to come ASAP.

As Juniper sobbed beside her friend, one of the reindeer walked over and nudged her.

Juniper sniffled as she glanced up at the creature. “Oh, Starla. Why do bad things keep happening? This is my fault, isn’t it?”

The reindeer rubbed her nose against Juniper’s face.

Andi stared at the woman buried in the snow. She looked young—Juniper’s age—with pale skin and long, dark hair. Hercheeks and nose were frosty, but she almost looked peaceful despite that—in a sickeningly serene sense.

“When was the last time you spoke to your friend?” Andi asked Juniper softly.

“She called me at eight this morning. She said she was going to stop by and talk to me about something. I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t here yet—” Her voice cracked, ending with another sob.

As Juniper dug her hands into the snow, Andi realized she could be ruining evidence.

Duke seemed to pick up on that also. Instead of jumping the fence like Juniper had, he walked around to the gate, went inside the pen and gently tugged Juniper away from her friend. As he did, Simmy crept closer to the fence and placed her hand on Juniper’s shoulder.

“What could have happened?” Juniper whispered, her voice hoarse with emotion.

Andi observed Peppermint. The woman had probably only been dead for a few hours if her calculations were correct. She saw no blood or bruises—no signs of how the woman had died.

Someone had clearly left her like this. People didn’t just die in a pasture, perfectly laid out in the snow with their arms folded across their chest.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Andi murmured.

Juniper sniffled again. “And why would she be here with the reindeer? She usually comes to my place. She’s my—was my—best friend.”

As another round of sobs began, Simmy entered the pen, moved closer to Juniper, and wrapped an arm around her.

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