Page 16 of Odin

The door had just clicked closed before the lights blinked out.

"Fuck. Not again," Freyja said.

Odin coughed. "Ah, I forgot. I was supposed to tell you that the backup power comes from the black solar panels on the roof, charging a battery, and the storm covered them with snow, so we will need to clear the snow off them if we want more power."

She huffed out a breath. "You have got to be the worst maintenance man I ever met."

NINETEEN

Why he couldn't have told her about the solar panels when it was still daylight, she didn't know. Or why he hadn't just gone and cleaned the bloody things himself without waiting for...what? Her permission to do his fucking job?

Even in the dark, he could evidently feel her fury. "I intended to tell you earlier, only you were digging in the snow, and then you brought me up here, as this seemed more urgent, and..." He coughed. "I am not familiar with solar panels, so I hope you can help."

She'd bloody well have to, wouldn't she? Not like she could trust Olaf to get it right.

First stealing stuff, and now this. What kind of maintenance man was he, anyway?

One who didn't have access to the necropsy lab, or the fridge, her traitorous subconscious whispered.

Which kind of meant he couldn't possibly have stolen the body. And she'd seen the way he looked at that spear. Like he'd wanted it, but he'd set it down without a backward glance.

But if he hadn't stolen the body, and she knew she hadn't...who had? And where was it?

Freyja shook her head. In the dark, facing a night with no power, she had bigger things to worry about. She could worry about the corpse in the morning when the power came back on.

She'd left her torch in the library, but she still had her phone, and the flashlight app that would shine the way until the battery on that died, at least.

"Let's get a couple of lanterns from the supply room, and head up to the roof. The sooner we get this done, the better," she said.

At the base of the stairs to the roof, there were a bunch of brooms, all labelled FOR SOLAR PANELS ONLY.

So that was how you dealt with solar panels and snow. She grabbed two brooms and handed one to Olaf. Somehow he'd already acquired a shovel, and Freyja wasn't going to argue. She'd had enough shovelling snow today to last her for two lifetimes, at least.

Sweeping the snow off the solar panels was kind of cathartic, actually. She was still pissed off that the mummy was missing, still fuming that the power was out and the man on the roof with her was responsible for it being out until at least morning, but at least she could do something about it. Well, that wasn't hitting him with the broom. Tempting though that was, it wouldn't make anything better. She'd probably only miss him and hit one of the solar panels instead, anyway.

She finished clearing one panel, but it was a hard slog through semi-frozen snow to get to the next one, especially as it was up past her waist. But they had to clear the snow off all the panels, or there'd be no power tomorrow.

Olaf set down his broom. "You keep cleaning the panels. I will shovel snow."

"But you can't use the shovel. It'll scratch the panels," she began, then closed her mouth.

He most certainly could use the shovel, scooping up big piles of snow and sending them tumbling down to the ground below. One after the other, in an avalanche that would bury anyone unlucky enough to be standing in the courtyard. Burying all her work from this afternoon, too, if he had hidden the body out there.

Which even she was finding hard to believe. Sure, she hadn't stolen it, and he was the only other person here, but her gut told her he wasn't a body thief, either.

Or maybe that was her core, getting so excited about his cock it didn't care what else he might be capable of.

Like clearing the roof of snow, so by the time she had to head to the next panel, she could actually see the roof panels beneath her feet.

Halfway along, she was definitely flagging. She should never have tried to dig up the whole courtyard, no matter what she suspected was hidden there. But he was still going strong, not slowing in the slightest. If anything, he seemed to be moving faster, already clearing around the base of the panel three ahead of her.

She swiped at the next panel with her broom, and lost her grip on the handle. The broom went flying, sending a gobbet of snow soaring across the roof to splat against Olaf's back.

Shit. She might have fantasised about whacking him, but that had been a complete accident. She waited for him to turn around so she could apologise.

Only he didn't even seem to have noticed.

Maybe it hadn't hit him that hard, or he was just more used to the cold, being a native Norwegian and all. Or maybe he was enjoying his snow shovelling so much he hadn't even noticed.

---