Free What We Found by Kris Bock

to bite.
    My quick examination ranged over his faded jeans, hiking boots, and the long-sleeved gray T-shirt he had pinned up over his missing hand. I was pretty sure I would have remembered someone missing a hand in high school.
    He lifted the arm in question. “I didn’t have this then. It came later.”
    I felt myself blushing. I hadn’t meant to stare. I was dying to know how he had lost it, but of course I couldn’t ask. I tried to think of something else to say, but questions crowded my mind. What was Bethany to him? He was younger than me, or maybe the same age since boys sometimes started school later. Surely he was too young to be one of Bethany’s rumored boyfriends.
    I could ask. Surely it was a natural question in the circumstances. Not whether he was her boyfriend, but how he knew her.
    I glanced around, anywhere but at him. Nascha stood about twenty feet away, watching us. She raised her eyebrows as if asking whether she should interrupt. It was tempting to ask for rescue, but that would end the conversation before I’d gotten any answers.
    I turned back to the man and said in a rush, “How do you know Bethany Moore?”
    His eyes closed for a moment. “She’smy sister.”
    Someone had mentioned a brother—Eslinda—she’d said something had happened to him. I hadn’t wanted to ask what, but had vaguely assumed he’d also died. But maybe this was that brother. I forced myself not to look down toward his hand.
    “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said.
    What? His hand? Or—my gaze wanted to shift toward the back window of the truck, but I made myself look at his face.
    His mouth twisted unhappily. “That can’t have been easy for you. Especially without warning.” He added very softly, “She was pretty, once.”
    He was talking about seeing the body. And he had been in the woods while the police were there. To see her, too? I cringed as the memory rose in my mind. It had been hard enough for a stranger. I couldn’t imagine seeing someone I’d loved in such a condition. And he offered me comfort! “I’m so sorry,” I said. “Sorry for your loss.” That sounded pathetic and clichéd.
    “You did us a favor. Now we know.” His face hardened and his gaze shifted to the distance. “Maybe now we can do something about it,” he muttered, more to himself than to me. He met my eyes again. “Anyway, thank you. Your friend’s waiting. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
    “I guess so.” I started to walk away, but spun back. “Wait! I don’t know your name.”
    “Kyle. Kyle Moore.”
    I nodded. “I’m Audra Needham.”
    He smiled. “I know.”
     

Chapter 12
     
    He got into his truck and I joined Nascha. As we headed down the street, she asked, “What do you think about that drink now?”
    I blew out a breath. “That was definitely more than I bargained for. But it’s all right. Everything makes sense now, I think.” I hadn’t actually had time to figure it out. I paused by the ice cream parlor entrance and glanced back as the truck pulled away. “It’s her brother. Bethany Moore’s brother.”
    “Oh, of course. He was there yesterday to identify the body.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “It was in the newspaper that her brother identified the body. I forgot until now.”
    “But that doesn’t explain the cages in his truck, or the strange screaming.” I shook it off. “That poor man, to have to identify his sister’s body. It was bad enough for me to see it from a distance. If it were someone I knew and cared about….”
    “Assuming, of course, they cared for each other.”
    I stared at her. She shrugged and added, “Not all families are happy.”
    I knew that well enough. “Did the newspaper article mention me?”
    “Not by name. They just said a female employee of the resort found the body. But I imagine it’s no secret now, at least at the lodge.”
    “So the whole town won’t know until tomorrow, maybe.” I pulled open the door. “I really need that ice