Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Noon Bottle

The detective took Brody's phone and plugged it into the monitor behind the front desk.

Everyone in the lobby turned to watch.

The video started at noon, in the thin shade of a boulder.

I was sitting against the rock with a bottle of blue electrolyte water in both hands.

My hands were shaking so badly that the water slopped over the neck.

Lance's arm came into the frame and took the bottle away from me.

"Callie needs this more than you," his voice said.

"She's about to pass out."

"Lance, Lorena looks really bad," Brody's voice whispered, close to the camera. "She's gray."

"She's fine. She's always like this. Stop filming her."

Callie took the bottle in both hands.

She looked at the camera for half a second.

Then she tipped her head back and drank it all, and the video ended on the empty plastic.

The lobby was so quiet I could hear the clerk's chair creak.

"That's the last electrolyte bottle the group had," Brice said. "I checked their packs at the tent."

Lance spread his hands.

"It was a misunderstanding. Callie felt faint."

"Ms. Frost," the detective said.

Callie lifted her tear-streaked face.

"Ranger Slade drove you to the medical tent last night. What was your temperature?"

"I was in so much pain," Callie said.

"Ninety-eight point nine," Brice said. "I took it myself. You told me you wanted to sit in the truck with the air conditioning on until the others came back."

"You asked if there was ice cream at the camp store."

Somebody by the permit window coughed to cover a laugh.

Callie's mouth opened and closed.

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