The Night Shift (6 page)

"Last summer? As in…the summer before
this
one?"

"Uh…yeah!"

"What's your problem, Collin?" Nick demanded.

"N…nothing!" Collin lied. "It just…kinda struck me as odd."

"What did?" Nick asked, sounding like he didn't have the slightest clue what was going on.

"Just, you know…I guess because you lost your life a year ago and still haven't gotten a new one?" He actually thought that excuse would work pretty well.

After a long pause, Jess casually answered, "Oh. Well, I don't really need a knife for my job anyway, so it's no big deal."

"Yeah, good point. Sorry. I just kind of…you know."

Nick sighed with part of it seeming to say, "Ugh, when will this day be over?" and the other part saying, "Wow. Weirdo."

The other two slowly got back to work on the branches while Collin watched them. He took a deep breath and silently scolded himself for losing his cool for a moment there.

*  *  *

It was roughly 10:30 later that night. Collin had secluded himself to his room and tried to take everything in that had happened.

His main motive for working at Arbur Winslow was to figure out what happened and how Scott had been murdered there. He wasn't trying to pretend to himself that he really wanted to go there to get a new work experience; he knew very well why he was there.

Collin was writing down everything he had learned so far on a sheet of paper in front of him. Unfortunately for him, there was absolutely nothing written. He had come up with no knowledge that could help him.

Grr! What do I have to do to get some more info without getting all suspicious?! All I need is SOME clue that could point me in the right direction…maybe a bloody chainsaw?

Fed up with the frustration, Collin pressed his head down on the computer desk, creating a shockwave that promptly turned the screen saver up and brought Collin back to the main desktop, showing that he hadn't logged off his NetPub account yet for the night. But for him, there were more pressing matters than looking at photos of his friends on Prom night.

All right, gotta focus,
he told himself as he lifted his head up off the desk and sat up straight in his computer chair.
So, what have I learned so far? Hmmm…nothing, I guess. But still, there WERE those two things…

"
Nick and I got in a fight about
a
year ago…"

"
What happened to your pocket knife?"

"
Oh, I lost it…about a year and
a
half ago…"

Collin almost felt like a surge of energy rushed through him when he remembered those two incidents.

"Hmmm…Jess loses her knife about a year ago, and the murder weapon just
happens
to be a knife that was never found…"

He was actually starting to shiver now just based on an unlikely theory he was putting together. Still, he wanted to believe it could be true and that Jess could suddenly become a lead suspect.

"…and the fight Ian and Nick had around that same time. That couldn't just be a coincidence, happening around the same time as Jess losing her knife AND Scott getting killed. There's no way it can just be a coincidence…right?..."

Chapter 4
 

Guard Duty

The sun was shining brightly and its heat was pounding down on the crowd at the small lake housed in the center of Arbur Winslow State Forest; Collin could tell it was going to be a busy day.

Instead of wearing his typical State Forest t-shirt with some khaki shorts, he now had to wear a bright red shirt that read GUARD on the back of it, and he instead had to wear equally crimson shorts that were like the ones he had to wear for gym class every Tuesday and Thursday in school.

It was roughly about 9:00 in the morning when he first showed up and took down the NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY. SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK sign. He could tell right away that it was going to be a long, hot day.

Slowly, the campers started pouring into the lake and grabbed any spots close to the water that they could. In just a few minutes, towels with people lying face-flat on them littered the beach, and the scents of people grilling burgers, ribs, or hot dogs filled the air as some of the campers got their grills fired up.

Collin wasn't really expecting anyone to be in much danger, especially considering that the water wasn't even that deep in the areas that campers were permitted to swim in. The way he looked at it, he was getting paid nine dollars an hour to sit and tan, and perhaps look at anyone who caught his eye.

After rubbing some sunscreen on himself, he just sat back in the white guard tower and put on a pair of sunglasses, mostly just because he thought it would make him look cooler and more professional.

He sighed lightly to himself as he looked at everything going on around him, and just a short while later, he was almost immediately bored with the job. If he was tired of it after just ten or fifteen minutes, he had no idea how annoying it would be after an eight hour shift.

Luckily for him, Christine, the girl who was around the same age as him who he had only talked to the day before his first day on the job, started walking up to the tower and had a pleasant smile on her face.

"Hey, Collin," she said cheerfully. "How's it feel to have all these peoples' lives in your hands?"

"You know, truly and honestly, it doesn't feel like it's as big of a responsibility as it's cranked up to be," he dully replied as he kept his attention on what was going on in front of him.

"That's what Ian told me. He must have a lot of confidence in you if he's letting you be a lifeguard after just a few days working here."

"Nah, it really doesn't sound that hard based on what Ian's told me. All I…hey!"

Collin furiously blew into a whistle hanging around his neck, causing everyone on the lake to turn to him to see what the big deal was. While everyone was looking at him, Collin was staring at a small boy who looked like he was repeatedly trying to tackle his sister into the water just as she got up from being submerged. All Collin had to do to get his point across was give him a stern look and shake his head.

Just as quickly as it all happened, everyone went about their business as they had been before Collin briefly disturbed it.

"There. Twenty bucks says that'll be the most exciting and difficult thing I'll have to do all day."

Christine laughed. "Yeah, Ian never said anything about this job that made it seem hard or dangerous."

"I'm kinda surprised. He seems like kind of a self-absorbed guy…don't
tell
him I said that."

"Don't worry. I won't. And you're right; Ian can have the biggest ego sometimes. But he's a cool guy, I guess."

"Yeah. At least that's what he seems like."

"Trust me, if you can get used to him and how he thinks he's a chick-magnet, then he's a great guy."

"I'll take your word for it. You were here last year, right?"

"Yup. Believe me, everyone around here is great."

"That's cool."

"So, what do you like to do on your time off from work?"

"Huh?"
She must be trying to make small talk…
"Uh…I dunno. Hang out with friends. Maybe ride my bike
a
little bit. Read. That kinda stuff."

Christine almost looked delighted. "You like to read, too?!"

"Yeah. Why, do you?"

"I
love
to read! It's a lot better than that crap people call movies and video games these days. Honestly, where's the fun in storytelling if you can't picture everything for yourself?!"

"Uh…I guess there isn't?" Collin nervously answered. Saying the wrong thing was the last thing he wanted to do if he was to be friends with any of his workers.

"Exactly! I mean, really! Someone can get a terrific story across without fancy computer animations and overpaid snobby actors who are just gonna get caught in some drug scandal two years from now, right?!"

"Hey, what do
you
like to do besides reading?" he quickly retorted, doing his best to avert the conversation entirely. He could tell already that Christine wouldn't be the kind of person he would want to irritate.

"Oh, go to the mall with some friends and get my nails done…I can see that look on your face. You're probably thinking, 'Oh, boy, another girl who obsesses over her nails and hair."

As she said this, she started laughing, and promptly continued. "I know, I need a life."

Wow…that's almost EXACTLY what I was thinking. She's good.

"So, whatcha think of this place so far?"

"It's great. Really."

"Glad to hear it. So, why'd you decide to come work here anyway?"

Why do I keep getting asked this?
"Uh…I like working outdoors, and…yeah. I guess I just like working outdoors."

"Well, I wouldn't
call
what you're doing now 'work'."

"Neither would I," he bluntly accepted. "But you shoulda seen me yesterday. I was helping Nick cut up some trees yesterday and…"

As he was explaining this, Collin remembered hearing about the fight that Ian had told him about the day before. From what he recalled, Ian said that he and Nick had a fight over something really small, but he wouldn't talk much about it. Considering that Christine had been there the year before, Collin would have figured that she
had
to have known about the fight and would be a bit more willing to talk about it than Ian was.

"Oh, speaking of Nick, Ian told me something very interesting about him yesterday."

"Oh, boy," Christine said as she rolled her eyes. "What did he say this time?"

"He said that he and Nick had a fight last year."

She looked annoyed that this was even being brought up at all. "It's not important, all right? It was just some stupid argument they had, one of them threw a punch at the other, and it call got worse from there."

Collin was almost disappointed that it seemed so simple, but he wanted to keep pressing her to make sure that that was really all there was to the fight. After all, he couldn't help but think the fight was somehow tied to the murder, and figuring out the murder was his
real
reason for working at the forest that summer.

"That's it?"

"Yeah," Christine said, sighing a little. "Ian, being the great, awesome guy he is, still won't talk to Nick after that fight. He insists Nick 'started it'."

Wow, that guy can really be pathetic.
"But, that fight didn't have anything to do with anyone working here last summer, right? Like…Scott? Or…"

Christine sighed. "I'm still really sad about what happened to Scott. He was a great guy. Please, I don't want to talk about him right now."

"Oh, all right. Sorry."
Dang! Guess I can't learn anything about how Scott got killed if she doesn't want to talk about him. Maybe if I could find something else to talk about that would give
me a
hint?...
"Uh…anyone else who was here last summer who's not here now?"