Jealousy Filled Donuts

by Ginger Bolton

  Mentally translating “seriously hurt” as “killed,” I argued, “The campground isn’t all that dangerous.”

  “How was I supposed to know that? And besides, you did come up near the falls, just as I hoped.” The water was too deep for Kelsey to move quickly, but instead of heading toward shore, she was sort of bouncing toward me. She must have noticed that the water was shallower where I was. “You ruined everything, Emily Westhill,” she hollered, “and you’re going to pay!” She glanced toward Jocelyn waiting watchfully in the shallows near the shore. “You, too.”

  With Kelsey no longer in my way, I could have waded out of the river. However, I needed to stop her attacks on Jocelyn and me, and I had a better chance of subduing her in the water where, despite its chilly temperature, I felt at home. Obviously, Kelsey didn’t. On land, we might be more evenly matched.

  Jocelyn waded in deeper.

  “Go back,” I told her.

  “I can swim.” Jocelyn was probably a better swimmer than I was. Besides, she wasn’t holding a backpack in one hand and trying to keep it above water.

  I thought Jocelyn was coming closer in case she needed to rescue me.

  I was wrong. She turned and hurled herself at Kelsey.

  Chapter 36

  “No!” I screamed, striding through the water in slow motion toward Kelsey and Jocelyn.

  At first, I couldn’t tell whether Kelsey was deliberately trying to harm Jocelyn or if she was merely grabbing at Jocelyn to save herself.

  Kelsey managed to put her feet down and stand in the water. She clutched a fistful of Jocelyn’s hair and forced Jocelyn’s head under.

  Jocelyn struggled. Kelsey gave me a smugly triumphant look. “You’re next.”

  I was not only next. By then, I was next to Kelsey and her latest intended victim.

  Although I was certain that Jocelyn had the strength and agility to overcome Kelsey, I wasn’t about to wait to find out if I was right. Holding my backpack by one strap, I swung it at Kelsey’s head.

  It connected. Yelping, Kelsey let go of Jocelyn.

  I tossed the backpack into shallower waters closer to shore, grabbed Jocelyn’s shoulders, and pulled her to her feet.

  She wiped hair out of her face. “Thanks.”

  I hadn’t knocked Kelsey out, but I had knocked her over, and she was apparently too frantic to remember to put her feet down and her head up.

  Jocelyn and I each grasped one of Kelsey’s upper arms and yanked her to her feet. Kelsey tried to get away from us, but we weren’t about to let her. We waded with her toward dry land.

  Suddenly the shore became a whole lot safer, at least for Jocelyn and me.

  Samantha and Hooligan plunged down from the upriver section of Noisy Cawing Crow Trail. At the same time, Misty, Scott, and Brent swooped down the embankment from the other direction.

  Apparently ready to join the fray in the water, Samantha and Scott tore off their shoes.

  They didn’t need to. Jocelyn and I brought Kelsey, stumbling over stones, entangling her feet in the hoodie she’d discarded, and trying to pull away from us, to the bank.

  “I heard you shouting about preventing Emily from telling the cops about that bag of donuts,” Hooligan told her sternly. “You’re under arrest.”

  Kelsey demanded, “Says who?” I didn’t blame her for being skeptical. None of the three officers were in uniform, and Hooligan looked more than usually boyish with his reddish hair sticking up and his T-shirt untucked over jeans.

  Brent, however, was still dressed for work in khakis, a white shirt, and a black blazer. He reached into his jacket, just happening to flash his shoulder holster, and pulled out a badge. “I do. You might remember me from our previous discussions. I’m Detective Brent Fyne, Fallingbrook Police Department. I heard what you said, too, and not only about donuts. And I saw you push Jocelyn’s head under the water. These two off-duty officers are taking you to the station.” He nodded at Misty, who looked forbidding despite the loose bug-repellant shirt she wore over skinny jeans and the pictures of happily grinning cats on her sneakers.

  She and Hooligan gripped Kelsey’s arms. “We’ll take her now,” Misty gently told Jocelyn and me.

  I gratefully relinquished the arm I’d been holding.

  With a slightly diabolical twitch of a grin, Brent pulled black plastic strips from a pocket. “Thanks to the messages you left me, Em, I brought some of these.” Holding Kelsey’s hands behind her back, he cinched a zip tie around her wrists, and then he told Hooligan and Misty to take her to the trail on the bank above us and wait for him there. “Since you two aren’t on duty, I’ll call for backup officers.” He pulled out his phone.

  No longer having to concern myself with Kelsey, I turned around and waded into the river.

  Samantha screeched, “What are you doing, Emily? Come back!”

  “I, um, dropped my backpack.” The coins, credit cards, and ID in my wallet would probably survive, and the bills could be dried. The flashlight and first-aid kit might need replacing. The donuts wouldn’t be in great shape, but that had probably been true for at least the past half hour.

  The next thing I knew, Scott and Samantha were up to their ankles, pant legs and all, in the river with me and Scott had one supportive hand under my elbow. I toed around near where I’d left my backpack and then inched my way downriver. Luckily, the current hadn’t tumbled my backpack far.

  Smiling in triumph, I brought it up dripping, and the three of us waded toward the embankment. I asked Scott and Samantha, “Why did you two get wet?”

  “Might as well join the party,” Samantha said. “Why should you have all the fun?” I wondered what would have happened to the tints of blue and turquoise in her hair if she’d accidentally dunked her head.

  “And there’s more fun,” I said, pointing to the riverbank.

  Brent pocketed his phone. “What?”

  He was on the bank with Jocelyn near the hoodie, which was now mostly out of the water. Kelsey must have kicked it away from her feet.

  I pointed at it. “Kelsey was wearing that red hoodie earlier this evening. After she realized that I might have seen her in it, she hid it behind that rotten log up there. Later I found it and tried to give it to her, but she batted it into the river.” I couldn’t help a slight grin sort of like Brent’s when he’d shown us the zip ties. “And then she stumbled over it when we brought her out of the river.”

  With his phone, Brent took flash pictures of the hoodie. I told him about Kelsey crouching behind the juniper, and he took photos of that spot, too. He pulled another zip tie out of his pocket, dragged the hoodie all the way out of the water, and secured it to the trunk of a smaller juniper. He took out his phone again and said into it, “Tell the backup officers to make sure they bring an evidence bag up the trail. Big enough for an adult-sized sweatshirt.”

  Finally, with Brent’s hand resting lightly on the middle of my back, we climbed up the bank behind Jocelyn, now carrying her damp jacket. She was drenched, and I wasn’t much drier. “Are you two okay?” Brent asked us.

  “Just wet,” I said. Dangling from one hand, my backpack was dripping. I was not about to put it on.

  Jocelyn agreed with a smile in her voice, “I like swimming.”

  Frowning, Brent eyed my face. “I’m going to see that this person gets locked inside the cruiser I left in the parking lot, but I’m going to need statements from you and Jocelyn about what went on up here. No rush, but can you meet me in the parking lot?”

  Jocelyn and I both said we would.

  Samantha sat on the ground and started putting on her shoes. “What about the guy on the rock?” she asked Brent.

  Chapter 37

  “What guy on what rock?” Brent asked. “Philip Landsdowner?”

  Samantha and I explained.

  Scott slipped his feet into his shoes. “I’ll call swift-water rescue.” Luckily, his phone must not have gotten wet. I heard him tell his team to start preparing for a rescue above Fallingb
rook Falls. He also told them he’d confirm in a few minutes whether he actually needed them.

  Brent gave Jocelyn an apologetic look and said to me, “You and I guessed a few days ago that Landsdowner could be stalking you and your assistant. When you called me earlier this evening, you said he was following her.”

  “He was. And from what she told me tonight, he has definitely been stalking her.”

  Glancing at me occasionally as if for support, Jocelyn told Brent about Landsdowner watching her when she worked at Freeze and then peering at her house through his camera and its telephoto lens.

  Brent became so stern that his face could have been made of rock.

  Jocelyn added, “I’ve been hiding in my parents’ trailer down in the campground, but he found me today.”

  I asked Brent if Landsdowner was living at the campground.

  Brent paused, but must have decided he wouldn’t be telling us anything he shouldn’t. “He gave us the address of a condo on Packers Road.”

  I said, “I suspect he knew about Jocelyn’s parents’ place here at least as long ago as Monday, when I saw him driving around the campground.” Kelsey was on the trail near us. Misty and Hooligan, each of them holding her with both hands, had turned her away from us. I lowered my voice, anyway. “Thanks to Kelsey, probably, who has apparently been trying to win her way into Landsdowner’s heart by telling him whatever she knows about Jocelyn.”

  Brent spoke loudly enough for Misty to hear. “Misty, I’ll take over for you so you can keep an eye on Philip Landsdowner, who might be up the river on a rock. In case I don’t intercept the backup officers first, tell them to cuff Landsdowner and bring him into headquarters. I want to talk to him.”

  “Okay!” Misty didn’t let go of Kelsey.

  Beside us, Scott said, “I’ll stay with Misty.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on the guy on the rock, too,” Samantha said, “in case he needs medical care, and I’ll stick around until the on-duty EMTs who accompany Scott’s rescue team get here. I’ll also keep an eye on Jocelyn and Emily until we can get them somewhere warm and dry.”

  “I’m okay,” I said. “It’s July eleventh. It’s warm.” My teeth betrayed me by chattering.

  “Me, too.” Jocelyn didn’t sound like she was shivering at all.

  Samantha countered, “It’s northern Wisconsin. And that water is cold.”

  Scott asked Brent, “Will it be okay with you if the five of us—Misty, Samantha, Emily, Jocelyn, and I—stay together until the backup you requested arrives?”

  “Perfect,” Brent answered. Handing Misty something, he took Kelsey’s arm. He and Hooligan started down Noisy Cawing Crow Trail with Kelsey.

  Grinning, holding up a fistful of Brent’s zip ties, Misty bopped over to us in her cat-printed sneakers. “Where’s this rock Landsdowner’s on, if he’s still there?”

  Samantha pointed up the river. “Around the bend.”

  We all started in that direction.

  Misty asked, “What is Philip Landsdowner doing out in the river on a rock? You left me a message that you were following him, Emily. What did you do? Heave him onto a rock and leave him there?”

  I smiled. Jocelyn giggled.

  Samantha explained, “He claims he was trying to get a photo and slipped.” A hint of a smile edged into her voice. “He wants someone to rescue his camera, and then he thinks he can make it out by himself.”

  “I’ll rescue his camera,” I muttered. “Before he deletes photos that prove he was stalking Jocelyn.”

  It was still light enough out on the river to see Landsdowner hunched on the boulder. He was no longer holding his camera up to his eye. He was using his hands to brace himself, like he was afraid of falling off the rock and into the water.

  Scott called his swift-water rescue team and confirmed that he needed them. He disconnected, folded his arms over his chest, and told us, “If anyone goes out on those stepping-stones or into that water before my team arrives, it will be me. I have swift-water training.”

  “Which,” Misty countered, “requires the rest of your swift-water rescue team and some sturdy ropes. Plus wet suits, flotation devices, pulleys, hooks, and I’m not sure what all. Maybe an inflatable raft.”

  Far from being put off by Misty’s brand of humor, Scott laughed down at her in a way that should have set Misty’s heart racing. In a healthy way.

  Misty added, “No one, not even your swift-water rescue team, can go in after him until the police backup Brent called arrives. Landsdowner might be armed.”

  I couldn’t help snickering. “He’s clinging so desperately to his rock that it wouldn’t matter if he had twelve bazookas, two cannons, five spears, and a bow and arrow. He needs both hands to hold on to that rock.”

  “Good,” Misty said. “He can stay that way.”

  Shouting at Landsdowner, Scott introduced himself as the fire chief. “Stay where you are! Rescuers are on their way!”

  Landsdowner nodded and continued sitting morosely on his rock.

  I set my sopping backpack down on the trail, took out my flashlight, and tried turning it on. Maybe it would work after it dried.

  Jocelyn positioned herself behind the rest of us, where Landsdowner was less likely to see her, much less stare at her.

  I asked her, “Do your parents know where you are?”

  “Not specifically.”

  I turned to the others. “Can one of you lend Jocelyn your phone? She left hers at home and mine’s a little damp.”

  Jocelyn shook her head. “They don’t expect me back yet and won’t be worried. And they almost never answer their phones.”

  I couldn’t help sighing. “They sound as bad as my folks.”

  Jocelyn glanced up toward the indigo sky. “Worse, probably.” A dimple showed beside her mouth. “Though I guess I shouldn’t complain about them after leaving my phone at home.”

  I admitted, “And I didn’t exactly take good care of mine.”

  Misty looked at us, shook her head in mock exasperation, and grumbled, “If Landsdowner falls in before your swift-water rescue team arrives, Scott, he can get himself out.”

  Scott grinned at her. “If he falls in, I’ll probably have to grab you to keep you from attempting to rescue him.”

  Misty made a scoffing noise and turned away, probably to hide a blush that we wouldn’t be able to see in the deepening dusk underneath the trees. She and Scott were off duty. If she wanted to, she could wade into the river for the fun of being grabbed by Scott. . . .

  I reminded myself that we were still in a serious situation in which my matchmaking fantasies had no place. However, first responders were notorious for the slightly warped sense of humor that helped them cope, and I was used to and rather fond of their humor. And maybe I had adopted some of it, myself.

  Misty asked me what had happened since I’d left the message for her. I explained, using our long-ago code words. Samantha told us that she was the one who streamlined the arrow. Misty had recognized the donut arrow when she was climbing the trail with Scott and Brent. She was horrified by Jocelyn’s and my adventures on steep cliffs and behind the falls, but she didn’t scold. “Good thing we got all that practice out here when we were kids.”

  Samantha and I agreed.

  Jocelyn told us that she’d also spent a lot of time scrambling up and down rocks and behind the falls.

  Scott looked down at me and shook his head as if to clear it. “Skinned knees, popcorn, noisy cawing crows, donut arrows, and shower curtain grottoes?”

  “State secrets,” Misty said.

  I grinned up at him. “Misty, Samantha, and I used to play detective up here in these woods, all summer, every summer until we had summer jobs, but we still hung around here a lot before we went off to college. We had secret signals and our own names for the trails and for the cave behind the falls.”

  Scott shook his head, but his smile widened. “I wish I’d paid more attention to you three in high school.”

  “You we
re two years ahead of us,” I reminded him. “Too sophisticated.”

  “I had my head in my books.”

  “That’s not something to regret,” I said. “Right, Jocelyn?”

  “I guess.”

  Misty winked at Samantha and me. “Looks like we’ll have to rename everything up here.”

  Without cracking a smile, Samantha asked, “Did we have a name for the boulder where that guy is sitting?”

  “We do now,” I retorted. “Stalker’s Rock.”

  Teasing each other and keeping track of Stalker’s Rock, the five of us stood close together for warmth. It was fully dark when Hooligan arrived with two uniformed police officers wearing heavy vests and carrying their usual load of equipment. All three men had, I was glad to see, working flashlights. They shined them across the water to Stalker’s Rock. Landsdowner was still sitting there.

  Aiming his light near his own feet so it wouldn’t be in anyone’s eyes, Hooligan told Misty, “You and I have been assigned to accompany Emily and Jocelyn down the trail to the parking lot.”

  Scott and Samantha decided to stay near Stalker’s Rock with the two uniformed officers until the rescue team and the EMTs arrived. After offering to drive Samantha home later if Hooligan couldn’t, Scott turned to Misty and told her, “Go back to town with one of your friends if I’m up here too long.”

  She smiled up at him. “I’ll wait.”

  “Take my keys, then.” He put them into her outstretched hand.

  Wide-eyed, I teased Misty, “You rode in a vehicle that someone else was driving?”