by Jack Parker
"Rake up pine needles?"
"We want to keep the park clean, don't we? Don't worry about a thing. It's a very easy job and time flies."
Yeah. I'm sure the time just disappears when you rake up needles, Collin sarcastically thought to himself. "Great. Thanks."
Lisa gave Collin a pleasant smile before she turned around and headed back to the front desk. A strange look crossed Collin's face at that moment; it looked like there was something he really wanted to say, but he wasn't finding the words at the moment. And he thought it would easily blow his cover if he asked, so he simply gave Lisa a quick nod of the head and walked away.
He headed off to the east of the camping grounds and to the hiking grounds. As promised, Jess was there, raking up dead pine needles.
Gee, THAT looks exciting. He walked over to Jess and weakly said, "Hey."
Jess looked up and saw Collin heading straight for her. "Hey. What's up?"
"Ha ha. Apparently I'm raking pine needles with you today."
Jess sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I promise you, no other job here is this boring."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Coll, you're raking pine needles for four. Straight. Hours."
"All right, I'll believe you. Ugh…you got any tips for making time go quicker?"
"Yeah. Don't complain and just stay focused. Hey, since it's gonna be the two of us, we can talk to each other instead of just counting the number of campers in blue shirts who walk by."
Counting campers in blue shirts? Is that what everyone does for fun around here?...
"Hey, it might even help us get to know each other better," Jess said very warmly. "This might not be so bad after all. Hey. There's a rake in the back of that truck."
She pointed to a dark red truck that had lost a lot of its shine over the years and had chipping paint all over it. "Grab the rake back there and start raking."
Trying his best not to groan, Collin did as he was told, and soon, they were both raking up the seemingly endless supply of needles. After a couple minutes, Collin managed to completely clear an area that spanned about three feet across, only to look up and see that there was a whole line of pine needles stretching as far as the eye could see that needed to be raked. Realizing this, he let out an automatic groan.
"I know. It's tough, isn't it?" Jess asked.
Collin turned to her and said. "Oh yeah. We have to rake up all of these?"
"Yeah. But I don't want to hear any of your complaining, all right? That's gonna make the day longer for both of us."
"Right. Whatever. Sorry."
He just went back to work trying to rake up the pine needles. Jess was, without a doubt, doing a much faster and more efficient job than he was. It seemed like her years of experience taught her some useful tricks to getting the job done efficiently, and Collin was getting tired after only going about it for twenty minutes.
"So…I remember you telling me you like music?" he recalled, simply trying to jolt a conversation.
"Yeah. I love it," she answered as she continued raking. "I told you I played in a band, right?"
"Yeah."
"Did I tell you I keep the newspaper clippings from performances?"
"Yup."
"Great! Hey, mind if I show some to you now?"
"Go ahead."
Jess reached into her jeans' pocket and pulled out a clipping that looked fairly recent but was very crumpled. "This is from when we were playing at the Water Hole (a somewhat popular downtown pub) a few weeks ago."
Collin looked at the black and white picture and quickly spotted Jess in it. She was standing next to three other women around her age; she was one of two who had an electric guitar.
"So…you play guitar?"
"Ever since I was eleven."
"Wow. You must really love it, then."
"You have no idea. Really, the guitar is cooler than you'd think."
Oh, because I think about it quite a lot, he sarcastically muttered to himself.
Just as they were about to finish the conversation and resume their task, a computerized beeping sound was heard coming from the inside of one of Jess's pockets. In a split second, she pulled the walkie-talkie out of her pocket just in time to hear Ian's voice (almost drowned out in static) say, "Hey, Jess."
Jess held down a button on the side and replied, "Hey, Ian. What's up?"
"You got Collin with you?"
"Sure do."
"Couldja send'em up to the pond, please?"
"You got it. He's on his way."
She put the radio back in her pocket and turned to Collin. "Well, kiddo, it looks like you're headed up to the pond."
"Yeah…I kinda figured that after hearing Ian say it on the radio."
After that somewhat flip remark, Collin hopped in the truck and Jess gave him a quick ride up to the lake. For the three minute ride, all Collin could do was stare out the window and watched the thick patches of trees passing him, knowing that near one of those trees, someone was killed there about a year before.
Moments later, Jess stopped at a trail and said, "Well, that's it. Off you go."
Collin casually exited the car and closed the door behind him. "Thanks, Jess."
"No problem."
The road to actually getting to the lake was a little too tight for the truck to get through, so Collin just had a short walk as he headed towards the beach. Or was it a lake? It was interchangeable to him, really.
As Collin trudged on the path, he noticed someone in front of him. When approaching closer, it became clear that it was Nick, who seemed to be cutting up some heavy branches with his pocket knife.
"Nick?"
Nick looked up and saw Collin, but he hardly reacted. "Hey. Gimme a hand, will ya?"
"Uh…I'd love to, but I just got a call from Ian saying he wanted me up at the pond or lake or whatever and…"
"I don't care! Gimme a hand! This is tough to do when you're by yourself, you know."
Wow, maybe Christine was right. Maybe I WON'T end up liking this kid after all, he coldly thought to himself as he walked over to Nick.
Collin reached into his pocket and pulled out his own pocket knife. He reluctantly made his way over to a pile of branches Nick had made and was now cutting up.
"Uh…why are we doing this again?"
"Lisa says that these wussy campers won't stop complaining about how these giant tree branches keeping getting in their way when they're hiking or walking around or taking a piss in the woods."
"Hey, easy does it," Collin tried to calm.
"I'm just so sick of it! Why do I have to waste my time cutting down these branches and chopping them up with a pocket knife just so these stupid campers can take a hike without having to push a freaking branch or two out of the way?!"
"Uh…yeah…" Collin replied uneasily. "I…have to go. Ian wanted to see me."
"Whatever."
Letting out an annoyed sigh, he walked right passed Nick and didn't say another word to him. He continued walking over to the pond and didn't look back once to see how Nick was doing his job.
After another thirty seconds or so, Collin was on the soft sand right at the foot of the guard tower. Ian was sitting up there as if he was the most important person in the world. He stared down at Collin as if he were a peasant.
"Hey, buddy. Ya finally showed up."
"Sorry. I got kinda stalled on my way up here."
"Ah, whatever. Stuff like that happens. Anyway, I called ya here because I wanted to ask you a favor."
"What's that?"
"Some days I'm working in the office when a few of the guys aren't here, and tomorrow's one of those days. So I want you to fill in for me as lifeguard here."
"You do?"
"Yup."
"But I'm not certified."
"Oh, please. Like you're really gonna need to save somebody. All you gotta do is sit in this chair for a couple hours, blow the whistle whenever a little kid is trying to push another little kid into the
deep end, and that's really it."
"You sure? I don't want someone to be drowning and not have any idea how to save them."
Ian scoffed. "Please. The water here is, like, five feet deep at the most. Who's gonna drown?"
"Uh…all right. You couldn't ask someone like Nick to do this instead?"
"Please!" Ian said as he put his hand up and halted Collin. "Don't mention that kid, all right? You know, he's supposed to be the backup lifeguard, but I don't want him sitting at my post."
"Why's that?"
"He and I…don't get along."
"That's what a lot of people around here said about him, but what would be so bad about just letting him be a lifeguard for a day?"
"I…really don't want to talk about him."
"Why?"
Ian looked like he was getting peeved at the constant badgering. "Nick and I got into a fight about a year ago, and I'm still pissed at him for it."
Collin's eyes widened. "A fight? You mean, like a fistfight?"
"No. A fight where we have tea with each other and tell jokes. Of course a fistfight!"
"Hey, no need to get touchy! But what happened?"
"Well, I was whoopin' Nick's sorry you-know-what until Randy came along and broke up the fight."
Randy…Collin thought to himself. The guy who was boss here before Lisa…
"I'm tellin' ya, Nick's lucky Randy popped out of nowhere and broke it up. If he didn't, Nick would be in a coma right now."
Collin was quickly getting annoyed by Ian's pompous bragging; Collin didn't even think Ian would be able to take him on in a fight, but he obviously kept that thought to himself.
"How exactly did the fight start, anyway?" Collin questioned, trying to squeeze as much information out of Ian as he could without sounding really pathetic.
"What's it matter?"
"Just wonderin'."
Ian grunted. "I…really don't remember all that well. I'd just like to say-in my defense-Nick started it."
How could I tell you were going to say something like that? "Yeah, but what did he do that got you all heated?"
"He was just being an idiot like always. He's not even worth a fight, anyway."
"You really hate him that much?"
Ian sighed. "Let me put it this way: if this whole place blew up, I wouldn't be sad if Nick got trapped in here and died."
"That's a pretty harsh thing to say, Ian."
"Aw, quit talking like a goody-two shoes, Catholic-School boy. Maybe your monk teachers didn't teach you this, but there are bad, bad people in this world. And you know what I say happens to all of them? We crush'em."
Collin had no idea what to say, so he just started talking with whatever came to mind. "Well, you obviously don't have a clue what a Catholic school is like, and you know, karma's gonna get you back for saying that about Nick."
"Pfft. Man Law doesn't let me believe in something like karma. That's just something to get people to think the jerks in this world will eventually get what they deserve even though they know they won't."
"Wow. You're pretty negative, aren't you?"
"Negative? Naw. I'm realistic. Now back to what I was saying: you gonna take over my position as lifeguard just for the day tomorrow, or not?"
With an exasperated groan, Collin reluctantly replied, "Yeah, sure."
"Awesome, man! Thanks a ton!"
"No prob."
"Hey, Man Law says you gotta watch out for your fellow guys, right?"
Um…actually, I don't think it does.
"All right, Collin. All you gotta do is go to that little building right at the front and get into your lifeguarding gear, all right? Then you sit on this chair, blow a whistle whenever something's wrong, and…"
"And don't let the babes catch me staring at'em. Don't worry. I got it the first time."
Ian smiled. "Thanks, man. Always knew I could count on you."
Collin only nodded as he walked away from the lake and back to where he was working before. On the way back, he noticed that Nick was still trying to cut up the tree branches that he was on the way over to the lake. Only this time, Jess was with him. She looked like she was helping to push a lot of the branches out of the way, but unlike Nick, she wasn't using her pocket knife to cut up anything.
"Hey, ya still working on those?" Collin rhetorically asked.
"What does it look like, Einstein?" Nick sharply replied without even looking at his colleague.
"Sor-ry," replied Collin sarcastically.
"If you're sorry, get over here and help me out with this!"
An annoyed groan emitted from Collin's mouth, but he really wasn't in the mood for getting into more of an argument with Nick, so he decided it would be better just to try and go help out.
Collin went over to a pile of four branches piled on top of one another and he pulled the closest one to him off. In one swift motion, he pulled out his pocket knife, unleashed the blade, and started sawing away at one of the smaller branches. He assumed the reason for using a knife was so that hands wouldn't get blistered after just twisting a few off.
After slicing off a few branches, Collin looked up and saw that Jess was somewhat meekly pulling some of the branches off, as opposed to using her knife like he and Nick were.
"Hey, how come you're not using your pocket knife?"
"Wha?" Jess asked, obviously not expecting that question. "Oh. I, uh, kinda lost it."
"You lost it?" Collin again rhetorically asked. He didn't think his next question would get him anywhere, but he decided to ask it, anyway. "When'd you lose it?"
"Uh…last summer."
"Last summer?!"
Nick and Jess looked at him as if he had just walked into work wearing a "Hello Kitty" t-shirt. Collin knew that he had just acted way too obvious.
"Yeah…" she answered a bit uneasily.
"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.