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“I wonder if that’s the room Detective Scott wants to get a look at,” Zig said.
“I’d lay money on it.” Misty gnawed her lip. “What if he doesn’t go this year?”
“He’ll go.”
“But maybe this year is different. Detective Scott said we’d stirred things up with the podcast. And it’s the tenth anniversary.”
“What I wouldn’t give for a copy of that police report,” Zig said.
“We filed a FOIA. We’ll get it.”
“We could get it sooner.” Zig wiggled her eyebrows. “Your boyfriend’s a cop.”
Misty lowered her eyes fast. “We’re on a break.”
“What, now?” Zig came off the log, binoculars hanging from her neck. She turned around, trying to catch Misty’s eyes, but Misty avoided them. “Why?”
Misty shook her head and didn’t answer.
“Is it because of the podcast?” Zig asked.
She finally met her friend’s eyes. “He’s a cop. He’s always wanted to be a cop, and now he is one, but he’s a rookie. They’re not gonna look the other way if he starts getting involved in our… Jeeze, Zig, we’re gonna break and enter as soon as Paul Quaid leaves his house.”
“But you’re nuts about the guy!” Zig pushed a hand over her braids and turned in a slow circle. “Maybe you shouldn’t stay. Maybe I never should’ve got you involved in all this. Maybe?—”
“I want to stay,” Misty said. “The breakup it’s— just for now. Just so I can see…” She stopped, shook her head, started over. “Let me handle my relationship issues myself, okay, Zig? Let’s focus on what we’re here to do.”
Zig blinked, clearly surprised. Misty was not normally assertive. “Okay.”
“Good.” Misty nodded. “Now, to business. If Quaid doesn’t leave in the morning?—”
“He will,” Zig cut in.
“If he doesn’t, we won’t get a better chance to see what’s in that room than right now,” Misty said, “and I want to see what the hell is in there.”
“Dayum.” Zig was looking at her like they’d never met. “You’re seriously into this, aren’t you?”
She hesitated, then nodded. “More than I expected to be. Enough so that I’m… rethinking who I am. What I want. I’m excited. I can’t remember when I’ve been this excited about anything.”
“Did I do all that?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t think it was entirely you,” she said, but she didn’t elaborate. She’d never considered herself a crime-solver. That was what her aunt Rachel did, and Uncle Mason, and Jeremy now, too. But somehow, the moment Zig had asked for her help, some previously dormant gene had awakened in her, and it refused to go back to sleep. “I think we should sneak down there and look through those little windows, just in case it’s our only chance.”
“It’s pitch dark in there,” Zig said. “It’s not like we can aim a flashlight beam through the windows, and it’s… oh, wow. That’s handy.”
She had turned in a circle of frustration and stopped, facing their tent, behind them. Misty turned to see what she was talking about. The upper curve of a bright white moon was shining in between the pines. When it rose above the trees, it would beam right down on the cabin.
Misty grinned at Zig. “That moonlight will be flooding right through those windows in a little while. Like a spotlight. Like it’s meant to be.” And then she started to follow the tree line as it curved downhill at a more shallow pitch than the drop-off, and edged nearer the stream. She took her time, watched her steps. It was still dark. She didn’t want to fall, or make noise, or mess this up in any way. She wanted to do it right. Stumbling around in the dark would make noise, maybe alert the homeowner-slash-murder suspect.
Her heart beat a little faster.
Zig caught up easily, and her hands were full when she did. She’d taken a beat to grab their flashlights, one of which she handed to Misty, and the disposable camera she’d brought along because they’d left their phones behind. Anyone tracking them wouldn’t get farther than their shared dorm room, where the phones were safe in a desk drawer.
It was killing Misty to be without her phone. Out of touch, out of reach.
They’d made their way as close to the stream as the trees provided cover, then crept along its banks in the open, toward a narrow spot. Stones created a bottleneck, where the water ran fast and frothy. Misty took a careful look at her options before she took a running leap and landed on the opposite bank. She turned back to see Zig crossing easily with the help of a large flat rock in the middle. She stepped up beside her, and said, “Work smarter, not harder.”
Yeah, she should’ve seen that handy stepping stone. Maybe she should tamp down her enthusiasm a little bit.
