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Jeremy fought it, but he looked Zeke over with reluctant interest. “You look like you’re in pretty good shape.”
“I run a few miles every day. That helps.”
“Oh, yeah? How many?”
“I aim for at least three a day. Then I do a ten mile run once a week.”
“Ten miles, huh?” He shrugged, the way kids do when they wanted you to think they didn’t care about something. “I’m going out for cross-country next year at school. I’ve been training but I haven’t gotten up to ten miles yet.”
There was an awkward moment of silence as all the adults in the room took in the exchange. “Okay, well, I’m going to shower,” Jeremy said to no one in particular, then took off down the hallway.
Zeke waited till he was gone to say, “I take it he knows who I am.”
Sam nodded. “He found you. Just like you found me all those years ago.”
Ballsy and smart. Zeke couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pride. He cleared his throat. “So, about last night,” he said to Sam. “When we first saw you, we were near the ticket booth. You remember that?”
“Of course I remember.”
“Anything stand out in your mind? Anyone who looked like they didn’t belong there?”
“Sorry. Like I said, I wasn’t paying much attention to anything except you.” Sam looked sheepish. “And the other cop, of course.”
“What other cop?”
“Medium height, red hair? He was standing watch over the ticket booth, making small talk with some of the people around. I only noticed him because I figured he must work for you.”
Mimi smiled. “That’s Rusty. Do you think you could describe anyone he might have talked to?”
“That would probably be the whole damn town,” Zeke muttered.
“Most of the time, he was talking to a woman. I remember that because they made a date to meet after the festival and then she made him promise not to tell anyone. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but…” Sam shrugged.
Zeke sat up straight. “Can you describe her?”
“Medium height, long hair. She had on a Whispering Bay police T-shirt. I remember that specifically because I wo
ndered if she might be a cop, too. Except, she had these long red fingernails, which I thought would be odd for an officer.”
“That’s Cindy,” Zeke said. “She’s our receptionist.”
“Rusty and Cindy are dating?” Mimi said. “I guess it all makes sense now. Betty Jean Collins is going to be so disappointed.” She giggled. “But why the secrecy?”
“It’s against department policy for two employees to be involved in a romantic relationship,” Zeke answered.
Huh. Rusty and Cindy. Atta boy, Rusty. Zeke hadn’t thought Rusty had it in him. Maybe he could get the department policy changed. He’d look into it first thing tomorrow morning. If he was he still chief of police, that is.
“Anything else?” Zeke asked Sam.
Sam frowned, like he was trying hard to remember. “I’m sorry. The rest of the people, I just didn’t notice…. That cop and his girl, that’s what I was focused on. Especially because there was this other guy who seemed interested in the girl, too. For a second, I thought he and the cop might get into it. But then it all blew over.”
“What do you mean?” Mimi asked.
“The other guy? He was flirting with her. That’s when…Rusty, you said? He came charging over to mark his territory. The girl seemed flustered by this other guy’s attention, but once the cop came over, the guy took off.”
“Came over? What do you mean?” Zeke said.
Sam thought about it a moment. “When I first noticed the cop, he was standing right by the ticket booth, but then this other guy was hitting on his girl, so he walked over to put an end to it.”
