Page 41 of Cisco

Cisco groaned. First his parents, then Welker, now Dieter. Would the whole world know about his crush before he’d even gotten a chance to take her out on their first date?

But Cisco knew, in order to assuage Diet’s curiosity, he’d have to throw the man some kind of bone.

“Fine. Let’s just say she’s a person of interest to me.”

Dieter snorted and waggled his brows. “A redhead?”

Yup. His friend knew him well, and his preference for blonde women had never been a secret.

“She is,” Cisco admitted. “But I’ve decided that’s just icing on the cake. She’s also smart, and…intriguing.”

Dieter laughed. “Intriguing, huh? Is that code for she didn’t fall for your charms right away?”

“Suck it, asshole. I’m working on it, okay?”

“Okay. Fine. Do I know her? What’s her last name?” Dieter continued.

“Duncan,” Cisco revealed, “and although that doesn’t ring a bell, there’s something about her that’s weirdly familiar.”

“I’d think with your tech-guru connections at the station and with your SWAT team, you could have someone do a deep dive on her; find out exactly who she is,” Dieter suggested.

“That doesn’t seem creepy to you?” Cisco wouldn’t tell him he’d already pondered it about a hundred times.

“Nope. After all, you’ll be working with her, and she works with kids. You want to make sure the camp’s not just a front for something like a foreign child kidnapping ring. Does she have an accent?”

Cisco snorted. “Idiot. She inherited the camp from her grandmother, and her parents are local. She’s one of us.”

“Then how come we don’t know her? How old is she?” Dieter probed.

“Our age.” Cisco sighed. “But she said she went to private school, which is why we never ran into her.”

“I don’t know,” Dieter shook his head. “It sounds kind of fishy to me.”

Cisco voiced his thoughts out loud. “I thought so, too, especially because there’s something extra-prickly about her. When you ask questions about her past or her family, she closes up tighter than a sealed vault. It’s not like I think she’s lying or anything. It’s more like she’s…avoiding.”

“If anyone can get to the bottom of things, it’s you. I have faith, young padawan. And now, it’s past my bedtime.” He turned to go, then pivoted back. “If you’re up for it, maybe tomorrow night I can bring over some lobsters?”

“I’d like that.” Cisco answered with a smile. He never got to see enough of his best friend, and he was looking forward to remedying that with his new schedule.

Dieter slapped him on the back, which made Cisco draw in a hiss.

“Oops. Sorry,” he excused himself, but with a grin. The dick knew exactly what he’d done.

“Sure you are, asshole,” Cisco snorted. “You’d better watch out Diets. The next time one of those red-critters you harvest tries to take off your finger, I’m going to shake your hand until you cry like a pussy.”

Dieter laughed, then pulled open the door. “Right. I won’t hold my breath on that one.” His face grew serious for a moment. “You know I’ve missed you, dick-head. I’m glad you didn’t get dead.” He regained his cockiness. “Now look into that woman.”

With that parting advice, Dieter saluted, then whistled his way back to his truck.

“Look into that woman,” Cisco repeated in a murmur.

Yup. It was sound advice.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Hilly loved move-in day, and things couldn’t have gone more smoothly, at least with her new influx of kids.

As she lay in bed after the welcome-bonfire had long since been doused, she saw, in her mind’s eye, all the smiling faces of the campers. Even the ones who’d hung back with their parents at first, tearful and nervous about cutting those familial-strings, had seemed happy and relaxed by the time they’d been steered to their cabins for lights-out by their boisterous counselors.

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