Page 42 of Sailor's Delight

“Of course it is.” Jenn grimaced. “God! How do you guys find places like this?”

Casey had the decency to look offended. “‘You guys?’ It’s not like there’s a social club.” He frowned. “And I told you, I’m actually a really good guy!”

Jenn couldn’t help it again. She snorted. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess.”

“I am! And it was actually really hard, by the way. It’s not like you can just google ‘abandoned buildings.’”

“But I’ll bet you tried!” Jenn laughed.

“Maybe.” Casey grinned slightly.

They slid and walked down the trail for some way in silence.

“So, I don’t get it: if you knew Trey had the bracelet, why didn’t you just offer to buy it from him?” Jenn was still confused about a great many things that were happening.

“Well, I didn’t know his name, or anything. All I knew was that he bought it and had told the shop owner that he was going to give it to a special lady friend of his on their upcoming cruise. Apparently, the shop owner was curious about cruising, becausehe remembered asking about which cruise line and the port of departure and a whole bunch of other stuff I didn’t care about.”

“So, you just hired yourself out on a cruise on the off-chance that you might run into the guy who intended to give your great-great-uncle’s artisanal bracelet to his girlfriend? And your plan was to kidnap the girlfriend and ransom the bracelet from him? Did I leave anything out?”

Behind her, Casey didn’t reply.

“How did you know it was me?”

“What?”

Jenn’s foot slipped, and she reached out to catch herself on a branch at the same time a strong pair of hands caught her beneath the armpits.

“Thanks,” she said, shrugging out of his grip and resuming her controlled fall down the mountainside. “You approached me in the library before Trey and I ever met up. What made you believe I was the girlfriend?”

There was silence behind her. Jenn turned to look, wondering if Casey had stopped for some reason.

“I didn’t.” It was almost a whisper.

Jenn hesitated.Ah. This complicates things.

“So, you…” Jenn hesitated, still unsure whether she should pull at this particular thread.

“Thought you were hot?” Casey offered.

“Mmhmm,” Jenn hummed.

“Maybe,” Casey admitted. “I mean, you ate with that blouse and skirt.”

“Thatwasa good outfit,” Jenn agreed. She filed this information away for use with all the rest. “Okay, but you still haven’t answered my question. Why not offer to just buy the bracelet from him? Do you know how much it cost?”

There was an uncomfortable hum from behind her. She turned to look at him, but Casey staunchly avoided her gaze this time, staring down at his shoes.

“You don’t have it, do you?”

Casey squirmed.

“How much did it cost?”

Casey shrank into himself and muttered, “A thousand.”

Jenn stared at him. “A thousand dollars? I’m being kidnapped and ransomed for no more than a thousand dollars?” She slapped his chest. He drew back even further. “Do you know how embarrassing that is? How am I ever going to show my face at the office again when word gets out that I was ransomed for the price of an executive team lunch?! Christ, Casey!”

Jenn pulled her phone from her pocket. “What’s your handle? Tell you what: I’ll pay you double that, right now, and we’ll just completely forget this embarrassing thing ever even happened, all right?”

---