Page 62 of High Side
Kylie hauled it out and chained it into place, weighing the lid down like they always did with cinderblocks.
“Thanks. Lord. I don’t like this, hon.”
“I know, Lupe. I called Molly at the campground, and she thinks she might have a few possibles.”
“Yeah? You think they’re staying at the campsite?”
“It’s worth a look. She says she has a few tenters that have been there since the start of the season. No one will harass them if they’re just hanging out, but if we can shut this down, it would be good.” She had a few other places to try, but this looked promising.
“Good thinking, sweetheart. You think it’s someone we fired or someone we didn’t hire?”
“I have no idea. I’m thinking fired. Someone with a fragile ego. This seems extreme for a no hire. But have we let anyone go this season?” She couldn’t remember. “Maybe it seemed like the same thing if they washed out of training.” There had been three or four of those, three of them male.
“There’s a couple—there’s the one guy who just disappeared off Brittney’s raft.”
She gaped. “There is. What the heck was his name? He worked for us before, right?”
“Yeah. You’ll have to look him up. Uh… James? Jim? Jonathan?”
“Something like that. I’ll get you back to the shed first.” She would bet Liz had asked her to run to the hardware store to buy cans and wait to put them out when Liz could help. She was crazy about Lupe.
“Thank you. How did it go with Brittany’s mom?”
“Good. Really well. I like her a lot.” Kylie laughed. “I spilled my tea, did the splits on it, and then tripped over her suitcase.”
“Oh dear. Did you hurt yourself?”
“No. I expected to be sore, but I did okay.” She shook her head. “And Sadie fell in love with her.”
“Well, then, that’s that.” Lupe believed in the intuition of dogs.
“I know. Sadie is so much smarter than me.”
They grinned at each other, then she got Lupe in the Gator and drove her back to the shed.
One of the windows had been broken out, and Mike the maintenance man was fixing it. Jesus.
“What happened, Mike?”
Lupe rushed past her, and she knew Lupe was checking on anyone who might be inside.
“It was a rock thrown at the window. Sadie chased the guy off.”
“Wow. Wow.” She whistled, and Sadie came running. She pulled a treat out of her pocket, because she always had a few when Sadie was away from home. “Good girl. Good girl, guard.”
Sadie snatched the treat and then turned, focusing on the river.
“Is he still there?” She grabbed the shovel out of the Gator and headed for the riverbank.
Sadie growled and came with, tail in the air.
“Careful, baby girl.” She didn’t want her pup to get hurt. But if the guy was armed, he wouldn’t be throwing rocks, she guessed. “Show me. What do you see?”
Sadie growled, her hackles raising up.
She didn’t like this shit at all. In fact, she hated it. Like a lot. She flipped on her flashlight on her phone, searching the bank where she could see.
There were definite footprints—big ones—and they were tennis shoes, not boots. Made sense, she guessed. She didn’t want to—
