The second man was about twice his partner’s height, with arms the size of beach balls, and a face that was vaguely—
“Rylie?”
Even after ten years, there was no mistaking that voice.
“Luke?” I raised my hand in a stunned wave. Luke had been my first real boyfriend. My first kiss. My first, well, everything. And I hadn’t seen him in years.
“Looks like this guy’s got himself into a bit of trouble.” Luke’s partner pulled on a pair of gloves and walked gingerly around the scene.
“What are you doing here? Dressed like . . . that?”
He was dressed differently too. His usual preppy attire was replaced with a uniform and gun. His aviator glasses perched gently in his perfectly gelled brown hair.
“I’m a park ranger—a summer park ranger.” I squared my shoulders, thankful he couldn’t see how disgusting my uniform was in the darkness.
“A park ranger? What happened to firefighting?” His face had always given away his emotions, but in the dark I couldn’t make out what he was thinking. He knew my ex. We’d all grown up together. Surely he’d heard the gossip. Heck, he may have known about the indiscretions before I had.
“It’s a long story.”
“We don’t have time for long stories.” Luke’s partner interrupted. “We need to get the coroner and the forensic team out here. Looks like it’s going to be a long night for all of us.”
A long night was an understatement. Ben and I had to finish locking up the park and lead the coroner and the forensic team to the body. Then we waited, and waited, and waited.
Once Ben snapped out of his stupefied daze, he explained how we couldn’t leave when there were others in the park, even other law enforcement. I spent most of the night sitting in the truck answering questions like “When did you find the body?” and “Are you certain of the identity?”
Occasionally, Luke tried to sneak away to chat, but his partner wasn’t about to let him slack off and catch up with me. Which was okay since I wasn’t exactly on my A game.
Finally, the sun came up. Antonio and Kyle were there for their opening shift, both looking like they’d had a long night of drinking. I was so exhausted by the time I got home I nearly fell asleep standing in the shower.
My mother chewed me up one side and down the other about how she was so worried when they saw footage of the scene from an air traffic helicopter on the early news. I almost reminded her that I was supposed to be given all the freedoms of living on my own, even though I was in her basement, but I didn’t have the energy. I only had a few hours to sleep before I had to report back for training, and hopefully, a less eventful shift.
3
I awoke to the sound of my phone’s alarm blaring in my ear. I must have fallen asleep perusing social media. My job status needed updating, but if I didn’t get my butt in gear and to work, it would stay at “unemployed.”
It seemed like I had only just been there—probably because I had—and the thought of going through a shift with any sense of normalcy was a stretch. Not that I really knew what normal looked like.
Ben met me in the shop’s wash bay, where most of the rangers probably spent a great deal of time washing their prized trucks—not unlike we had at the fire department. Ben was diligently drying the passenger door of his pickup when I walked in.
“Any word?” I asked.
He wrung out the chamois and kept drying without meeting my gaze. “Preliminary investigation says he got caught in his own trap and drowned.”
“They think Ronnie was the MWB?”
“They couldn’t find any other cause of death, but they’re doing an autopsy, so maybe we’ll hear more later.” The cheerfulness hadn’t returned to his voice. Instead he sounded empty, hollow.
I knew the feeling. The first time I saw a dead person, I wasn’t right for a month. Granted it had been a much more gruesome scene, but still, death wasn’t easy, especially when you knew the deceased.
“I’m sorry, Ben,” I said.
He looked up at me and half-smiled. “Don’t be sorry, I’m okay. Are you feeling up to training today? The other summies will be here any minute, but if you’re tired and want to go home—”
“Nah, I slept plenty. Bring on the training,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. The gigantic latte I’d gulped down on my way to work should be enough to sustain me through the first half of the shift.
“I’ll walk with you upstairs.” He wrung out the chamois one last time and hung it on a rack to dry.
“Are you instructing the training today?”
“No, I’ll be on patrol.” He rubbed his temples. “Greg, Ranger One, will be starting off.”
Greg looked too kind to be a Ranger. His salt and pepper hair, mixed with his thick-framed glasses and genuine grin, made him more akin to a lovable grandfather than an enforcer. Two other summer rangers sat side by side at a long table facing the front where Greg stood. I was the last to arrive and sat at the very end, closest to the door.
First order of business was to go down the table and introduce ourselves.
The girl next to me began. She was in her early twenties, a bit hefty, and looked uncomfortable sitting in the middle of the room with all attention on her. Her curly blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore more makeup than was necessary, but it worked for her.
“My name is Shayla,” she said just above a whisper, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson. “I want to go into law enforcement like my mother, and I thought this would be a good place to start. I obviously am not
