“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she nodded in turn to me, Brock, and Shayla. “And it’s good to have you back, Nikki.”
“It’s good to be back,” Nikki said in her saccharine voice.
The guys all stared down at the table in front of them. What was going on? Why were they all acting like scared puppies?
Then the door opened and two rangers walked in like they were in an action movie, strutting out of an exploding building. One, scruffy with brown hair and a stocky athletic build, pulled off his aviator glasses and threw a short nod to the other rangers. The other, tall, dark and gorgeous in a Calvin-Klein-underwear-model way, smiled showing the whitest teeth I’d ever seen.
“I’m glad you were able to join us,” Ursula said in a voice that didn’t convey even the slightest bit of joy.
“We were out on a trail, so it took us a bit longer to get here,” the first one said as they took seats in the back of the room.
“Very well, I will get on with it since I have several other meetings this afternoon.” She straightened her white blouse and squared her shoulders. “We are going to be making some changes to the ranger group.”
Every head shot up to look at her.
“We have been given additional funds to increase staffing.” She spit out these words as if they were bitter in her mouth. “As soon as possible, we will be hiring an additional full-time ranger.”
I could almost hear Nikki’s heart beating as she sat up straighter and flashed her big grin at Ursula.
“Of course, we’d like to hire from within and will be considering our summer rangers first. However, if we do not find one who can meet the qualifications, we will have to look outside the organization.”
A sigh of relief went through the full-time rangers.
“The reason we will be hiring an additional ranger is that we will be hosting several programs and events that require a ranger’s oversight. We would like this new hire to be the point person for those programs and events.”
Nikki looked like she might fall off the edge of her seat. I couldn’t blame her—a part of me was excited too. Though I was sure she’d get it over me.
Either way, I had to try.
“Are there any questions?”
Nikki’s hand shot up. “I would assume seniority would provide some of us an upper hand?”
Ursula cracked what I guessed to be her version of a smile, though it looked more like a grimace. “Yes, Nikki. Your assumption is correct.”
Great. So I had no shot.
“Barring any new developments, that is. I don’t want to discourage any of you,” she motioned toward Shayla, Brock, and me, “from applying and working hard to prove yourselves.”
Maybe if I helped solve the murder, she’d consider me more seriously. I looked down at my soaking pants. Or maybe not.
“If there are no other questions, I’ll take my leave.” She waited for a second, gathered her briefcase, and left without another word.
“That’s it?” One of the trail rangers murmured behind me. “That’s what we had to come all the way here for?”
“At least it’s not what we thought,” Ben replied. “We still have a ranger program.”
Wait, they were worried she would shut the program down altogether? How could they have such nice trucks and facilities and still be worried about losing their jobs?
“Looks like they’ve decided we’re valuable after all.” Greg smiled. “And one of you may be joining us permanently.”
His eyes swept over us and rested on Nikki.
Antonio winked at Nikki and she blushed. My chest tightened. Of course they’d have a history. She had been a summie for five years, and hadn’t Ben said Antonio has a thing for summies?
“But programs and events? We have enough going on without adding more to the mix,” Kyle chimed in.
“Hey, if it brings in money and gives us another full-time position.” Antonio smiled at Nikki. “It’ll make us even more valuable.”
My leg began to shake impatiently. I didn’t want to, couldn’t sit here watching Antonio flirt with Nikki while Ronnie’s wife might still be out there. If I had any chance at all at getting the full-time gig, I needed to solve this murder.
“Can I take lunch now?” I asked.
“Of course,” Greg replied. “Be back in an hour, okay?”
“Okay.” I was up and out the door before anyone could stop me, squishy boots and all.
It took almost half an hour to wind through the maze of houses and find the right gate. There were no vehicles parked there, but Ronnie’s wife could have gone on foot or bike. I trudged out of my Mustang, leaving a huge wet spot on the seat that resembled the time I’d lost control of my bladder in Troy’s truck on the way home from a particularly awesome concert. His reaction, however, had not been all that awesome.
“Sorry, Cherry Anne. I’ll clean it up when I can.” I shook my head. Stop talking to your car and get in the game.
I needed to figure out what I was going to say when I found Ronnie’s wife. Luke would probably want me to call him, but it wasn’t like I was going to interrogate or interview or whatever. I was simply taking a walk on my lunch break.
My boots were still sopping wet when I got to where Ben and I had pulled the trap from the water. Footprints the size of Sasquatch’s led down to the shoreline, but not back up. My pulse raced. She was still down here.
The trees where I’d seen her before were empty, but her footprints led farther down the shoreline. I picked up speed. Time was running short.
I continued down the sandy shoreline until my time was up. I barely had ten minutes to get back to my car and find my way out of the neighborhood maze. I sloshed my way out of the park, my thighs now severely chafed by my wet cargo pants.
When I was almost out of the
