Luke looked like he was going to object but instead gave a silent nod.
“All right, then. If we’re all in agreement. Let’s go see what we got.” Seamus led us down the stairs and into the office where he plugged in the memory card.
Hundreds of tiny photo thumbnails popped up on the screen.
The camera at the reservoir was only about twenty feet from gate three and was aimed at the gate itself. There were hundreds of photos of walkers and bikers, dogs and deer and even a coyote.
The photos taken at night had an infrared look similar to the video games my ex-boyfriend, Troy, played for hours on end.
“We estimate the woman died about a week ago,” Luke said.
Seamus scrolled to the photos on those dates. “Stop me if yeh see something I miss.” He clicked through the pictures quickly. “Benny said yeh think I’m a creeper.”
“I’m pretty sure the word I used was pervert,” I replied. “But that was before I knew what you used these cameras for. Or that it was you who had the cameras.”
“Pervert or creeper or whatever, they may have just—”
“Stop,” Luke said. “Right there.”
Sure enough, there was a photo of a large man dragging a woman’s limp body—head attached—into the gate.
“That definitely looks like Boy Boy,” Luke said. “Can you send me that picture so I can have the lab take a closer look?”
“Done.” Seamus sent the email. “If she had her head when he went in . . .”
The next photo showed the man from behind holding a sports bag with brown hair fluttering out the unzipped top.
“You better send that one too,” Luke said.
I felt Shayla sway next to me. I squeezed her hand. “You okay?”
Seamus looked over at her like he wanted to comfort her too, but he turned back to the computer screen.
Luke looked back and forth between them and quirked a questioning eyebrow up at me. I shrugged. I wasn’t going to give away a secret I wasn’t even supposed to be keeping.
“I guess the only thing left now is to find Boy Boy,” Luke said.
12
Ben announced that Nikki was holding a pre-event meeting the moment I walked into the shop for my shift Friday afternoon.
“Do I have to be there?” I whined.
“Everyone does. Even those not scheduled to work the event.”
I pulled on my button-down uniform shirt, tucked it in, and strapped on my duty belt. “That’s ridiculous.”
Ben shrugged. “It is what it is. No need to get our panties in a wad.”
“I guess we should get down there then.” I tossed my work bag into the summie truck. “Wouldn’t want to make Princess Nikki wait.”
Ben let out a hesitant laugh. I knew he liked Nikki, all the rangers did, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. She was vile. Case in point: her tapping foot the moment I walked in the room.
“It’s about time you showed up. We’ve been waiting for you,” she hissed under her breath as I walked by.
I wanted to bite back that my shift had just started and if she wanted me there earlier she should have let me know, but I held my tongue. All of the rangers sat around a long set of tables with Ursula at the head.
The only seat open after Ben had taken a seat next to Greg was the one beside Antonio.
I sat and saw Antonio’s smug smile and intense gaze out of the corner of my eye.
“Thank you all for coming here today,” Nikki said in her honey-sweet voice taking her place next to Ursula. “We thought it would good for everyone to be here since it’s our first triathlon.”
Brock shifted in his seat. It was his day off, and he looked none too pleased that he had to be here for the meeting. Especially since he wasn’t scheduled to work the event.
“Going forward, we’ll only have these meetings for the staff scheduled for each individual event.” She beamed at Ursula who gave an approving nod. “What I’m passing out now are the event details.”
She sauntered around the table, not in uniform but in skinny jeans and a blush chiffon blouse that accentuated her long wavy red hair. She dropped one of the packets in front of me that was at least fifty pages long.
I thumbed through the pages finding maps, detailed job descriptions, and an intricate timeline including things like course marked, first swimmer in water, and water bottles to finish line. It was enough to make my head throb.
Antonio nudged me in the side, and I nearly let out a shriek.
“This is nuts,” he whispered.
I nodded but kept my head down. If Ursula hadn’t been present, I’d have joked along with him, but I needed her to think I was a good choice for that full-time position.
“Open your packets please.”
The rustle of paper turning from the cover to page one fluttered through the room along with a few sighs.
“We’ll begin on page one,” Nikki said, her voice almost giddy with excitement. As much as I hated to admit it, she had been the right one for the job. I never could have made such goo-goo eyes at a piece of paper showing a topographical map with a race course marked in bright red. “As you can see the map of the reservoir shows the race course. The competitors will begin with the 750-meter swim, move onto the 20-kilometer bike section, then finish with a 5-kilometer run.”
Just the thought of this competition made me tired. My sister had done her fair share of triathlons, even after having the boys. She’d once tried to get me to do one with her, but any thoughts of me competing had ceased when I tried to squish myself into her teeny-tiny wetsuit.
“Approximately five hundred competitors will enter the water from the swim beach in waves of one hundred.”
“Excuse me?” Greg raised his hand but didn’t wait for Nikki’s
