When I finally arrived, Justin and Amy were right where they’d said they’d be, heads bent looking at something on his phone. I wondered who else had texted them and thought maybe I’d be seeing Greg at the memorial. It made sense in a television detective sort of way. The killer always showed his cards when the memorials occurred. He was probably here, watching and gloating about his perfect kill.
When I stopped in front of them, Justin looked up like he didn’t even remember my name. “Oh hi, Jill.” He held out his phone. “Check out this geo-app Taylor just hooked me up with. You don’t even need a handheld GPS to play the game now. The app is available on any smartphone platform.”
“Nice to know.” I looked at Amy. “Is he for real?”
“He’s just excited about his new hobby,” Amy whispered in my ear. “Be glad you don’t hang out with him. I’m going a little bit crazy, and if I hear what a wizard Taylor is one more time . . .” She hugged me. “Well, let’s just say Greg will have one more murder to solve.”
“Our secret.” I hugged her back, then stepped around her to look at the crowd. “Wow, I didn’t realize there were so many club members. I had a couple of women stop in this morning for a bite, but this is amazing.”
“Kacey seemed to be well-liked,” Amy agreed, standing close to me by the wooden railing.
“Well-loved, I believe is the term.” Greg appeared on the other side of me. “Glad you decided to come to this. I thought it might be weeks before I saw you again.”
“Kacey was a nice person. Austin, on the other hand, can rot for what he did to Sadie.” I scanned the crowd. “Speaking of, I don’t see him down there, do you?”
Greg shook his head. “Of course, I was pretty hard on him at the station this morning. Maybe he decided he didn’t want to answer any more questions about Kacey’s death.”
“You questioned him? Like a suspect?” I turned toward Greg, wanting to hear more.
Greg put his arm around me and led me down the stairs. “More like a grieving widower. The guy just lost his wife. If I need to, I’ll play hardball next week. Give him some time to pull it together. He looks like he was the one who died.”
I leaned into Greg’s body as we walked across the sand to where a small platform and microphone had been set up. “You have a good heart, you know that, right?”
“Baby, I just know what a mess I’d be if I lost you.” Greg kissed the side of my head, and I melted into him.
“You know just what to say.” I nodded to a few people from South Cove who’d also been invited by someone. Bill and Mary Sullivan were there, along with Aunt Jackie and Mary. Next to my aunt was Harrold. And next to Harrold, was Josh. “Uh-oh. That doesn’t look good.”
Greg and I watched as Josh tried to maneuver his way between Harrold and Jackie. Finally he gave up and with the grace of an elephant, lumbered over to the last row of chairs and lowered himself onto an aisle seat. He glared in the direction of Jackie and Harrold, and when he caught me watching him, he glared at me.
“How is this my fault?” I muttered. Greg looked over at me and I shook my head. “Don’t ask.” We headed to the chairs and sat on the other side of the aisle, in the same row as Josh. At least this way, he couldn’t throw dagger eyes at me during the entire ceremony.
“Kacey had a lot of friends.” Greg scanned the crowd. “I don’t know a lot of people here. A few I saw the day Justin took us geo-surfing, and of course, the people from South Cove.”
“Geocaching, not surfing.” I put my hand on his leg and he put his arm around me. “She seemed really involved in this club. I think Justin has caught the bug, too. He’s all about the game and his new toys.”
“Great. Does this mean we’ll have to do another double date tracking down a buried penny? Or maybe we’ll get a shiny rock. If he’s that into trinkets, I could go to the dime store in Bakerstown and buy him a bag full.”
“Bakerstown doesn’t have a dime store. In fact, there’s none in the entire United States.” I watched people gather around the front of the area. It appeared that we’d be starting in a few minutes.
“Not true. Wall Drug Store in South Dakota is a classic dime store. You can find anything in that place.” Greg grinned. “And in Nashville, there are a couple of shops off the main drag with anything and everything, including some voodoo charms and trinkets. You just need to look for the out-of-the-way shops.”
“Like in South Cove.” I leaned my head into his chest. “We’re all about the original and unique.”
“I’d love to see a Goonies shop open. It could carry magic tricks, gag gifts, and stuff any twelve-year-old boy or adult male would love.” He kissed the top of my head. “Maybe I’ve found my calling for when I retire.”
“That would be a pretty narrow customer base.” I drew a heart on his jeans with my fingernail.