“Who’s certifiable?” Greg stepped between us, and Taylor took a step back. Intimidating women must be more his style. I wrapped my arm around Greg’s, thankful for the comfort and the interruption.
“He thinks Ginny killed Kacey.” I knew it sounded blunt, but I wanted to see if Taylor would stand behind his statement or if he was only blowing smoke.
Greg cocked his head and considered Taylor. “How did you come up with this theory? Are you a member of the Bakerstown police force?”
“I’m not with the police,” Taylor said. “And I’m sure I didn’t say anything like that. She must have misunderstood me.”
Taylor was apparently one of those men who didn’t like talking to women at all if he could help it. I bet to him, women were second-class citizens and should be seen but not heard. I tucked Ginny’s slip of paper into my pocket and looked at Greg. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yep.” He nodded to Taylor. “We’ll talk soon.”
Greg’s words sounded more like a threat than a salutation. As we walked toward where Amy and Justin were waiting, I relaxed. “Thanks for saving me. The guy gives me the creeps.”
“Why do the crazies always find you to play with? I swear, Jill, you must have a beacon built into your system that only the insane can hear.”
“You tell me and we’ll both know.” I stopped for a minute before we reached the other couple. “Ginny says she knows who killed Kacey.”
“Yeah, did she tell you?” Greg looked through the crowd, trying to find the woman.
I pulled out the paper and looked at it. It was just a string of numbers. I showed it to Greg. “She gave me this.”
He took the paper, looked at it, then gave it back. “Give it up, Jill. The woman is crazy. Taylor might be a jerk, but he’s spot-on in his description of Ginny.”
I stuffed the paper back in my jeans pocket and walked with Greg to meet up with Amy and Justin.
The boys were chatty as we hiked up the trail toward our first cache. Amy and I were behind them, but she kept three steps ahead and anytime I tried to catch up, she’d go faster. As a team-building event, today was failing. When we reached the first cache site, she paused next to Justin.
“You could talk to me, you know.” I put my hands on my knees, trying to take a deep breath.
Amy shrugged. “You were the one who decided we didn’t need to talk.”
“No, I was the one who said I wouldn’t be a rat for the water conservation committee. Since when are you so gung ho about one of the mayor’s programs?” I stood, finally able to breathe from the climb. “Who’s paying him to sponsor this committee in the first place? You know he doesn’t do anything without knowing what’s in it for him.”
“This time he is.” Amy rolled her eyes. “I was the one who convinced him to participate in the regional water conservation committee. Some of my friends from college are involved, and they reached out to me a few months ago. All I wanted was some support. I knew it would be hard to get people on board, but I never questioned your commitment. I guess I didn’t know you quite as well as I thought.”
“Amy, I didn’t know this was your project. Why didn’t you tell me?” I felt like a heel now. Not only did I tell my best friend her idea was stupid, but I’d compared her group’s goals to those of Nazi Germany.
She pressed her lips together. “I would have thought you would have guessed. No one else in City Hall gives a darn about clean drinking water. You shouldn’t have to beg people to do the right thing.”
“I really am sorry. You’re right, we should have supported it based on the fact it was a good idea, not who brought it to the table.” I saw Greg and Justin giving each other a nonverbal high five behind our backs. Or they were, until Amy spoke again.
“I just don’t know you anymore.” She turned to Justin, who ran a hand through his hair, trying to keep Amy from seeing his celebratory dance with Greg. “Take me home. I’m not having fun.”
I watched her walk alone down the path toward the parking lot. Justin hurried after her, stopping for a second. “She’ll get over this. She can’t stay mad at you forever. I guess this just wasn’t such a great idea right now.”
I kissed him on the cheek, wondering if I’d ever see him again. I’d loved our double date nights, or at least the ones that didn’t involve geocache searching. “Go take care of her. We’ll work this out later.”
Greg stood by my side and we watched Justin disappear. He hugged me quickly. “Well, there is a bright side to all of this.”
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “There is?”
He nodded. “We can go home now and we don’t have to search for hours for one of these trinkets.”