The Night Shift (14 page)

Before long, images started playing in Collin's mind of him picking out who the killer was and being honored by everyone. He could so clearly see Teneire's surprised and delighted face congratulating him.

But just as he was really getting into that daydream of his, he snapped out of it and tried to get himself to focus. "No, gotta focus, Collin. Gotta pay attention. Ya ain't gonna get anywhere if you keep thinking like that…or if you keep talking to yourself."

Shrugging off this mentality, he tried to think back to everything he had heard over the last few days that might provide him with some sort of lead, at least regarding who the next person to question should be.

"Hmmmm…is there anything I don't know yet? Or I don't know enough about?"

As he was thinking about things that Nick was particularly shady about, he remembered one thing Ian told him about Nick:

-Ian looked like he was getting peeved at the constant badgering. "Nick and I got into a fight about a year ago, and I'm still pissed at him for it."-

Then there was what Christine told him the next day while he was filling in for Ian as a lifeguard:

-"It's not important, all right? It was just some stupid argument they had, one of them threw a punch at the other, and it call got worse from there."-

"Hmmmm…I wonder if that fight actually has something to do with it?...Eh, probably not."

Collin started trying to think of something else to give him a lead, but the idea of that fight still weighed heavily on his mind, and he couldn't think straight with it preoccupying him.

"Then again, I don't really know anything about that fight, or how it went down, or…anything. Maybe there
would
be something strange about it?...Only one way to find out!"

*  *  *

"Well, Collin, I hate to rain on your parade, but things really aren't going all that well."

It was now Saturday morning: Collin's day off from work. He was instead spending his time (when he would have normally been sleeping) sitting in Teneire's office, looking surprisingly relaxed.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong-it's great you found that bloody knife and all, but we really aren't too much further ahead of where we were last year."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. I mean, we've pretty much ruled out two people now, but those guys weren't really all that suspicious to begin with."

That's what YOU think…

"…so, really, we're almost back to where we started."

"Actually, I don't think that's true," Collin interrupted, trying his best not to sound rude.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is pretty much what we have so far: we know Jess's knife killed Scott, right? That much we're sure of?"

"That's right."

"And Jess first said she gave it to Nick around the time Scott died, but then she changed her story and said she lost it so people wouldn't suspect Nick."

"Right. But I don't see what good that does."

"Well, Nick's saying he has no idea how the knife ended up at the lake, even though he was the one who was supposed to have had it in his possession when Scott got knocked off."

"What's your point?"

"Pretty much, Jess's story doesn't line up with Nick's, which means either Jess is lying,
Nick
is lying,…or maybe they're
both
sending us on a wild goose chase."

"So…"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that the real question here is figuring out who had the knife when Scott died."

"Uh…that's what we've been trying to figure out since day one."

"Rrrright," Collin said as he realized he just stated the obvious. "But, I mean, really, knives don't just poof underground or under lifeguard towers at lakes. So whoever killed Scott must have been able to move the knife there and hide it."

"I guess that makes sense, but that still doesn't really change anything."

"Urk…well…uh…maybe someone
else
will have some useful info? I dunno."

"I think you're on the right track."

"Huh?"

"Nick will have
his
story, and Jess will have hers. We'll never get to the truth at that rate, so we're gonna need a third person to try and help us figure out who really had the knife and what happened."

"Great," Collin exclaimed as he clapped his hands a single time. "So, who do we go to next?"

"That's gonna be
your
job. I want you to pay close attention to what everyone around you is saying and see if that'll give us a clue."

Collin stared dully at the floor.

"You think you can do that, Coll?"

Collin looked up and snapped back to attention. "Who do you think you're talking to, sir?"

Teneire smiled. "Great. When you go back to work on Monday, watch everyone closely, but don't get too suspicious, all right?"

"Yeah, but…one question."

"Yeah?"

"Couldn't we just bring Nick or Jess back in and question them some more instead of having me find someone else?"

"Neither one of them are gonna change their story unless we force them to," Teneire deduced. "We're gonna have to find something that'll get whoever's lying to tell the truth. We're gonna need something
concrete
on these guys."

"And you want me to get that 'concrete' by listening to everyone else and callin' them in?"

"You got it."

Collin went back to smiling. "No problemo. You can count on
me
, chief."

*  *  *

"I already told you, there's nothing else to say about it," Ian instantly rejected.

Collin's time off had ended and he was now back at work. Very early on in the day, he had found some time to pull Ian aside and acted as if he wanted to talk to him. But as soon as he mentioned the fight and wanted to learn something more about it, Ian promptly tried to stop the conversation.

"Hey, I'm curious," Collin insisted.

"Don't be. It's no big deal."

"If it's no big deal, then how come you're being so stubborn?"

"
I'm
being stubborn?! You're the one who won't stop bugging me about something that doesn't have anything to do with you!"

"Aw, come on!"

"Nope. No can do. Man Law says that if one guy asks another guy a question and the other one doesn't want to answer it, the topic has to be dropped
completely
."

"What the?...where'd you read
that
?!"

Ian chuckled. "Take my word for it."

I won't.
"Hey, you know what I just thought would be a great idea?"

Ian was caught off guard by Collin's sudden change in attitude.

"…what?"

"Letting that girl in the tiger stripes bikini knowing you've just been staring at her butt for the past ten minutes."

"What?! Oh, quit bluffing."

Collin smirked and turned towards the girl in question. "Hey, you!"

Ian looked distraught and now acted on impulse. "Don't! If she knows, she'll call Headquarters and complain, then I'll get another pay cut!"

ANOTHER pay cut? That's happened to you before? Sheesh, I'd have thought you'd learn after the FIRST time.
"So, you gonna tell me?"

Ian forced a fake grin and shook his head. "Collin, you are such a sneaky bastard, buddy."

With a mischievous smile, Collin said, "I know."

After sighing, Ian finally gave in. "Fine, if you really want to know, I'll tell you."

"Awesome! That's what I like to hear!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I actually feel bad for you."

"Huh? Why?"

" 'Cause when you see how stupid this whole thing is, you're gonna be disappointed you tried to force it out of me."

"Oh, well. Let's just hear it."

"Fine, fine. About a week before Scott kicked the bucket, Nick and I had an argument."

"What was it about?"

Ian's face was a mix of surprise and sarcasm. "Like I remember! It was probably something stupid like a political belief or something."

"And?..."

"I remember saying that that stupid mayor Menkino shouldn't be re-elected for another term like he has been for the past, like, thirty bazillion years, and Nick just got all fussy and was like, 'Hey, he's a great mayor!'. And I said, 'He's the worst mayor I've ever seen,' and he's like, 'Oh, yeah?!'. And the next thing I know, he started trying to punch me."

"What?!" Collin yelled. "That's how the fight started?!"
There's no way that's right…I gotta hear Nick's side of this story. Not even NICK would just lash out like that.

"No lie. All I did was say I thought Menkino was a bad mayor and he punched me for no good reason. And Man Law says you never strike preempti…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you guys haven't really talked to each other since?"

"I didn't
want
to talk to him. He's an idiot, anyway."

"And…what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what happened to you guys after the fight?"

"Aw, we were both suspended from work for the week."

"You were?"

"Yeah. See? I told you it was nothing big."

"Hmmm…well, thanks anywa…"
Wait
a
minute! When I was questioning Nick with Teneire the other day…

"
Anyway, yeah. I wasn't working then."

"
You mean you didn't have the job yet?"

"
Ugh…well, I had it, but I didn't
show
up for work once the entire week."

"
You didn't?" Teneire asked. "Were you on vacation?"

"
Something like that," Nick cryptically answered.

So that "vacation" was really him getting suspended from the park for picking a fight?
, Collin realized.
But does that have anything to do with this?...

"Uh…thanks, Ian," Collin said. His voice gave away how puzzled he was, but Ian hadn't noticed it in the slightest.

"No problem, bud."

"Uh…great. Well, I…uh…better get back to my post."

"You do that, buddy."

Quickly nodding, Collin turned around and started walking away from the lifeguard post. When he was about fifteen yards away, he heard, "Hey, Collin!"