“Jill and Terrance, you’re up first,” Alice called out loudly, ignoring Judith’s glare.
“Come on, midget,” Terrance said resignedly to Jill, nudging the girl on the shoulder. “You’re the size of a gnat. You’ll fly over those trees even without a wire.”
Terrance and Jill walked toward the staircase, a Durand manager leading them. A more oddly matched pair Alice couldn’t imagine. Terrance Brown was six foot several inches tall and weighed in at around three hundred pounds. He was diabetic. With little to no parental supervision, he regularly gorged on sugary snacks and fast food. Alice was trying desperately to show him the benefits of exercise and a balanced diet in order to set him on a healthier path post-camp. He was a smart, ebullient teenager, a jokester who was always the life of the party. And if he continued as he had before, Terrance was at risk of becoming mortally ill. Alice hoped she could get Terrance hooked into an activity that helped improve his health, and had talked him into jogging with her while at Camp Durand.
Jill Sanchez, on the other hand, was a slight, waifish thirteen-year-old who had become withdrawn to the point of almost muteness after witnessing the shooting death of her mother last year.
“Alice said the anchors and the equipment are state of the art here, and will hold more than five hundred pounds. You’ll be fine. At least you’ve done this before,” Alice heard Jill murmur shyly to Terrance as they started up the steps. Alice experienced a surge of warmth and gratitude toward the girl. She noticed Terrance’s slightly bemused, anxious glance down at Jill. Despite his joking bravado, Jill had sensed his worry. As Alice had suspected, beneath his nonchalant kidding, Terrance was worried and self-conscious about doing the zip line, given his weight. Jill had come out of her shell in order to reassure him.
Suddenly, Terrance bent and swooped Jill into the air, plopping her down on the landing of the stairs in front of him.
“Yep. Light as a flea. You’re gonna fly all the way to Detroit on that thing,” he declared, releasing a startled looking Jill. Jill laughed. Alice gawked. It was the first time she’d ever seen the girl smile, let alone laugh. Jill jogged slightly to keep up with Terrance’s lumbering gait as they rose up the rest of the stairs, asking the boy an enthusiastic question that faded off into the forest.
Alice glanced sideways at Judith, who had been watching the pair as well. When Judith met her stare, Alice saw her bewilderment.
“The right choice isn’t always the obvious one,” Alice said very quietly, echoing what she’d told Judith when she’d selected her as team leader. “Besides, you’ve forgotten you’re as much of a novice as Jill when it comes to the zip line. I paired you up with Noble D for a reason. He’ll have quite a few things to teach you.” She nodded subtly. Judith glanced over her shoulder, her gaze landing on the handsome, tall, and somber teenager who stood several feet away, waiting for his partner. Mutiny had returned to Judith’s eyes by the time she met Alice’s stare again, along with a hint of something else.
Panic.
Alice knew that Judith was very much aware Noble D was attracted to her. She’d been avoiding him vigilantly, but Alice didn’t think it was because she found D unattractive. Just the opposite, in fact.
Judith protested a bit too loudly and too often about Noble D’s supposed faults. She had a feeling Judith found the idea of attraction and dating nearly as intimidating as Alice had at her age.
“Good luck,” Alice said sincerely to Judith before she followed Terrance and Jill up the steps.
FOUR
Soothing her campers’ jitters helped to distract Alice from her own fear up on top of the tall platform. It was hard to be too anxious about her own well-being when she was so concerned for her kids.
Justin Arun and Rochelle Phelps were the last pair to successfully fly across the treetops. Just as she lost sight of Justin, she heard a quick step on the stairs.
“Alice.”
“Yeah?” Alice asked Kuvi, her brow wrinkled. Kuvi sounded tense.
“You’d better come down. There’s someone here to see you.”
“Who?” Alice wondered, walking toward Kuvi.
“The sheriff of Morgantown,” Kuvi whispered, her tone hushed to prevent Aidan Salinger, their supervising Durand manager, from hearing.
Alice blinked in surprise. She saw the question in Kuvi’s hazel eyes¸ but had no answers for her friend. What was the man she’d met last night in Dylan’s den—Jim Sheridan—doing here? She and Dylan were keeping their relationship private. No one at the camp was supposed to know they were engaged in an affair. Hadn’t Dylan warned Jim of that fact after Alice had left? Dylan had mentioned once that the sheriff of Morgantown and he were old friends. Surely he’d asked Jim to be discreet.
So what was Sheridan doing here in the woods asking to see Alice while camp was in session?
Jim looked just as relaxed and amiable standing in the midst of the forest as he had last night in the den. He was chatting with two of Kuvi’s Diamond Team campers.
“Keep in mind, I can’t guarantee what mood Camp Wildwood might be in from year to year. If I were you, I’d give some serious consideration to whether or not the goat is worth the glory,” Jim drawled with a wink. The boys laughed.
“Mr. Sheridan?” Alice asked warily.
“Call me Jim¸” he said, turning at the sound of her voice. He stuck out his hand in greeting. “Good to see you, Alice. Sorry to bother you like this, if I could just have a moment or two of your time? Excuse us, won’t you?” Jim said cordially to the two kids. He tilted his head toward the left, and Alice followed him several yards down a path to a solitary clearing.
“Your kids all off successfully on the zip line?” Jim asked, turning to face her.
“Yeah. Mission accomplished,” she replied tensely, not trying to hide the question in her eyes.
“I can see you’re not going to be satisfied until I explain why I’m here. No idle chitchat for Alice Reed, am I right?” he asked, his pale blue eyes sparkling with amusement.