Page 33 of Take a Hike
“If you don’t need me anymore, I’ll just…” Kevin started to sidle around Kieran to get a clear path to the door.
“No.” Kieran stopped him with one word and a glare.
“Thanks, Kiki.”
“Call me that again, and I’ll let him leave.”
Kevin looked hopeful.
“Sorry.” She sucked in her cheeks to hold back a smile. “Thanks,Kieran.”
His grunt was grumpy, but he didn’t let Kevin leave, so apparently her apology was sufficient.
Ignoring the byplay, Rory was bringing up various camera angles until she paused and pointed at the screen. “There’s one.”
Peering at the figure trying to blend into the shadows between two pine trees, Charlie said, “That’s Dave. He’s hopeless at hiding. He’d really be better off as an accountant or something. Why does he have snow camo on? Does he think we’re in Antarctica?”
“Two.”
“Tassie.”
“Three.”
“Lachlan. He’s not much better at this than Dave. There are a gazillion trees, guys. It shouldn’t be that hard to stay invisible.”
“Four and five.” Rory pointed to two shapes up in the tree branches, fifteen feet off the ground.
“Rhys—he’s always climbing things—and…” Charlie squinted. “Huh. That’s Bones. Can’t believe she got out of hercar, much less is sitting up in a tree. Tassie was right. It must be love.”
It took Rory another minute and several different camera views before she pointed to the screen again. “And six.”
“Huh.” Charlie crouched and squinted at the figure, barely visible despite the high quality of the security camera footage. “Can you zoom in?”
“Yes, but we’ll lose resolution, so it doesn’t help much with identification.” Rory made the figure larger, but she was right—it didn’t make it any easier to identify the sixth treasure hunter.
Charlie peered at the screen for another couple moments before looking up and meeting Kieran’s gaze. “Want to go for a stroll in the woods?”
His eyes lit up as the corners of his mouth curled. Charlie felt her breath catch and was glad she was crouched close to the floor, because an excited Kieran was gorgeous enough to make her topple over. “Yes.”
“I’ll just…um, go then,” Kevin mumbled.
“Do you have his cell number and address?” Charlie asked Rory, who gave a short nod. “You’re good to go then. Thank you for all of your help. Just write up that list of Clint’s friends and email it to Rory. If you don’t have a chance to do that before tonight, that’s fine—we’ll just swing by your house later to pick it up, wave it around a bit, talking loudly about how you gave us a list of suspects in Cobra’s murder. Thanks, Kevin! You’ve been a peach!” The last bit she called out as the door swung closed behind him. As soon as she’d told him he could leave, he was out of the store like a shot, pausing only to look sick when shementioned stopping by his house later. She had a feeling Rory would be getting that email shortly.
Charlie slid over the counter again. “Thanks, Rory. Mind if we run around your property, chasing mystery treasure hunters?”
“Go out the door and turn right. Look northwest about twenty feet, and you’ll see where this camera is mounted on a pole.”
“You’re the best,” Charlie said over her shoulder as she hurried to the exit. Kieran held the door open for her, but Charlie leaned back into the store. “As soon as we solve all these crimes, I’m going to come back in and take my time looking around. You have a fantastic store.”
Rory smiled, just a flash of a beautiful grin before it was gone and she’d settled back into her usual somber expression. “Thank you.”
With a final wave, Charlie was out the door and turning right. Her gaze scanned the area. “Which way is northwest?”
Kieran pointed. “That way. There’s the pole.”
“And the camera is pointing…” She moved in the direction the lens was facing. “There are the trees we saw.”
A flicker of movement caught her eye, and she ran toward it.
