Cody. Sam said to check here.”
A girl in short shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and a flowered name tag that read Alissa answered, “He’s out for his tenth break of the afternoon. He should be back any time. He didn’t tell me he had a brother.”
“He’s got two. What time does he get off today?”
“Four.”
“Tell him not to leave, we’ll be back at four.”
We left the shop and headed for the water.
“It’s always like this finding Cody. At least all the locals on the boardwalk know him. I’m surprised the t-shirt shop hired him except that he draws in customers. Well, when he’s there. He gets a kick out of having his picture taken with young tourists, makes a point of maintaining a surfer dude look just for the pictures. I think he makes more money off the pictures than he does at any job he’s had.”
We waded out into the water. It was cold but not too cold. After an hour of getting nearly soaked in the surf we figured we might as well just get wet so we swam. It was so pleasant to have a day with no one’s life hanging on the line, no searches, no uniforms, no work pressing. After swimming we walked the beach and ate tacos. Sam had worked the taco stand for twenty-three years and would have told me all about Rusty’s wild childhood at the beach but Rusty suddenly found something else to do. Late afternoon rolled around and we were laying on the beach soaking up the sun. I’d dozed off, and the voices above me were faint.
“It’s not four o’clock yet. Go finish your shift.”
“Aren’t you going to at least introduce me?”
“She needs the rest.” Rusty gave me a kiss on the shoulder. “I’ll be right back.” He got up and followed Cody back to the t-shirt shop, talking as they walked. “…seen the news lately?” He was going to tell Cody about the mine. Maybe that’s why I was so tired. Maybe my days and nights were still mixed up. I turned over to keep from frying my back. When the skin on my front felt toasty I thought I’d had enough sun for the day and headed for the water to cool off. I came up out of the water after a wave washed over me and noticed Rusty standing on our towel looking up and down the beach. I hoped that wasn’t a worried expression on his face. He worried too much and I hadn’t been gone five minutes. When I waved my hands so he would see me a younger version of Rusty came up behind him and pointed me out. Wow, I thought, he’s a Coppertone model, a Hawaiian cruise poster boy. I hoped Jesse’s marriage was stable. They met me halfway up the beach. Rusty handed me a bag.
“I never would have taken you for a camouflage girl,” Cody said.
“That’s because you’ve never seen me in the woods,” I answered.
“Cassidy, this is my brother, Cody. Cody, this is my fiancée, Cassidy Callahan.”
Cody flashed me a toothpaste commercial smile.
“It’s good to meet you,” I said.
“Where’s your bike?” Rusty asked.
Cody looked around. He walked over to the boardwalk and pulled a very worn skateboard out of a corner. It had a strap attached to it and he slung it across his back. Then he walked off down the beach and came back with a red bicycle that looked like it had been made for a ten year old kid.
“Want a ride home?” Rusty asked.
Cody looked me up and down.
“Sure. I usually bike home to make a few social calls but I guess I can use a lift today. So,” he said turning to me, “what do you do in the woods that you need camouflage for?”
“Thanks to Rusty, I’ve kind of become Joshua Hills’ official tracker.”
“What? You mean like Chase Downing does? You’re kidding.”
“Chase was the tracking teacher at academy. He didn’t teach me much. He seemed to know what he was talking about though. I’m sure the rest of the class learned a lot more.”
“Chase is an interesting guy. I go surfing with him sometimes. He walks the beach and tells me what the people did as he walks along, describes them to me, it’s like watching people without them knowing.”
“Rusty hates it when I do that. I was nice today. I don’t think I did that once, out loud.”
“Nope,” Rusty said, “you showed good self control. Notice anything I should be aware of? Any drug dealers making a hand off? Any potential purse snatchers or carjackers lurking in the parking lot?”
“I’ve been trying to remain oblivious to all that. I just wanted to enjoy the day.”
“That’s my girl,” Rusty said, then turning to Cody he continued, “Cassidy tends to see things that other people don’t. She’s somehow tuned in to odd behavior. She spots crimes before they happen, reads tracks and knows more about the people than if I had met them and talked to them myself. I don’t know how she does it.”
“So, if there was a troublemaker in a crowd you could spot them?”
“I’m not going to say I could for sure. I wouldn’t just do it to point fingers at people. What if I were wrong? But I have spotted odd behavior and been right a lot.”
“Well, what about this crowd. I happen to know that there is one troublemaker in this crowd. Can you see who it is?”
I studied the people around me and ruled out all the families, all the older couples, all the little kids. Of course any of them could have been the one but I didn’t think so. There were bike riders out for exercise; nope, not them. There were roller bladers and skate boarders. I was looking for someone with nothing better to do than get into trouble. My attention kept coming back to one older boy on roller blades who glanced at every tote bag and purse he skated past. He was followed by two other boys who were watching and waiting for him to try something.
“The boy in the green t-shirt, tan shorts and roller blades,” I said, “he skates by open purses and tote bags and pulls things out that look interesting.”
“Bingo,” said Cody.
“You figured that out in five minutes observing a crowd of people?” Rusty asked.
“I can see him doing it. It isn’t hard to guess when people are openly looking for something to steal. They stand out to me. How do you think I spotted that bank robber? Let’s get out of here before the kid steals something and you have to run him down.”
“That kid gets caught every other day,” Cody said.
“Are you ready to go?” Rusty asked us both.
“After we get to the truck can you give me five minutes? I don’t want to meet your parents in a wet swimsuit.”
I opened the back of the Explorer and found my shorts and t-shirt. I looked in the suitcase for a hairbrush, found it, and then trotted off to the restrooms to change and freshen up a little. Looking in the mirror I was glad I’d spent so much time outdoors. The sunburn wasn’t too bad. I dried my hair with the hand dryers and then brushed and shaped it a little. I really needed to wash and dry my hair properly but there was no time for that. Well, they’d
