“Esme’s right,” Rebekah says. “This is about the counselors. Do you think he could have been one?”
“A disgruntled counselor from the past. Maybe he did something and was made to leave,” I say. “He might think that he was treated unfairly.”
Rebekah nods. “Kayla and Esme, you’ve been here before. Anyone you can think of?”
I can’t be sure, but I think I sense an edge to her voice.
“No,” we reply in unison.
I swallow and add, “We wouldn’t have known about any issues with the counselors. You know how well we hide that from the campers. This guy saw us out there doing a job he thinks he should still be allowed to do.”
“You two are getting ahead of yourself,” Tia says. “It might not be that.”
“Maybe, but it’s possible,” I reply. “Cora?”
She looks over from where she’s sitting with a few other counselors and immediately gets up.
“What’s up?” she asks.
I tell her our theory and she sits down at our table. “Okay. That’s a possibility. I don’t like that we’ve had two sightings of someone in the woods, trails tampered with, and cigarette butts left. Andy radioed a moment ago; he and the guys haven’t found anything, so they’re coming back. Andy is going to head into town and talk to the cops to see where we stand.”
“Whoa, you think we need to involve the cops?” Rebekah asks.
“We’re responsible for the safety of children, so we have to. Even if Andy just files a report. Sometimes the police will ask him to put a post on the camp’s Facebook page about the land being private and they share it. I’ll speak with him when he gets back and see if he can think of any counselors or CITs who left on bad terms. I know I don’t need to say this…but not a word of this in front of the kids, okay?”
She gets up and goes back to her table, leaning in and whispering to the rest of the counselors, telling them our theory.
So, we’re running with this one. Going for the angry ex-staff member. I like it, and I want it to be true.
It certainly fits better than the Lillian thing. I mean, she isn’t a dude and the motive is weak.
This isn’t Lillian and it’s not about what Kayla and I did ten years ago.
It can’t be.
19
Olly and Jake walk into the food hall as Cora walks out to meet Andy.
I sit taller when they reach us. “What happened?”
Jake turns to address the room.
“Everything is okay. We caught up with the guy; he’d taken a wrong turn on a trail from the other side of town. He was apologetic, and we helped him get back to where he needs to be.”
“He’s gone?” one of the boys asks from across the room.
“Yeah, he didn’t mean to be here in the first place.”
The room erupts with chatter again, this time voices are higher and filled with laughter and about Olly and Jake chasing away the “stalker man.”
Olly sits close to me, his arm pressing against mine.
“That’s great,” I say.
Olly subtly shakes his head.
“It’s not?” Rebekah asks.
I sink into my seat, understanding. “You were just saying that so they wouldn’t worry.”
Jake rubs his jaw. “It was Andy’s idea. I’m going to go and tell the other counselors.”
He walks away, heading to Mary’s packed table first.
I place my clammy palms on my knees. “What happened?”
Olly clears his throat. “We couldn’t find anyone. But we did find a box of matches that he must have dropped.”
“Esme has a theory that it’s someone who worked here and was fired or whatever, since this guy seems to only be messing with the counselors,” Rebekah says.
Olly glances at me, smiling. “Good one, Esme.”
“Cora is telling Andy.”
“This jackass is going to get hurt if he comes back here again. Did Isabel mention anything about a weapon?” Olly asks.
“What?” Kayla hisses.
“Last night you didn’t want me and Jake to go after him because we couldn’t be sure he wasn’t armed,” Olly says.
“She didn’t say anything about a gun, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have one. It could be concealed,” I tell them.
Olly leans back, effectively ending our little arm cuddle. I do my best not to pout.
“This is insane. I came here to help kids have an awesome summer,” he says, shaking his head. “I didn’t sign up for some freak in the woods.”
“I’m sure the cops will do something now,” Kayla says.
Tia huffs. “What can they do? We don’t know who it is or why he’s doing this.”
“Andy will have records of who’s worked here and how they left. They’ll start there,” I say, backing Kayla up, although I’m not at all convinced there is anything the cops can do.
We have two sightings of a man, one of which was uncertain and possibly a tree. We can hardly say we were chased through the forest at one a.m. by someone taking our picture.
Still, the police might take it seriously because there are children here.
“What’s the relationship like between camp and town?” I ask.
Tia shrugs. “I don’t know, why?”
“Well, my cousin was a counselor at a camp in Michigan and said that the camp and local community hated each other,” I say. “The town was mad because of the noise or something stupid like that. There were arguments and a lot of bad blood between staff and residents.”
“Where are you going with this?” Olly asks.
I shrug. “I just wondered if it could be someone from town. Andy visits, so they know him and maybe someone there is tired of staff getting wild in their town. Did you hear that Cora and the others go drinking there?”
Tia ties her hair into a bun on top of her head. “Ugh, I wish we could go drinking.”
I ignore her. “Maybe someone has a grudge against Andy?”
Olly leans forward. “Maybe.”
He doesn’t sound like he believes me. But it’s a totally plausible explanation for the strange things happening around here.