Jonah paced back and forth. The idea that the murderer was someone who worked at the park was beginning to eat at her. The coincidences were just a little too many. But even still, she hated the idea of getting the police to interview everyone.

"Maybe you could ask maintenance if they're using it? Or if they moved them? Or maybe they broke or something?" Bay asked. Her voice was high and thin.

"And what do I say to them?" Jonah asked. "Like, hey, just so you know, I think someone used one of your tools as a murder weapon. What if one of the maintenance guys IS the murderer?"

"I don't know," Bay said. "Maybe you should tell Mr. Calvin?"

Jonah laughed, an anxious sound. "Like fuck I'm gonna tell Mr. Calvin."

Bay watched the video on her phone again, sending Amanda's voice, now twice as distorted, ringing through the woods again. "Jonahhhhh."

"You really think that's the murder weapon?" Jonah asked.

"You got a better look at... It... Than I did," Bay said. "Do you think..."

"I really don't want to have to picture that." She couldn't help but picture it, though. Someone, long arms coming out of the darkness, holding the heavy garden shears, strong enough to cut through tree branches, definitely enough to go through the soft skin of somebody's neck. Would they open wide enough? How many chops would it take? Jonah felt ill. "Maybe," she coughed out. "I don't know."

"I mean, did it look like it was sawed off? Or what?"

"Stop, stop," Jonah said, waving her hand. "I'm not an expert."

"Okay."

"Look, I know who I can ask," Jonah said.

"Who?"

"One of the maintenance guys, Frank, he always brings his daughter in to work because apparently she gets into trouble if she stays at home over the summer."

"And she doesn't get in trouble hanging out here?" Bay asked.

"Not my problem," Jonah said. "But I have her number. I can ask her."

"Fine."

Jonah dialed with shaking fingers. It took a moment for the other end to pick up, and she put the call on speakerphone.

"Felicity?" Jonah asked.

"Sup."

"You at Arcadis today?"

"You know it."

"What's your dad up to?"

"If you need him to do something, he told me to tell you he's busy."

"With what?"

"Uh..." There was a muffled sound of Felicity's voice in the background, but then she came back onto the line. "Replacing a refrigerator."

"Yeah. Cool," Jonah said.

"Precisely."

"Anyway, is he using the big landscaping clippers for anything? The real big shears? The ones that are usually hanging on the wall of the shed?"

"Let me ask him." Again, muffled sounds. "No. What do you need them for?"

Jonah made up a lie very quickly. "Some kid wedged a branch into the lazy river. I can't get it out without cutting it."

"A kid put one in?" Felicity sounded suspicious. Perhaps Jonah's lie wasn't as good as she had thought.

"That's just what I was told. I didn't see it happen."

"Ooookay."

"Anyway. You don't know where the shears are, do you?"

"If they're not where they usually are, I have no idea."

"Cool. Great."

"You need someone to come down to lazy river?"

"No," Jonah said. "I'll try putting a rope around it."

"Great, yeah, my dad says for you to take care of it yourself."

"I will. Thanks, Felicity."

"No problemo."

Jonah hung up. The twitchy feeling in her arms made her want to chuck her phone away from herself, and possibly vault the fence and run away and never come back, but she resisted both those urges.

"Now what?" Bay asked.

"Let's double check that the shears are actually gone, and not just misplaced."

"What about this?" Bay gestured to the little clippers still on the ground between them.

"I don't fucking know." Jonah ran her hand through her hair, winced as every motion caused her sunburn to flare up in pain.

"Okay, okay. I guess we can just leave it here."

"If someone touches it, I'm quitting. Can't handle any more shit."

"Should I put leaves over it?" Bay asked, going to kick some.

"We'll never find it again if you do. Just leave it."

The two walked back out of the woods. Coming back into the populated park was less of a relief than Jonah had hoped. Where being out in the woods one felt that every sound was potentially dangerous, there were far fewer sounds. In the park, every anonymous guest's face could have been the face of a killer, and even the staff weren't beyond suspicion.

"Hey, Jonah," Markus called out as they passed the slide he was manning. "People have been trickling back in. You might want to make sure they're at the right rides now."

"Glad I scared them," Jonah yelled back up to him, though there was no enthusiasm in her voice.

"What did you tell the staff that you called?" Bay asked, curious.

"Oh, that Mr. Calvin would reduce their base pay if they were no calls/no shows too many times."

"Would he?"

"Hah. I don't think accounting is sophisticated enough for that."

"Effective threat."

"Well, as long as no one quits."

"Might be better for them if they did," Bay said. Jonah shot her a look, and Bay shut up for the rest of the walk. At the maintenance shed, Jonah punched in the very insecure code and entered.

"It might not have been the staff," Bay said. "The code to basically every building is the same. Anybody with eyeballs could have watched someone put it in and then come in here..."

"Yeah." The interior of the shed smelled like woodchips and was dusty, dark, and cluttered. "Look around. Maybe they're underneath something."

"I feel like I shouldn't touch things too much," Bay said. She used the corner of her shirt to lift up a large, empty cardboard box. A mouse scuttled out from behind it. Bay yelped, jumped backwards, and crashed into a shelf holding who knows what, sending cans of paint and tools and loose lightbulbs careening to the ground. Bay herself fell. The mouse scurried underneath other piles of things and vanished.

"Jesus Christ, Bay!" Jonah yelled.

Bay made a weird choked sound and turned half away. Jonah crouched down next to her, hesitated for a second, and then grabbed Bay's shoulder, which was shaking. "Sorry," she said. "Shouldn't have yelled."

"It's okay," Bay said, voice weak. She rubbed at her face with her arm. "I can't not be dumb, can I?"

"You're not dumb. Probably should have warned you about the mice and shit," Jonah said.

"Just gross," she said. "Hate mice."

"Understandable." Jonah's hand slid down Bay's arm, and she grabbed her hand to pull her to her feet. "No big deal. Nobody'll even notice that things fell on the floor. It's already too much of a clusterfuck in here for that to matter."

Jonah sealed that point by kicking some of the broken glass from a shattered lightbulb away underneath the shelf. It was true that the maintenance shed did not look materially different, even with slightly more things on the floor.

"If I was going to cut up a body, I'd probably go for the chainsaw," Bay said, attempting to make a joke. It didn't land, as her voice quivered too much.

"I don't think it even works. Look, no chain."

"Classic Arcadis."

"Truly."

They were talking to make up for the fact that no matter what they turned over, there seemed to be no sign of the big clippers they were looking for. Jonah didn't want to admit that to herself, so she just kept looking until it felt like they had examined every object in the place.

Stolen story; please report.

Bay was finally the one who admitted it. "It's not here."

Jonah sighed. "Yeah."

"Now what?"

Jonah didn't want this responsibility. She didn't want to feel like this was her problem, but somehow it was, because the aquatics staff at Arcadis were here problem, and so she was responsible for any of them either getting murdered or being murderers. Both of those scenarios were very bad. She was the person with this information. She had to do something about it.

"Should I call in an anonymous tip?"

"I don't think those are actually anonymous."

"The police are probably still searching the lake."

"You could go talk to them."

"And what would I say?"

"The truth?"

Jonah looked at Bay, the thin pressed line of her mouth, the way her brown eyes cast sullenly down at the floor. Jonah wanted to ask her to come with her, so that they could talk to the police together, but this wasn't Bay's problem. "Why are you even here, Bay? What am I doing, dragging you into this shit?"

Bay looked up, startled. "I'm helping."

"Yeah, but like, it's not your responsibility. I shouldn't have gotten you involved."

"I've been in deep with you since you caught me pulling that fence apart," Bay said, cringing slightly.

"Are you the murderer?" Jonah asked. Bay flinched. "Sorry, I just had to ask. I know you're not. Dumb thing to say."

"It's fine. I'm not, for the record."

"Yeah, I know. Okay. I'm just stalling. I'll go talk to the police. You should go... I don't know. Find a ride to man or something."

"I feel like you're kicking me out."

"There's no reason for me to keep pulling you around like this. I've somehow deputized you. Should have probably gotten Zach or something. He's like, experienced."

Bay actually looked hurt at this suggestion. "Am I not good enough?"

"Fuck, Bay, I'm trying to apologize for dragging you around and making you look at a corpse and being involved in all this shit for no fucking reason. Just take the apology." Her voice was rougher than she had intended, but Jonah couldn't control her tone, or the language that came out of her at every event.

Bay actually laughed, though, genuine this time. "You're the worst boss I've ever had."

"Great," Jonah grumbled, but smiled. "And I'm procrastinating again."

Bay opened the door of the maintenance shed, again using her shirt as a protective barrier. "Police. Text me with what they say, okay?"

"And keep dragging you through it?"

"If I'm already knee deep in mud, I'm gonna need a shower regardless of if the mud goes up to my hips or my shoulders."

"Fucking wave pool mudslide."

That had been a nonsense jumble of words, but Bay responded, "Exactly."

----------------------------------------

The police had gotten a boat into the lake. It wasn't a police boat-- it looked like one that had been borrowed from someone. Maybe it was one of the officers' pleasure craft that they had temporarily donated to the cause. Regardless, it was sitting out in the center of the lake, and Jonah could see tiny figures on it, doing some inscrutable business. There were a couple other policemen hanging out on the lake shore as well, talking into walkietalkies. One of them was the officer that Jonah had talked to before, Andover. Jonah made herself known as she exited the woods, not wanting to catch police by surprise.

"Excuse me!" Jonah yelled, waving from the treeline. Andover looked up.

"Can I help you?" he asked, walking over. When he got closer, a spark of recognition lit up his face. "Oh, Ms. Wylan, good to see you."

"You didn't call me," she said.

"Yeah, I decided I didn't need any more statements from you at the moment."

"Has Mr. Calvin been bothering you?"

"Oh, he doesn't bother me," Andover said. "I've been friends with Reggie since we were in high school together."

"Er. Okay."

"What brings you back over here, Jonah? I'm afraid I can't let anyone at the crime scene."

"Um." She rubbed the back of her neck, wincing as the sunburn crinkled. "Look. I don't exactly know how to say this."

"Shoot," Andover said.

"I'm worried that one of my staff might have killed that woman. Or someone who's been stalking people at Arcadis. I don't know."

Andover laughed. "What?"

"I'm not kidding," Jonah said, scowling. "I really wouldn't say something like that if I didn't believe it."

"Ms. Wylan, we've already arrested someone in connection with this case," Andover said. "And I can assure you, it was not one of your staff."

The world seemed to tilt on its axis. Jonah wished she had a chair to sit on. "What?"

"Please rest assured that we are diligently investigating. Interviewing the victim's family lead us to someone with much more of a motive than random Arcadis Park staff members would have."

"Oh." She seemed to be unable to form words.

"I'll take down your concerns," Andover said, pulling out his notebook.

"I guess maybe it's nothing, if you've already arrested someone," Jonah said, floundering.

"It doesn't hurt to have more information." He clicked his pen. "What causes you to say it might be a staff member?"

"Just, well, there's this hole that someone cut in the fence, and I, er," -- she realized she had no desire to mention Bay's involvement in this -- "found the wire clippers that had been used to cut it on the ground in the woods."

"And you think this is connected to the murder because?"

Jonah felt stupid. "Because it happened that same night?"

"Hmm." Andover scribbled something down. "Is there anything else?"

"And the big clippers, the ones for trimming branches, are missing out of the maintenance shed."

"Alright," Andover said. "That's it?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jonah didn't mention that the fence piece had gone missing, because she was already feeling like she had stepped into a hole that had no bottom. She was glad that her face was already so burned red, it couldn't show her embarrassment.

"Well, thank you for telling me. It doesn't hurt to have more information," Andover said. It was crystal clear that he didn't find this new information illuminating in any way. "Do you have the clippers you found? And can you show me the hole in the fence?"

"Er, I left them on the ground. Didn't want to touch them. But yeah, I can show it to you."

"Excellent. Wait right there, I'll grab an evidence bag and my camera."

Jonah stood awkwardly, watching as Andover retrieved his supplies. He said something indistinguishable to the other police officer on the shore, who laughed. He returned with a camera slung around his neck and an indulgent smile on his face.

"Lead the way, Ms. Wylan."

Jonah did, passing through the open gate and into the woods. Andover followed a couple steps behind her. It was a good thing she knew these woods backwards and forwards, or she probably would have lost the little clippers on the ground forever.

"Have you found anything else in the lake?" Jonah asked, trying to make conversation.

"The victim's family has asked that we not distribute that kind of information," Andover said.

"Oh. Yeah. I understand." She didn't really know what else to talk about, but Andover seemed content to provide topics.

"You don't have to worry, Ms. Wylan."

"Okay."

"I know that when something like this happens, it can cause a real, um, upheaval in the community, and I'm very grateful that you're interested in helping, and also in keeping your park running normally."

"Thanks?"

"But I just want to say, it's not your responsibility. Don't let yourself get paranoid."

"I'll try."

They came to the fence hole first. "So, uh, this is the fence. I, um, patched it up, but then I realized I probably shouldn't have done that? Sorry." She again had no interest in mentioning Bay.

"That's quite alright. Why did you patch it?" Andover asked, writing in his notebook.

"Coyotes get into the park if there's holes in the fence," Jonah said. "Or at least that's what Mr. Calvin always told me."

"Does he know about this hole?"

"Er, no. Just me and a couple other aquatics staff, I think," Jonah said. "He doesn't really care about this kind of thing, so I don't bother him with it."

"That's Reggie for you," Andover said. He took a couple photographs of the fence.

"And you say this hole was made on Friday night?"

"Well..."

"What?"

"It had been made before, and I patched it up, but someone opened it again over Friday night."

"Hm." More writing in the notebook. "Do you know who opened it the first time?"

"Um." Jonah was caught in not wanting to lie to the police, and also not wanting to tell them a ton about the staff. "Yes."

"Who was that?"

"One of my staff."

"Name, please," Andover said, sounding slightly bored.

"Officer Andover, I'd, er, prefer not to get them in trouble for something dumb."

He laughed. "Ms. Wylan, this will be completely confidential."

"I'd still honestly prefer not to say. I know they didn't open it the second time."

Andover had lost his humor. "You realize that is this goes to court, and you are required to provide evidence, this won't look good, right?"

"I know," Jonah said. She kicked at the leaf litter rather despondently.

"Fine. So you had closed the hole, and someone reopened it on Friday?"

"Yes."

"And you're sure it wasn't the same person both times?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know?"

"I trust them to tell me the truth." Again, Andover wrote in his notepad.

"Alright, show me the wire snips you think were used on this." Jonah led Andover away, and towards the place where Bay had found the clips.

"You cleared away these leaves?"

"Yeah, I kicked them," Jonah said. "But I didn't touch that." She pointed at the blue handled wire snips.

Andover photographed the scene, then picked up the wire snips carefully, and put them into a plastic bag, which he labeled.

"Is that everything, Ms. Wylan?" he asked.

"Um. Yeah."

"Well, I thank you for your interest in helping us. If you do find any more information, please do bring it to my attention."

"If you already caught someone, I guess I probably won't have any."

Andover smiled, a patronizing expression. Jonah found herself disliking him, partially because of that, and partially because he seemed exactly like the type of person who would be friends with Mr. Calvin. "That's not an issue, Ms. Wylan."

"Yeah."

"Alright, I have work to get back to, so if you don't have anything else?"

"No, yeah, sorry for taking up your time," Jonah said. "I'll get back to my shift."'

"You do that."

----------------------------------------

> talked to the police

> fucking weird as hell news

< what did they say abt the clips? and hole and shears and stuff

> he put the clips into evidence

> and took photos of the hole

> but he said they arleady arrested someone

< who

> idk someone they found thru interviewing the family

< i'll see if i can poke around on fb

< im like morbidly curious now

> its not worth it bay

< its not?

> i just want to put this whole thing behind me

> like if they arrested someone who has nothing to do wth ap that's better

> so i don't have to think abt it anymore

> feels gross to poke around in like a raw wound

< youre not wrong

< i'll try to resist the temptation for your sake

> lol that honestly makes me feel a bit better

< see this is me trying to make frineds with you

> youre a good friend bay even if i have only known you like a week

< trauma bonding

> fr though

> thank god this wknd is almost over

< just gotta make it through the rest of the summer

> we will

> i promise

< yeah now that we know there isn't a murderr around

> fun to joke about

< want to get pizza later?

> fuck it

> sure

> make 50% of my diet pizza bella

< its good pizza

< i'll pay this time

< don't want to scam you out of your extra $3/hr