Smiles began returning to the kids’ faces, and as Hilly had clearly anticipated; their young focus was easily shifted.
Cisco only wished he could have that kind of resilience. His head was going to be wrapped up in over-think mode until he had some definitive answers.
“Are there any questions?” Hilly asked as everyone came to their feet.
There were none, but several children—after she finished—came right up to Hilly and gave her huge hugs.
Cisco saw tears came to her eyes, but Hilly managed to keep a watery smile on her face while not letting the droplets fall.
She was one, strong woman.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Crash returned to camp just after supper, and Cisco gave over the job of kid-vigilance to him. It was time for some investigating.
Cisco scoured the kitchen, first, coming up empty handed. There was nothing suspicious in any corner of the vast, and very clean space. Mrs. S stood by while he did his inspection, answering any questions he had, and when he was finally finished and told her everything looked fine, she let out a robust sigh of relief.
“I didn’t think it was anything I did,” she heaved.
“That was never a question,” Cisco assured her, coming over to give her a quick hug. “There was always the possibility that someone had snuck in and tampered with things here, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case, either. Besides, knowing that the snack bags were specifically assigned to individuals then put into backpacks, already had me ninety-nine percent sure the sabotage was done later.”
“So what now?” she asked.
“Now, I go further afield. I check ten cabins, public spaces, the woods, hoping I find some kind of evidence.” He looked at his watch. “The kids’ evening program is just about to start, so I’ll check their living quarters while their busy, then wait until the hour has wrapped up and the kids are in for the night to do more sleuthing.”
“Not just one hour,” Mrs. S informed him. “Adeline is doing a sing-along tonight, and Crash has promised a magic show after that, so things will go long. Probably closer to two hours. Which means there’ll be plenty of time for you to join the fun after you’re finished with your search.”
Cisco thought about it for a second, then grinned and shook his head. “Nah. Since Hilly isn’t running things for once, I might try to convince her to…go for a walk.”
Mrs. S snorted. “Hah. Is that what you kids are calling it these days?”
Cisco only smirked. There was no need to confirm or deny her assertion. And even though Cisco hadn’t made any big moves yet, he could dream.
She put a hand to his cheek. “Just have fun, dear. And make sure Hilly does, too. That girl works too hard and worries too much. She needs the kind of break I know you can give her.” She winked. “I’ll make sure no one comes looking for you.”
“Thanks Ellen,” he chortled, giving her one more hug before heading out the door.
Nearly an hour later, Cisco, much to his frustration, hadn’t found anything in the sparsely furnished cabins. He’d looked between bunks, under mattresses, and had quickly but completely gone through each campers’ duffle. He’d found nothing suspicious, anywhere, except contraband candy, and none of it was peanut based.
He’d stop for now, but later he’d go through all the periphery buildings, as well as the woods.
Cisco walked toward the sound of singing, scanning the gathering and immediately recognizing Hilly on the periphery of the group. Cisco skirted everyone else, and came up behind her.
“Hey, beautiful.”
She jumped. “Oh. Cisco. You scared me,” she exclaimed quietly.
“Sorry. I didn’t want to disturb the show. But I was wondering…”
“What?” Hilly turned to face him with something he hadn’t seen before in her eyes. He’d say it was the confidence she normally exhibited in her work, but that she’d never displayed around him, alone. Her posture, too, was telling a new story. One he thought he might like.
“Uh, would you like to take a walk?”
Much to Cisco’s surprise, Hilly took his hand and pulled him several yards into the trees.
“I don’t want to walk,” she clipped.
His heart fell.
Crap. Was she going to tell him to buzz-off? Was she giving him the old heave-ho?
“You don’t?” he managed to choke out.
“Nope,” she stated. “Look over there,” she added cryptically, canting her head back to the performance that Adeline was giving.
He did as ordered. “Yeah. I see her. Adeline. She has a great voice.”
“Who’s next to her?”
“Uh, Crash, who I understand is going to do a magic show.”
“And?”
“And Buffy.” Cisco was able to conjure a small chuckle. “It looks like she’s decked out to be Crash’s lovely assistant, with Coco and Nel as her helpers.”
“Which means…?” Hilly urged.
