The Night Shift Read Online Free PDF Page B

had just acted way too obvious.
    "Yeah…" she answered a bit uneasily.
    "Last summer? As in…the summer before this one?"
    "Uh…yeah!"
    "What's your problem, Collin?" Nick demanded.
    "N…nothing!" Collin lied. "It just…kinda struck me as odd."
    "What did?" Nick asked, sounding like he didn't have the slightest clue what was going on.
    "Just, you know…I guess because you lost your life a year ago and still haven't gotten a new one?" He actually thought that excuse would work pretty well.
    After a long pause, Jess casually answered, "Oh. Well, I don't really need a knife for my job anyway, so it's no big deal."
    "Yeah, good point. Sorry. I just kind of…you know."
    Nick sighed with part of it seeming to say, "Ugh, when will this day be over?" and the other part saying, "Wow. Weirdo."
    The other two slowly got back to work on the branches while Collin watched them. He took a deep breath and silently scolded himself for losing his cool for a moment there.
    *  *  *
    It was roughly 10:30 later that night. Collin had secluded himself to his room and tried to take everything in that had happened.
    His main motive for working at Arbur Winslow was to figure out what happened and how Scott had been murdered there. He wasn't trying to pretend to himself that he really wanted to go there to get a new work experience; he knew very well why he was there.
    Collin was writing down everything he had learned so far on a sheet of paper in front of him. Unfortunately for him, there was absolutely nothing written. He had come up with no knowledge that could help him.
    Grr! What do I have to do to get some more info without getting all suspicious?! All I need is SOME clue that could point me in the right direction…maybe a bloody chainsaw?
    Fed up with the frustration, Collin pressed his head down on the computer desk, creating a shockwave that promptly turned the screen saver up and brought Collin back to the main desktop, showing that he hadn't logged off his NetPub account yet for the night. But for him, there were more pressing matters than looking at photos of his friends on Prom night.
    All right, gotta focus, he told himself as he lifted his head up off the desk and sat up straight in his computer chair. So, what have I learned so far? Hmmm…nothing, I guess. But still, there WERE those two things…
    " Nick and I got in a fight about a year ago…"
    " What happened to your pocket knife?"
    " Oh, I lost it…about a year and a half ago…"
    Collin almost felt like a surge of energy rushed through him when he remembered those two incidents.
    "Hmmm…Jess loses her knife about a year ago, and the murder weapon just happens to be a knife that was never found…"
    He was actually starting to shiver now just based on an unlikely theory he was putting together. Still, he wanted to believe it could be true and that Jess could suddenly become a lead suspect.
    "…and the fight Ian and Nick had around that same time. That couldn't just be a coincidence, happening around the same time as Jess losing her knife AND Scott getting killed. There's no way it can just be a coincidence…right?..."
     
     

Chapter 4  
     
    Guard Duty
     
     
    The sun was shining brightly and its heat was pounding down on the crowd at the small lake housed in the center of Arbur Winslow State Forest; Collin could tell it was going to be a busy day.
    Instead of wearing his typical State Forest t-shirt with some khaki shorts, he now had to wear a bright red shirt that read GUARD on the back of it, and he instead had to wear equally crimson shorts that were like the ones he had to wear for gym class every Tuesday and Thursday in school.
    It was roughly about 9:00 in the morning when he first showed up and took down the NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY. SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK sign. He could tell right away that it was going to be a long, hot day.
    Slowly, the campers started pouring into the lake and grabbed any spots close to the water that they could. In just a few minutes,