Teagan
“No sign of a saw,” Josh said when he’d finished ransacking the last one. “But… I did find Noah’s murder weapon!” He presented her with the oyster shucker.
She didn’t take it. What was the point?
“Who do you think we’re going to see on the security camera footage?” She was worried. Really worried.
“Well.” Josh checked to make sure Noah couldn’t hear them from the open-plan kitchen. “You. Me.”
Yeah. Obviously. “But we didn’t do it. Who do you think did?”
He leaned against the counter, had a think. “Baloo? He’s madder than I thought.”
No. She didn’t believe it was Baloo.
“Could be Cam,” Josh said.
“Cam?” Rowing was everything to him. No. “Why do you think that?”
Josh put the shucker on the counter. “We kind of got into it this morning.”
Her heart sank. “About what?”
“His sunglasses were broken. I said he needed new ones, and he flipped out.”
Josh didn’t know the whole picture. She probably didn’t either, but she really couldn’t see it.
“He’s been on edge lately, about a lot of stuff.
” But she’d been shocked when he’d walked out on her at the dance, so…
maybe? “I mean, it could make sense. Coach pulled Ryder but put you in stroke when it should’ve been Cam. ”
Josh bristled. “You think Cam should be in stroke instead of me?”
Here she was again. Between a rock (Cam) and a hard place (Josh). “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“How did you mean it? And be honest.”
“Well, he deserves it.”
Josh looked pissed off. “What does he do that I don’t?”
“C’mon, Josh…” She waited for him to see it, but either he didn’t, or wanted to hear it from her. Fine. “Cam puts the team first. No ego, no personal agenda. He pulls for the boat.”
“And I don’t?”
She shrugged. She was calling it the way she saw it—from the cox’s seat. She saw things they didn’t.
“So you think I row for myself, not the team?”
She did.
“Is that how everyone sees me? You included?”
“I see you trying to prove you’re better.” Harsh, but also true.
He laughed humorlessly. “So you think I’m good enough to make out with, but not good enough for stroke?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“I think it is.”
He didn’t storm off, exactly. He seemed more depressed than angry.
Running after him wouldn’t help, telling him things neither of them would believe.
Josh was a good rower. A great one, even.
But whatever battle was playing out inside him right now probably wasn’t about his oar snapping.
She used to think Josh didn’t care whether or not people liked him.
But the version of him she knew now? That Josh cared.
A lot. And he hadn’t deserved to have his oar cut.
Noah heaved a duffel bag out of the way. “Bunch of scofflaws. All of ’em.”
“‘Scofflaw’?” asked Teagan.
He tipped his head back in despair. “Does no one on this team have a vocabulary at their disposal?”
She winced in apology, working out the word’s meaning. “People who think they’re above the law?”
“Yes,” he said, sounding exasperated.
“Good word,” she said, then nudged the duffel with her toe. “Whose is this?”
“Quaid’s. He set up a speakeasy in the erg room, and the guys were partying instead of looking for the saw.”
“So you confiscated it?”
“These are the empties. I didn’t think they would recycle, so I’m doing it.” He flopped on the sofa. “Everyone hates my party.”
“No! Your party’s fun!”
“Oh, really? So given the choice between a night at Quaid’s bar or a night at my murder mystery…” He held out his hands. The choice was hers.
“I’d… do a murder mystery?”
“Liar.”
“It’s cool. Fun! It’s just… the wrong crowd.” Especially considering what it had led to.
“Great.” Noah threw up his hands in despair. “So now I can’t even read a room!”
“It’s not that, Noah.” Teagan sat down beside him. “It’s just… we’re not puzzle people, are we? The only thing all of us have in common is crew. If we weren’t in a boat together, we probably wouldn’t be friends.”
He leaned his head to the side to look at her. “You suck at pep talks.”
“But that’s what’s cool about teams. You get to meet loads of people with all sorts of different interests. People who wouldn’t be your people… become your people.” She gave his knee a pat. “Just give it time.”
It had taken her some time—and help from Cam—to work this out for herself.
“Thanks, Teagan.”
“You’re welcome. And we all need you today. You’re really good at this mystery stuff. If Perry can’t get into the security footage, we’ll need to figure this out ourselves. Meaning, it’s pretty much down to you.” She pulled him up off the sofa and back to the whiteboard. “Right. Where are we now?”
Noah grinned, back in the game. “So, Quaid and I were stretching outside this morning.” He took their mugshots off the board.
“Perry and Crabby were taking selfies,” Teagan continued, taking their mugshots off as well. Perry had sent them the selfies as proof. She started to take them down when Noah stopped her. “What? Do you see something?”
“It’s more what I don’t see that’s interesting.” He held out his phone.
“Explain.”
“Cam’s alibi was that he was stretching in the erg room before the race. Look. The selfies prove Perry and Crabby were there. But…”
“You can’t see Cam,” Teagan whispered, studying the photos.
“Which means…”
She’d been wrong. Josh might’ve been right. And even if he wasn’t… “Cam lied.”