She just nodded, looking faintly green.
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Definitely something going on there. A bad fall? Scared to get back on the mountain? Later, he promised himself, when they weren’t surrounded by other staff.
Back at the equipment shed, he divided up the group. “I want each of you to count and check your assigned component. Make note of any prospective issues with the gear you see. Diego, you’re on harnesses. Break down the count by men’s and women’s. Laura, helmets. Number and size.” Beckett went on down the line, passing out clipboards. “Taylor, you’ve got the ascenders and cams, and I’ll do ropes myself.”
“Got it.”
He pulled the first row of coiled ropes off the rack and dumped them on the table. Michael said they’d been checked at the end of last season, but Beckett wasn’t letting anybody go up equipment he hadn’t inspected himself, not even for the ridiculously easy climbs around here. As he unrolled the first coil and began checking the sheath, he noticed Taylor on her phone, frowning.
“Something wrong?”
Her head shot up. “What? No.” She bobbled the phone and it bounced across the floor toward him.
He crouched to pick it up, automatically checking the screen for cracks. Not a one. “All hail the Otterbox.” He handed it back to her, but not before he noted the Google search open to ascenders. He arched a brow.
Blushing, Taylor shoved the phone away. “Oh, I just remembered a particular one somebody told me about and was trying to remember what it was called.”
She was lying. Right to his face, she was lying. That chapped his ass. He couldn’t abide dishonesty. What he couldn’t figure out was why she’d lie, so he let it go, keeping an eye on her through the rest of the inventory. It took a solid three hours before he was satisfied. As each of his people passed over their clipboard, he went over it, adding notations to a master list of equipment that needed to be replaced or retired. When he reached Taylor’s list it confirmed his suspicions.
Disappointment flared through him, but Beckett said nothing, setting the clipboard aside. “Looks like y’all have a little extra time before dinner. Go make the most of it.”
Everybody cheered. Taylor was at the head of the pack trying to get out of the shed.
“Taylor, stay back a minute? I wanted to go over some things.”
Her foot hovered inches out the door before she turned back around, a too bright smile pasted in place. “Sure.”
Shit.
He waited until everybody was considerably down the path, then shut the door. “We have a problem.”
“We do?”
“You don’t know your equipment. And if you’ve done more than go up the wall at the local gym, I’ll go do a handstand at the top of Boulder Mountain.”
Taylor just closed her eyes, resignation in every line of her body.
“How the hell did you get assigned to rock climbing?” Beckett demanded. “Did you lie on your application?”
“No. No, I—It’s complicated.”
He crossed his arms and waited. “Look, these may be relatively easy climbs, but I’m not having anybody out there who doesn’t know what they’re doing. That’s dangerous to everybody involved. So you’re either going to explain yourself, right now, or I’m headed to Michael and having you fired.”
The blood drained from her face. “You have every right to be upset—”
“Damned right, I do.”
“Look, I’ll explain everything. Just not here. Will you come with me?”
Beckett frowned. “Where?”
“There’s bound to be somewhere to eat in Briarsted. Let me buy you dinner and explain.”
He couldn’t imagine an explanation that was going to end in any other way but her being canned, but he’d liked her, so he could give her the chance to spin this away from camp. “I’ll get my keys.”
~*~