Shadow in Serenity (17 page)

L
ike the town dance, the church picnic was another excuse for the people of Serenity to get together. The music of High Five was nearly obscured by laughter and talking. The air was rich with the scents of apple pie, grilled hamburgers, fried catfish, and a pig roasting in a barrel grill. Across the lawn, a group prepared for the three-legged race, while pony rides went on at the south side. On the east side of the church stood a crane with the name “Bouncin’ Bungees” on it. A short bungee cord hung from it, waiting for its first victim.

As Logan got out of his SUV and started across the church lawn with Jack beside him, he experienced that odd feeling of familiarity and belonging again. These were people who made him smile, people he enjoyed, people who welcomed him.

“Hey, Logan!”

He saw Jason running toward him. “Will you run the three-legged race with me, please? Mom was going to, but they talked her into bungee jumping. They’re about to start! Hurry!”

“Well …” Before he could protest, Jason grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the race, yelling for them to wait for him. And as they tied Jason’s little leg against his,
he looked toward the crane, wishing he were there instead. He might have known Carny would be among the first to jump. You could take the woman out of the wild, but you could never take the wild out of the woman. Something about that pleased him.

The whistle blew, and before he was ready, Jason took off, pulling Logan with him.

“Whoa, hold on!” Logan shouted. “We have to do this together.”

“Hurry, Logan! Nathan and his dad are getting ahead of us.”

Logan eyed David and Nathan just ahead of them. “Okay. Left, right, left, right … good. Come on, we can do it.” When they had their legs moving together, he shouted to David, “What’s the matter, old man? Can’t you go any faster than that?”

“Come on, Nathan!” David shouted. “Let’s make ‘em eat our dust!”

Soon the two teams had left all the others behind. Neck and neck with Logan and Jason, the Trents battled to get ahead. Logan and Jason put everything they had into the final stretch of the race and made it over the finish line a nose ahead of the Trents. Whooping like a kid, Logan hopped around with Jason. But they had stopped too soon, just beyond the finish line, and suddenly the rest of the racers stampeded them.

Logan tried to run left, and Jason went right, and within seconds they were on the ground, laughing and trying to break free as the others fell on top of them.

Everyone seemed to be drowning in laughter as Logan untied them and got to his feet.

“Way to go, Logan!” someone shouted.

“That was great, Jason! You’ve found your calling!”

Logan ruffled Jason’s hair, glad he’d had a part in putting that pride on the boy’s face.

Carny hadn’t jumped yet when Logan made his way over to the crane and pushed through the crowd forming at the bottom. It was a long way up to the platform where they hooked her to the cord, and his stomach flipped at the thought of her falling that far.

“That girl is Grade-A crazy,” Lahoma muttered.

“I hope they hook her up right.”

“Can’t we stop this before someone gets killed?”

“She’ll be all right,” Logan said. “Carny’s tough.”

The crowd grew deathly quiet, except for the music and laughter on the other side of the church, as Carny stepped to the edge of the platform. “Are you guys ready?” she shouted down, without a hint of fear in her voice.

A chorus of discouragement was the crowd’s reply, but Carny only laughed. Then, counting to three in a loud voice, she hurled herself head first off the side of the platform and fell seventy-five feet, bounced back fifty, and yo-yoed back and forth, hanging from her feet for what seemed forever.

When she finally stopped bouncing and hung upside down, Logan ran to stand under her as the crane lowered her to the ground. “How was it?” he called up.

“Fantastic!” she said, breathless. The crane slowly brought her down. “Now get me down so I can do it again.”

He hesitated. “I don’t know, Carny. Actually, being tied up by your feet and hung upside down becomes you. It makes you seem more … vulnerable. Puts color in your face too. I think I like it.”

“Brisco, let me down!”

“Not until you agree to let me go with you on the next jump.”

“You mean, you and me together?” she asked, her face turning even more crimson.

“Yep. Right now.”

She flashed him a wicked grin. “Okay, Brisco. You’re on.”

Grabbing her around the hips with one arm, he unhooked her feet with the other and flipped her down to the ground.

Like an acrobat at the end of a glorious stunt, Carny raised her arms, inviting applause. “You should all try it. It was such a rush! Come on, Lahoma! Brother Tommy, you can do it!”

Lahoma backed away, and Brother Tommy only laughed. “I’ll wait until God intends for me to fly.”

“Oh, you coward,” she teased. “It’s a piece of cake. Like stepping off a curb.”

Jason ran forward and shouted, “I will, Mom! I’ll go!”

The crowd laughed.

“Sorry, Jason. You have to be eighteen. That’s the rule.”

“Aw, I never get to have any fun.”

“I know,” she said. “You’re such a deprived child.” Turning to Logan, she smiled her biggest smile. “So are you ready, Brisco?”

He bowed and swept a hand to the ladder. “After you, m’lady.”

Flushed with excitement, Carny stepped up the ladder.

“Have you done this before?” he asked, coming up behind her.

She looked down at him. “No, but I’ve ridden plenty of roller coasters. I love them. I love the feeling of being completely out of control, staring danger right in the face, unable to do anything but ride it out.”

“I would have guessed that about you.”

She laughed. “Doesn’t take a psychoanalyst.”

“But you live such a quiet, risk-free life. I mean, except for the planes and the motorcycle.”

“Balance, Brisco. That’s the key. I have balance. Now let’s go look death in the face and spit at it! Whoa!”

Logan laughed, but as he got to the top of the ladder and peered down, he realized this wasn’t really that funny. “Uh … maybe it would be better if we went separately, instead of together. You can go first.”

“Not a chance, Brisco!” she said. “A deal’s a deal.”

“Yeah, but it was supposed to scare
you,
not
me!”

Carny laughed. “Just forget that it’s a hundred feet to the ground, and that if something goes wrong and the cord snaps or comes unhooked, you’ll die at the moment of impact. Unless, of course, you land in just the right way, and then you might live long enough to have a few minutes of the worst suffering of your life. Forget all that, and just think about how much fun it is!”

“Gee, Carny, you’re just full of comforting thoughts, aren’t you?”

“Actually, it’s real safe, Brisco. I checked out everything carefully before I jumped.”

“Right,” he said, feeling a little sick. “And you’re an expert. You’d know if something was going to snap.”

“I’d feel it in my gut,” she said. “And I don’t feel it about me. You, on the other hand … Nah, it’s probably safe.”

He shot her a somber look, and laughing with delight, she said, “I’m kidding! Are you coming or not?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

They put on a harness that strapped them together, back to back, then the crew hooked them to the bungee cord. As they stood at the edge of the platform, preparing to jump, Logan tried not to look down.

“How did you talk me into this?”

“You talked
me
into it,” she said. “Now, at the count of five —”

“Five, nothing,” he said, taking her hand. “We’re going now!”

And before Carny could prepare herself, Logan had jumped, pulling her with him.

She screamed all the way down, and when they reached the bottom, he began to laugh hysterically as they bounced back up. For several moments they bounced and bobbed, laughing like children.

A crew member came to let them down, and from the crowd, he heard someone shout, “Hey, Logan!”

He glanced up and saw Joey aiming a camera. Quickly, he spun, putting his back to the camera.

“Hey,” Joey said. “You messed up my picture. Turn around.”

The crew member let Logan down, and he hit the ground running. “Wait. Jason’s calling me. Catch me later.”

Carny’s laughter died as she watched him disappear. Shooting Joey a look, she said quietly, “I think I heard Jason too. Try him again in a minute.”

“I will,” Joey said, lowering his voice. “Try to hem him in when you eat. I’ll get him then.”

But Logan kept close watch on Joey and his camera for the rest of the day and managed to avoid him. When it seemed that he couldn’t avoid the camera any longer, he decided to slip away from the picnic.

He hated leaving early, and as he and Jack went back to the musky-smelling room at the motel, he realized how soul-tired he was of running. But he still had a lot to do before he could stop. He’d already deposited enough money into
his account to cover the bad checks he’d written. He’d been on the phone for days making appointments in Houston for next week. If he didn’t have big investors now, he’d certainly have them by the time he came back. That is, if someone like Joey Malone didn’t get the Feds on his trail before he had the chance to try.

Clyde Keppler’s hot-air balloon floated over their heads as they ate, but instead of looking up, Carny kept scanning the crowd for Logan. Where had he gone? One minute, he’d been standing in a cluster of people, campaigning about the park like a politician who reveled in the chance to get so many constituents together in one place, and the next minute he was gone.

“Mom, did you see Logan leave?” Jason asked her.

She looked down at her son and, with her thumb, dabbed the barbecue sauce smeared across his face.

“No. Did he leave?”

“I guess so. I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Why would he?” she asked, frowning. “He was having a good time.”

“I think he didn’t want his picture took,” Jason said. “Mr. Joey kinda made him mad.”

“So he just left?”

“I guess,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t know why. It’s not like he’s ugly. I’d like to have a picture of him.”

“Then I’ll get you one,” she said with greater resolve than she’d had before. “Next week when I fly him to Houston, I’ll get a picture of him then.”

“Will you wear the red dress?” Jason asked, lifting his brows.

“I might,” she said. “If I go someplace nice enough to wear it.”

“Oh, you will,” Jason said. “Logan’s gonna take you someplace real nice. He said he hoped you had some dancing shoes.”

Carny tried not to smile. “Yes, well, Logan says lots of things.”

“He means them all,” Jason said, biting into his roasted pork again. “You’ll see.”

T
he air was thick with tension as Carny and Logan took off Monday morning for Houston. Logan seemed preoccupied and pensive, and Carny couldn’t help wondering if this trip was proof of his legitimacy or just another con to get him out of town quickly.

While he’d loaded his bag into the cargo area of the plane, Carny had peeked into the appointment book he’d brought with him and laid on the seat. He did have appointments with bankers penciled in. Either he was really going to talk to them about the park, or he was going to rob several banks. Gloomily, she realized that the former would have surprised her more than the latter.

“So what’s this trip all about?” she asked him when they’d reached their desired altitude and were cruising south.

“Just an update meeting for the investors and potential investors,” he said. He pulled a calculator out of his pocket and began recomputing numbers that were listed on a computer printout.

“Are you going to see Roland Thunder?”

“Don’t know yet,” he said. “We’ll see.”

Carny didn’t believe for a minute that Roland Thunder had anything to do with this. It was ludicrous. Yet …

Logan seemed so serious, so intent on his work, preparing
for his meetings. He wouldn’t take this so far if it was nothing but a con, would he? He would have just walked away with the cash he’d collected.

Trying to break the tension and still get some information out of him, she decided to make her own confession. Adjusting her microphone, she said, “I talked to my folks the other day. They want to retire from the carnival and settle in Serenity.”

Logan looked up. “Is that good or bad?” he said into his headset.

She sighed. “I’m ashamed to say it, but I think it’s bad. Don’t get me wrong. I love my parents. I really do. But they don’t belong in Serenity.”

“Because of their past?”

“No,” she said, “because of their present. Their lifestyle isn’t exactly compatible with small-town life. Besides, they want a piece of the park. They want to set up some booths and rides and run them.”

“And you think that would be a bad idea?”

She hesitated. “Brisco, the only way a park like this could work is if we can preserve the integrity and hometown sweetness of Serenity. As much as I love my parents, I don’t think we can do that if they come here with their entourage of carnies and try to run the show.”

“You’re right,” he said. “We’ll have to be strict about who’s involved in the park. In fact, we should probably have a park commissioner to ride herd on that.”

“Good idea.”

He looked at her then, grinning. “Do I detect a hint of faith in you? Are you starting to believe I’m not a liar?”

She sighed. “I don’t know what I believe.” She glanced over at him. “So what am I supposed to do while you’re meeting with the bankers?”

“Stay in the cockpit and keep the plane running,” he said with a wry grin.

She smirked. “I knew this was the getaway plane.”

He laughed. “That was a joke, Carny. Actually, you can do whatever you want. Stay in your room with Jack, or go shopping, or go sightseeing, or you could even come with me.”

The last suggestion wasn’t one she’d expected. “Really? Come with you?”

“Sure,” he said. “Of course, you couldn’t actually come into the meetings with me, since these are mostly old boys, and I’ll have better luck with them if I’m alone. But you could wait in the waiting area, if you want. I did tell you you could keep an eye on me, after all.”

Carny thought for a moment, then decided to call his bluff. “All right. I’ll do it.”

“Good.” He went back to studying his notes. “I’ll just leave Jack in the hotel room.”

The fact that he didn’t object or try to find some way out of it, surprised her again. This was getting too confusing. How was she supposed to figure him out, if he kept acting normal? She’d based her whole perception of him on his being a swindler. If he wasn’t one, then she didn’t quite know how to feel about him.

She’d get her mind back on track with the camera, she thought. She’d try to take his picture, and he wouldn’t let her. That would remind her that he was a crook. It would reinforce, yet again, what she already knew.

Somehow, she needed to hang on to that belief, because trusting him meant that she’d eventually have to deal with the feelings she’d been trying to deny — the feelings that had the potential to hurt her even more than his duplicity might have.

Logan got them adjoining suites at the St. Regis Hotel in
Houston, a luxury hotel that made Carny wonder who was paying for it — the big investors from the banks, or the small ones in Serenity. He told her to take an hour or so to relax while he made some phone calls. He would come get her for lunch, and then they would go to his first appointment.

As she waited, she prayed that she wasn’t being set up for disaster.

The first call Logan made was to a limousine service, from which he ordered a chauffeured Rolls-Royce to pick up Carny and him at two o’clock to transport them to the first bank. It had worked for him before, when he’d opened accounts with bad checks, taken out loans under the guise of a wealthy New York businessman, and perpetrated more than a few cons of bankers. The first impression was the most important, and when the bankers saw him drive up in a chauffeured limo and walk in dressed like a Wall Street tycoon, they immediately believed he was someone whose business they wanted. The rest was just a matter of persuasion.

He then called all the bankers he’d made appointments with, confirming that they would see him and reaffirming the fact that he was shopping for investors, but that he was choosy about who he went into partnership with. That, he hoped, would set the tone of urgency and of competition. Nothing made a banker want a client more than the possibility that he may not be able to have him.

After the phone calls, he sat staring at Jack, who looked a little queasy and tired after the flight. “That was nothing, boy,” he said softly. “The real ride’s about to start.”

Could he really pull this off? Getting real investors would take all the talent he had as a con artist. That it was
for a legitimate venture wouldn’t matter. His powers of persuasion would still be sorely tested. He’d have to pit one bank against another, drop lots of names, and look uncommitted to whatever bank he was visiting at the time. And it would all be done in the name of the town of Serenity.

He’d done his homework. He knew the age of every banker he had targeted, how long they’d been running that bank, what other banks they’d worked for, where they’d gone to school, whether they were married, their spouses’ names, how many children they had, what big ventures they had funded …

But he didn’t plan to use that information today. The background was just so that he could read them more accurately, judge them, gauge them. It was only so he could determine what kind of pitch they would respond to.

He hoped Carny wouldn’t throw a wrench into his plans. Even though she would be waiting in the lobby, one wrong move on her part could blow his cover. One wrong word from either of them, and he wouldn’t be able to make these investors give him the time of day.

When he stopped by her room, he was pleasantly surprised at the way she had transformed herself. As if she realized the importance of the meetings, she had twisted her hair up and donned a little yellow suit that looked expensive enough to suit the bankers, though he suspected it had come from the sale rack at Miss Mabel’s. Her high heels emphasized her shape and made her look sophisticated. She looked the perfect match for a man who could afford a chauffeured Rolls. He relaxed, reassured. It was all going to work out as fantastically as the scam would have, if he’d gone through with it.

“You look perfect,” he said, stepping into her room.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” She reached into her
bag for the camera she’d brought, and waited for him to blanch. “Smile and let me get a picture.”

Logan grinned his best grin and allowed her to flash three pictures right in a row. “Now, are you finished?” he asked. “We’ve got a lunch reservation.”

She set the camera down, apparently pleased. “Sure, I’m ready.” She followed him out, locking the door behind her.

She hadn’t expected to eat a five-course meal in the hotel’s fanciest restaurant, but Logan’s tastes were evidently more opulent than her own. Not certain whether it was his investors or the citizens of Serenity who were financing this trip, Carny ordered only a salad and glass of iced tea.

“Aren’t you hungrier than that?” he asked as she eyed the steak the waiter had brought him.

“Not hungry enough to pay what that steak costs.”

He laughed. “What do you care? I’m paying for it.”

“With what?” she asked. “My in-laws’ money, or the Trents’, or Brother Tommy’s?”

He sighed. “You’ll never give up, will you? For your information, I’m using my own money for this.”

She smiled then. “Oh … well, in that case, what do they have that’s really expensive?”

When she’d ordered, he slid back his chair. “Well, then, if you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’m going to find the men’s room. Don’t eat my lunch while I’m gone.”

Smiling, she watched him walk out of the restaurant and wondered if the restroom had windows. Any minute now he was going to escape and leave her holding the bag for lunch.

No, she was being silly. Logan wasn’t going anywhere, except to the restroom. Maybe it was time she ignored her suspicious instincts and just enjoyed this. After all, he
had
let her take his picture. He wouldn’t have stood there and let her take it so easily if he’d had anything to hide.

Sighing, she finished her salad. Things might be on the level, after all.

Logan bypassed the men’s room and rushed to the elevator, rode up to their floor, and trotted up the hall. When he’d checked in, he had gotten the desk clerk to give him two keycards for each room, just in case he needed to get into hers for something like this. Fishing hers out of his pocket, he opened her door and slipped inside.

The camera was sitting right where she’d left it. Deftly, he clicked through the digital images and deleted the ones of himself. Then he put the camera back exactly where he had found it.

Chances were that she wouldn’t know she’d lost the pictures until they were back in Serenity. Hopefully, she’d think it was her own error.

Smiling, he slipped out of her room, hopped the elevator, and cut back across the lobby to the restaurant, where Carny was waiting.