“Coop!” She tried to turn so she could get a visual of Coop’s backpack — the spot where she’d seen him. “It’s Fat Elvis. I just saw him.”
“You sure?”
Oh yeah. “Positive.” And there was something more. That feeling was back. Like she knew him. “There!” She pointed — then grabbed the bar. Fat Elvis was there — pressed up against Coop’s backpack hanging on the fence. For an instant their eyes connected — and a missing puzzle piece dropped into place.
“Where?” Coop said.
“Oh, God!” Her mind whirled faster than the ride ever had. Her vision blurred. She blinked back tears so she could get another clear view of him, but she didn’t dare let go of the grab bar again.
“I don’t see anybody,” Coop said.
The operator backed off the diesels, and Typhoon slowed. They swung past Coop’s backpack again — but Fat Elvis was gone.
“Where is he?” Coop squeezed her hand harder.
She searched the faces in the crowd along the fence. “He disappeared,” she said. But he couldn’t be far. She sensed that much. “It’s him. It’s him. He saw us. He was looking at me.”
Typhoon tucked in its arms and came to a merciful stop. Gordy whooped in the car beside them. Obviously his stomach was truly made of cast iron. Hiro wished hers was the same. She felt like she was going to throw up, but it wasn’t because of the ride.
“Fat Elvis?” Coop said. “You saw Fat Elvis watching us?”
Hiro nodded. “Only it wasn’t him.” She watched the crowd. She was afraid she’d see him again — and afraid she wouldn’t.
Even though the ride had stopped, Hiro’s stomach didn’t. She fumbled with the latch. She had to get off this ride. She was going to lose it.
“I got it,” Coop said. He raised the safety bar.
Hiro stumbled past him and jumped to the ground — which seemed to be moving. She felt dizzy. Knees rubbery. A wave of weakness washed over her, and she dropped to her hands and knees.
“Hiro?”
Coop’s voice came from beside her. Everything was still spinning somehow. She gagged once. Her stomach contracted and tried to squeeze out what wasn’t there.
“You’re okay,” Coop said. He put his hand on her back. Rubbed gently. “It’s all in your head. It’ll pass.”
She coughed and cleared her throat. Her arms were shaking.
“Deep breaths,” Coop said. “That’s it.”
The ground stopped moving. Her breathing evened out. The dizziness passed. Her stomach settled. But the weakness was still there. And a heaviness — like she’d gained a hundred pounds since the ride started.
“Clear the area. The ride’s going to start.” A carnival worker strode right past them and never even stopped to ask how she was. Jerk.
Cooper held out his hand and helped her to her feet. Lunk stepped up and grabbed her other arm. He looked about as good as she felt.
But Gordy was practically bouncing with energy. “How ’bout hitting this ride one more time? Then we’ll swing over to the food aisle, eh, Hiro?”
She wanted to clench her fist and shake it at him — but all she could muster was a glare.
Gordy laughed. “You are a real piece of work, Hiro. Riding Typhoon on an empty stomach is really dumb.”
The ride operator revved the diesels — like he was going to start while they were still in the danger zone.
“Let’s get her on the other side of the fence,” Coop said.
Coop and Lunk bent down so she could drape her arms over their shoulders. They stood, lifting her off the ground, and walked her over to where Cooper’s backpack was hanging.
“She said she saw Fat Elvis watching us,” Coop said.
Hiro didn’t like the way Cooper had said that. She said she saw. Didn’t he believe her?
“The way she looks right now,” Gordy said, “I’m surprised she didn’t see little pink elephants.”
“Don’t push it, Gordy.” Hiro’s strength surged once she got on the other side of the fence. “I saw him. He was standing right here.” She pointed to Coop’s backpack. “Watching.” She shrugged free from Coop and Lunk. Tried to look stronger than she felt. By the looks on their faces, Hiro knew she was the only one who’d spotted him.
“We were spinning pretty fast,” Lunk said. “How — ”
“How could I see anybody? Is that what you want to know?” She scanned the crowd. “I felt him before I saw him.”
“Let’s find a place to sit down,” Lunk said. “Tell us all about it.”
Something in his tone irked her. He sounded patronizing. Lunk thought she’d imagined it. “I don’t need to sit down,” she said. “We need to find him.”
“Why would we want to find Fat Elvis?” Gordy was still smiling.
“Because,” she whispered, “I know who Fat Elvis really is. It all clicked in place while I was on the ride.”
She glanced over her shoulder, afraid he was watching her now. Somehow she knew he was.
“Who he really is?” Gordy looked confused. “You mean — like his real name?”
Hiro nodded. She saw the doubt in Gordy’s eyes, so she focused on Coop instead. “Fat Elvis is Joseph Stein.”
Cooper’s stomach lurched “What?”
Hiro nodded. “It’s him. I know it.”
“But how could you possibly . . .” Coop paused. “We were moving so fast.”
She rubbed the necklace at her throat.
Cooper looked her in the eyes. “You actually recognized him?”
“Yes.” She shrugged. “No.”
“Which is it?” Gordy said.
“I only saw him for an instant.”
“Fat Elvis,” Cooper said.
She nodded. “And it was like I suddenly knew. It was him.”
Cooper didn’t take his eyes off hers. “Joseph Stein?”
Hiro nodded. Who she really saw, Cooper couldn’t be sure. But she seemed convinced that it was Stein.
“Impossible,” Gordy said. “He’s been missing for almost a year. Why would he be here — watching us?”
Gordy had a point. Why would Stein take a chance that he’d be recognized? After the robbery at Frank ’n Stein’s, he’d become a wanted man charged with robbery and multiple counts of attempted murder. The guy would probably spend the rest of his life in jail if he were caught.
“It was him,” Hiro said. “I feel it in here.” She pointed at her heart.
“Okay,” Cooper said. “Let’s say it’s him. Maybe we should call the police.”
Lunk held out his hands. “No offense, Coop, but what are you going to tell them? Hiro had a feeling that she saw a wanted criminal hanging around the fair?”
Cooper saw the conflict on her face. “Hiro?”
“What do I tell them?” Her eyes looked haunted. “So none of you saw him?”
Nobody answered. They didn’t need to.
“He was standing right here. By Coop’s backpack. His hands were right on it. I saw him.” She looked back at the ride — now swinging at full speed again. “And he saw me.” She rubbed down the goose bumps on her arms.
Gordy shrugged. “I never looked at the crowd. I kept trying to watch you to see if you’d get sick all over Coop.”
Cooper tried to picture Fat Elvis the way he’d seen the guy outside Scoops. “Even when we saw him in town, I never got a close look at him.” And neither did Hiro.
She looked at him and her shoulders slumped. “You’re right.” She turned and scanned the crowd. “Maybe if you saw him again, you could get close enough to recognize him.”
Maybe. And maybe if Cooper got a good look at the guy, he wouldn’t see any resemblance to Stein. Still, Cooper wanted to give Hiro the benefit of the doubt. He wanted to be there for her. Be a good friend.
“Okay, so you saw him and now he’s gone. Think he’s still here at the fairgrounds?”
She nodded. “I’m sure of it.”
Cooper scanned the crowd now too. “Then let’s fi
nd him and get a closer look.”
“Wait a second,” Gordy held up both hands. “You want to go searching — for him?”
“Unless we know it’s Stein, we can’t really go to the police,” Cooper said. “And we’ll always be looking over our shoulders.”
Lunk nodded. “We could spread out.”
Cooper wasn’t about to leave Hiro alone now. “I’ll go with Hiro. You and Gordy stick together.” He slung the backpack over his shoulder. Chimpy grinned at him like this was all a big game. “Got your phone, Gordy?”
Gordy nodded.
Hiro pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Call me if you see him. And switch to vibrate. We’ll never hear it ringing over this noise.”
Cooper looked down the double aisle of rides. “We’ll go along one aisle. You two go down the other. Same with the game aisles.”
Gordy turned and started around the other side of Typhoon.
Lunk hesitated, then looked directly at Cooper. “No heroics.” He didn’t wait for an answer but turned to Hiro. “Call us.”
She nodded.
Lunk hustled to catch up to Gordy.
Cooper went to the other side. “Did you notice what he was wearing?”
Hiro kept pace. “Black T-shirt with writing and a logo on it. Maybe it’s the casino where he works.”
Great. Half the men at the fair were wearing black T-shirts. Harley-Davidson logos. Bands. But at least it was something. He fought the urge to move fast — to cover more ground. If Stein was here and watching them, he’d be close by. Trying to blend in somehow. “Was he wearing a hat?”
Hiro nodded. “A baseball hat. Camo pattern.”
If Stein knew he’d been spotted, he might have ditched the hat. But the T-shirt was another story.
Hiro’s fingers flew over the screen of her phone. “I’m calling Gordy about the T-shirt.”
Cooper nodded. He walked slower than he wanted to — but it was the only way he could check out every person wearing a black shirt.
The whole fair had taken on a different feel now. The diesel motors roared louder. The people walking the aisle seemed more obnoxious. The ride operator at Pharaoh’s Fury leered at Hiro. Checked her out — head to toe — without hiding it.
“This place is creeping me out,” Hiro said.
Cooper picked up the pace. “Stay close.” It had to be his imagination, but he felt like they were being watched too. He walked backward for a few moments. Except for the ride operator still eyeballing Hiro, nobody seemed to notice them.
Lunk and Gordy stood at the end of the ride aisles next to a ticket booth. They had a perfect view of anyone entering or leaving the ride section of the fairgrounds. Lunk shrugged and shook his head.
Cooper motioned back to him and then turned to Hiro. “Let’s check out the games area.”
Hiro walked beside him, but she didn’t say a word. People crammed the aisles. Some walked in tight clusters. Others wandered aimlessly, caught up in the human flow.
Cooper stopped at the crossbow booth. Dozens of monkeys like the one in his backpack stared back at him, silently asking if he was going to play again.
Apparently Hiro’s phone vibrated. She swung it up to her ear. “Gordy? Talk to me.” Cooper leaned close, but with all the noise it was impossible to catch a word Gordy was saying.
Hiro hung up. “They’ve canvassed the game aisles. They’re heading for the food aisles. They’ll meet us at the big elephant.”
Cooper nodded.
“They covered that pretty quick,” Hiro said.
The way she said it made him wonder if she thought they were only going through the motions. Humoring her. Cooper wanted her to know he was taking her seriously. “I think we should stay put for a few minutes. Blend in. See if he passes.”
Hiro agreed. They stood to the side of the crossbow booth and watched. Cooper looked down the aisle one way, and Hiro watched the other way.
The whole thing was unreal. And seemed impossible. But Cooper wanted to stick with the search long enough for Hiro to know he had tried. He wanted to tell her how he’d turned a corner. How he really believed there was a murder. But this was hardly the time or place. And now her theory had a whole new twist.
Could Fat Elvis really be Joseph Stein?
“Coop?”
Hiro’s voice sounded weak. Small.
“What happens if we don’t find him?”
Which was looking more and more likely. But the question that really bothered Cooper was just the opposite. What would happen if they did?
Lunk hated to admit defeat, but they’d been up and down the food aisle twice. The search was pretty much over. Fat Elvis was gone — if he’d ever been there in the first place. And as for Hiro’s theory about Fat Elvis being Joseph Stein? He wasn’t ready to buy into that just yet.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Gordy said.
“I hope not.”
Gordy laughed. “We’re here at the elephant ear booth.” He rubbed his stomach. “It’s time to top off our tanks. We’ve burned off a lot of fuel with this whole manhunt.”
“Manhunt?” Lunk checked over his shoulder to be sure Hiro and Coop hadn’t walked up behind them. “More like a ghost hunt.”
Gordy pulled a wad of singles from his pocket. “You don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Exactly.”
Gordy snickered. He said something to the guy manning the deep fryer, paid him, and turned to Lunk. “You going to order one or not?”
Lunk shook his head. It wasn’t just the cost. He wanted to keep his hands free, to be ready — just in case Hiro called. Even though it seemed like a long shot.
“The way I see it,” Gordy said, “Hiro is singlehandedly ruining our vacation.”
Lunk eyed him. “How do you figure?”
“She’s got us looking over our shoulders all the time. First in town. Now here. At the fair.”
He said it like the fairgrounds were sacred somehow.
“We should be taking in more rides — or spending more time packing in this amazing food. Not running around on some wild goose chase.”
The guy passed Gordy’s elephant ear through the sliding window. It was smothered with some sort of strawberry sauce and cinnamon sugar. It smelled good. Really good. Lunk’s stomach growled. Maybe there was something to Gordy’s theory about the force of the rides compressing the food.
“Tear off a hunk,” Gordy said.
Lunk ripped a piece of warm dough off Gordy’s plate. “Do you figure Fat Elvis is already gone” — Lunk hesitated — “or was he never here to begin with?”
Gordy worked his mouthful to one cheek. “Here’s my theory. Hiro was totally freaked about riding Typhoon. She’s been superparanoid about all of this Fat Elvis stuff. And let’s face it — she never got over the fact that Joseph Stein got away clean.”
He set down his plate and used his hands to demonstrate. “So on the ride, these three super-fears of hers sort of collided — blame it on the ‘spinning force.’ Next thing you know, she’s hanging on for dear life, seeing Fat Elvis, and thinking he’s Joseph Stein.”
Lunk couldn’t help but smile at the way Gordy’s logic worked. “So you think the whole thing was in her head?”
“Totally.” Gordy took another bite. “And so do you. It’s all a pigment of her imagination.”
Lunk laughed. “A figment of her imagination.”
Gordy nodded. “Probably that too.” He used the back of his hand to wipe cinnamon sugar off his mouth. “And if we don’t stop her, she’ll ruin our time at the fair.”
Lunk turned that one around in his head. He was having a great time, really. He didn’t need food or rides or games. Just hanging with his friends was enough.
“Look,” Gordy said, “I’m no psychologist — but yeah, I think this whole thing is in her head.” He circled his ear with his forefinger and grinned. “The Typhoon just scrambled it up a little more.”
Lunk snickered. Gordy had a way of scrambling things hi
mself.
Suddenly, Gordy’s grin disappeared as his eyes focused on something — or someone — behind Lunk.
“You’re right about one thing, Gordy.”
It was Hiro’s voice. Lunk cringed.
“You’re definitely no psychologist.”
Gordy wanted to hide behind the giant elephant. And Hiro looked like she’d just been trampled by one.
He forced a smile. “You aren’t buying my stupid theory, are you?”
“Part of it,” Hiro said.
Gordy relaxed just a bit. “Really? Which part?”
“About it being stupid.”
Okay. She was giving him a bit of his own medicine. He could live with that. It was when she got quiet and stopped fighting that he worried. “Sorry, Hiro.” Like a peace offering, he held out the paper plate with what remained of his elephant ear. “How about a bite?”
She glared at him. “I’d like to take a bite out of your ear.”
“Okay,” Coop said, stepping between them. “Before Hiro gets all Mike Tyson on us, tell us what you two saw. Anything?”
Gordy knew exactly what Coop was doing. He’d remember to thank him later.
“You’re changing the subject, Coop,” Hiro said. “Does anybody here believe that I saw Fat Elvis watching us?”
Gordy wasn’t about to answer that. Lunk stared at his feet.
“Really?” Hiro jammed her hands in her pockets. She looked kind of embarrassed. Hurt. “Really.” Maybe reality was finally sinking in. And she seemed to be sinking with it.
“He could have been there,” Coop said. “I believe that.”
“You’re a little slow on the draw there, cowboy,” Hiro said. “The correct answer was something like, ‘If you say you saw him — he’s here. We should keep looking.’ ”
“You’re upset — ” Coop said. “I’m with you on this. Really. Most of it anyway.”
“No. I’m alone,” Hiro said. “And don’t deny it. So I guess I don’t need to ask the next question.”
Gordy wondered what it was. But not enough to ask.
Hiro took a step back. “If you don’t think I saw Fat Elvis, then there’s no sense asking you if he could be Joseph Stein.”
Below the Surface Page 22
