Until the Ride Stops

by Amie Denman

  “I admire your work,” he said. “Doing your best to prevent other people from making mistakes. It seems like a daunting job.”

  She shrugged. “No more daunting than building a multimillion-dollar roller coaster.” She stopped walking and turned toward him, still holding his hand. “Thanks for having fun with me tonight. Sometimes I take myself too seriously and forget I work in the middle of what most people would consider a vacation.”

  “I have the same problem.” And plenty of others.

  He put his hand on her cheek and kissed her, a quick touch of lips and then a longer one. Her lips were soft and sweet, and he wondered how he was going to keep his mind on his work now that he had fallen for the police officer who stood right outside his construction fence. It could be a very long summer, especially considering how high the stakes were for him and for the future of his stepfather’s company.

  Matt’s stomach rumbled loudly, audible even over the noise of a roller coaster in the distance.

  “Cookies,” Caroline said. “Right around the corner.”

  They crossed a wooden porch and shoved through saloon-style doors into the Last Chance Bakery.

  As soon as they saw who was already there, Caroline dropped Matt’s hand. Jack Hamilton and Mel Preston stood in the doorway that led to the back of the bakery, which housed the ovens and work area.

  “Hey, Caroline,” Jack said. And then his eyes traveled to Matt. “And Dunbar.”

  Matt could see Jack processing his thoughts, his expression changing from confusion to understanding.

  “I’m glad to see you’re out having fun,” Augusta said. She wore a pink apron and two oven mitts as she appeared between her husband and brother-in-law. Augusta nudged Jack and shot him a quick glance. “We’re not having so much fun in here. I have one dead oven and two men who can’t seem to fix it.”

  “Hey,” Mel said. “I just got here. Jack’s the one who doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

  “Not in my job description,” Jack muttered. “I just want to pick up my wife so someone will help me with bath and bedtime at home. It’s easier running an amusement park than it is getting a two-year-old in bed.”

  “Thanks for taking a look at the oven, Mel, but I think I may need to call the manufacturer tomorrow,” Augusta said. She turned to the two teenagers working the counter. “We have enough stock for the evening crowd, so I’m going home.”

  “We came for cookies,” Caroline blurted out. She clutched her hands together in front of her body. Did she feel awkward showing up with a date and running into her brothers-in-law who were also her bosses? Or did she feel awkward because she was with him? Or both?

  “Caroline decided I’d be a better roller coaster builder if I actually rode the rides that are already here,” Matt said. “She made a convincing case.”

  “I bet she did,” Mel said, grinning.

  “Oven,” Augusta said. “It’s the new one clear in the back.”

  Augusta and Mel went into the back of the shop, but Jack lingered. “Anything new with the ride this week?”

  Matt shook his head. He felt strangely guilty for taking off a few hours early today so he could spend time with Caroline. Jack had even more riding on this new build than Matt did because it was his park’s money. What would he think about Matt being distracted by Caroline instead of working?

  “On track,” Matt said. “I’ll give you the full update at our meeting tomorrow.”

  Each Friday morning, Matt visited the corporate office building tucked behind the scrambler ride and several tall old trees. The weekly report usually included good coffee, and his relationship with the Hamiltons was cordial. He’d begun to feel as if he was part of the family—which was another reason he shouldn’t date someone who was, by marriage, part of the Hamilton family.

  The acid in his empty stomach churned when he considered everything he was juggling. His stepfather’s business, his family’s future, the massive construction project and now Caroline—the best part of his complicated situation.

  “Good,” Jack said. He smiled. “When I was first dating Augusta three summers ago, we rode coasters together on a beautiful evening just like this. She didn’t like it at first, but she took a chance on me.”

  Matt waited for Caroline to interject and say they weren’t dating. But she didn’t. He didn’t, either.

  Instead of answering, Matt strolled over to the glass case and evaluated his snack choices. He heard Jack say good-night to Caroline and the creak of the door to the back workroom.

  “How many are you getting?” Caroline asked, appearing next to him but not touching him.

  “Half dozen maybe? That should be enough fuel to get me to wherever you’re planning on having dinner in the front of the park.”

  Caroline pointed to the decorated sugar cookies resembling rides and iconic structures at Starlight Point. “Two carousel horses, one Sea Devil, a Lake Breeze Hotel and...what else do you like?” she asked Matt.

  “Do you think they’ll have a cookie shaped like the new ride next year?” he asked.

  “I don’t see how,” she said. She squeezed his hand and relaxed her shoulders. “It’ll be such a tangled mess of track, what would that look like in a cookie?”

  “We just use a generic cookie cutter that looks like a hill and ice it in the signature colors of the rides,” the girl behind the counter explained. “See?” She held up a Sea Devil cookie and a Silver Streak cookie. Although the Sea Devil was much newer and wilder than the venerable old Silver Streak, the cookies had the same outline and only differed in the colors of icing. “What colors will the new ride be?” she asked.

  “Black and white to go with the star theme.”

  “Oh.” The girl’s expression sobered. “Black icing isn’t very appetizing. Maybe we won’t do a cookie for that ride.”

  Matt sighed. Building a new ride was definitely not all glamour.

  “We’ll have two of those Silver Streak cookies to finish out the half dozen,” he said.

  As they left the bakery and headed up the trail, Caroline held open the box for Matt to take some of the cookies. “Don’t let it get to you. Just because your ride could be a potential failure as a sugar cookie does not mean you should stay awake worrying about it.”

  “Who says I was going to do that?” he asked, smiling and then biting off a wing of the Lake Breeze Hotel.

  “I think I have you figured out by now.”

  “I’d be worried if I didn’t know you have hound-dog-detective blood in your veins.”

  Instead of walking up the Western Trail on their way to the front midway, Caroline chose a louder and more crowded route that wound past several midsize roller coasters and family fun rides. The cookies were gone before they crossed the railroad tracks for the authentic steam train that circled the Point dozens of times every day.

  It was too noisy for conversation, and Matt was happy to stroll along in the evening air with Caroline by his side. They held hands most of the way, only separating to make room for a large family group including a wheelchair and three strollers.

  When they reached the midway, Matt smelled fried food. He glanced over at Caroline.

  “I know what you’re thinking. Again,” she said.

  “Despite your talent in that department, it can’t be too hard to figure out. Do you smell those fries?”

  She nodded and laughed. “Burgers and fries right this way.”

  They lined up, ordered food and carried their plastic trays to a picnic table outside near the midway carousel. The painted horses circled in front of them, cable cars slid past over their heads and music poured from the loudspeakers. Guests of all ages streamed past on their way to fun.

  Matt remembered coming here with his family when he was about seven. His brother was in a stroller and his parents took
turns pushing it. It was from a time in his life before he and everyone else found out his father was a criminal.

  “We came here when I was a kid,” he said. “Bought two-day tickets, stayed overnight and made a vacation out of it. I thought it was the best thing ever.”

  “Me, too,” Caroline said. “We came once a summer. We only lived an hour away so we didn’t stay over. I used to love the cars and motorcycles in Kiddie Land until I realized they were on a track and I wasn’t actually driving. It was a huge disappointment.”

  “I liked the fountain,” Matt said. He pointed down the midway to a large water feature with a big rubber splash pad. On the warm summer evening, children ran through it while their parents held their shoes and watched. “That’s one of the things I remember from that trip. It was really hot, and my mom let me take off my shoes and run through the water. My clothes got soaked, but it felt so good.”

  “Did you just come once?”

  “At that time, yes, but when my mom remarried and we moved to Bayside, I came over fairly often just like most of the local kids. My senior prom was in the ballroom and afterward we got to change clothes and ride the coasters in the dark.”

  “Did you actually ride them?”

  He shook his head. “My date left early with her friends and most of the guys took coolers of beer to the beach.”

  Caroline raised both eyebrows at him.

  “I went for a while, but I had to work the next day. Construction happens on Sundays, too, when the weather is good. We were putting up roof beams and I remember how hot it was and how glad I was not to be hungover.”

  “Did your stepdad set that up on purpose?”

  “Maybe. He’s got a strong work ethic and he expects it of everyone else, too. That’s how he took a business that was nearly defunct and turned it into what it is now. And it’s also why he wants to make a careful choice about its future.”

  “Why was the business failing?” Caroline asked.

  Maybe he shouldn’t have brought it up. Matt shrugged. “My uncle was a good builder, but after the failure of the Loose Cannon, he seemed to lose his enthusiasm for the business. He took on some jobs he didn’t finish, started to get a bad reputation. Reputation matters in construction. If someone hears anything bad about your company, no way are you getting future contracts.”

  “So Bruce Corbin bailed his brother out by buying it?”

  “I guess you could say that. He bought the building and equipment, changed the name and has spent the last almost thirty years building it up.”

  Matt wondered if Caroline would let his explanation go at that. In truth, he didn’t know that his uncle’s business was technically failing. He’d always assumed that from the broken pieces of dialogue he’d heard. And it was a logical explanation. Could there be another one?

  Caroline ate her burger and fries instead of pressing him, and the warm summer evening in the shadow of the cable cars and carousel seemed almost too good to be true. Especially because his heart felt lighter than it had in a long time.

  * * *

  “DESSERT?” CAROLINE ASKED.

  Matt laughed. “We had cookies before we ate dinner, so I think we’re covered. Unless you talk me into ice cream later.”

  “I’ll try.”

  They disposed of their food trays and gave up their table to a group of teenagers carrying cotton candy, ice cream cones and sodas.

  “Where to next?” Matt asked.

  “Anywhere. We hit the best coasters and ate junk food, so anything else we do tonight is bonus.”

  “Carousel? We’re right here.”

  “We could be more adventurous and ride the cable cars,” Caroline suggested. “It’s one notch up on the thrill rating and it’ll be fun to have an aerial view of the Point as all the lights are coming on.”

  They climbed the steps to the cable car loading platform. Caroline was thinking about whether she’d sit across from Matt in the car or next to him. Would he put his arm around her?

  So far, the evening had been sweet and fun. Much better than any other one she’d had at Starlight Point. Would it end in another kiss? She had to admit it, she was falling for Matt Dunbar. And she didn’t need to be a detective to know he felt the same way.

  Two maintenance men were on the platform of the cable car loading area as Matt and Caroline approached, but they appeared to be finished with whatever brought them there. Tool bags over their shoulders, they were sidestepping the people coming up the staircase.

  “Hey, Caroline,” one of them said.

  She nodded and smiled at Noah, one of the year-round maintenance men just a few years older than she was. She lowered her voice and leaned close. “Is it a bad sign that you’re here? Would you advise us to come back later? Or bring a parachute?”

  “No,” he said. “Everything’s fine or they wouldn’t run the ride. We were replacing one of the shields over the cables. Not so much a safety concern. It’s mostly just for looks.”

  As he spoke, his partner knelt, picked up a broken bolt and tucked it in his pocket. Caroline stared at the man and a chill washed over her. The maintenance man who had died under the Loose Cannon the night of the accident had a broken bolt in his pocket.

  She realized she was staring when Noah interrupted her thoughts. “He’s not stealing anything, officer. It was just a broken bolt. We twisted it off when we were replacing the shield, but you don’t want to leave things lying around. People get nervous if they see stuff like that. They might think it’s not safe.”

  Caroline wanted to smile. Wanted to laugh or shrug or indicate in some way that it was no big deal, but thoughts were racing through her brain and she felt a strange combination of exhilaration and ice-cold foreboding.

  Did the broken bolt in George Dupont’s pocket mean nothing at all? If so, her investigation was back to square one.

  But what if the broken bolt was the key to the whole mystery...what if it were something worth killing for?

  * * *

  “OUR TURN TO get on,” Matt said, interrupting Caroline’s thoughts as the maintenance men descended the stairs and disappeared. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to ride?”

  Caroline managed to nod and followed Matt into one of the cable cars, the door of which was being held open by a ride operator in a red-and-blue uniform. She sat next to Matt. Only a few moments ago, she’d looked forward to Matt putting his arm around her. But now she sat beside him so he couldn’t see her face when she turned away.

  The car descended the short hill out of the station and swung free, suspended only by the cable overhead, as it made its way down the midway. Matt did put his arm around her shoulders, but Caroline couldn’t think about it. Couldn’t think about the warmth of his touch and how much she had thought she wanted it.

  She was thinking about that broken bolt, and a hypothesis presented itself as if it were written in neon lights on the midway below. Someone—she didn’t yet know who—had been there the night of the accident. Had replaced something broken on the Loose Cannon. And had left behind a piece of evidence. A broken number five bolt.

  And there was only one explanation. She’d previously thought Starlight Point might be covering its tracks, but now it became clear. The construction company was the one with something to hide. If they had used grade five bolts to save money, and if those bolts sheered off...a fatal accident could occur. If they slipped in under cover of darkness before the state agency arrived the next day, they could replace the grade five bolts with stronger ones—grade eights like Mel was using that day on the Scrambler—and no one would be the wiser.

  Unless someone caught them. And picked up a piece of evidence. And then died with that evidence in his pocket.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Matt said.

  “Just thinking.”

  “Ride’s al
most over.” Matt pointed to the end of the cable car line, which they were rapidly approaching.

  Caroline desperately wanted off the ride so she could continue developing her theory. If she was right, the maintenance man’s death was no accident. Whoever didn’t want him to talk would have had every reason to kill, especially with thousands of dollars, a company reputation and an accidental death on their hands.

  Did John Corbin’s company get caught in a cover-up and kill to keep it quiet? Did Matt know?

  Caroline followed Matt out of the cabin as if she were a zombie. He took her hand as they descended the stairs onto the midway.

  It was completely dark now and the lights were on all over Starlight Point. The roller coaster hills were illuminated, and marquee lights on the restaurants flashed. It was pretty and familiar, but Caroline was glad for the darkness. She didn’t think she could conceal the grim expression on her face as she thought about the decades-old crime.

  “My brother’s stand is still open,” he said. “And he doesn’t have a line. We could stop and say hello.”

  “Sure,” Caroline said. If Matt wanted to chat with his brother, maybe she could keep her thoughts to herself. Why hadn’t the state agency noticed some of the bolts were newer than others? Didn’t they suspect the construction company or Starlight Point might want to cover their tracks, especially when they were dealing with a fatality?

  She had to get home and examine those photographs again. Would any difference in the bolts be visible in old photocopied pictures?

  “Hey, Caroline,” Agnes said as soon as Caroline and Matt entered the circle of light cast by the caricature booth. “You’re not wearing your uniform, so do I finally get the chance to draw you wearing an evening gown? It’s a slow night here. Everyone wants cotton candy instead of caricatures.” She pointed to the long line at a nearby food stand.

  “You could draw my brother,” Lucas said. “I already took a shot at it, and I’ve had to look at him my whole life.”

  “Why not draw us together?” Matt asked. He pointed to the sample drawings, many of which contained couples or siblings.