Until The Ride Stops

“And yet you’re building one,” Caroline said. She was starting to doubt he was actually in charge of the project. Shouldn’t it be someone much older? She’d been patrolling the fence surrounding the high-profile construction for several weeks now, but she’d hardly noticed the men in hard hats coming and going. “Will you ride this coaster when it’s done?”

He nodded, his expression serious in the ambient glow from the flashlight. “It’s my job. Inspires confidence if the man who builds it is willing to ride it. Even if I have to hold my breath for the entire ride.”

“Dedication,” Caroline said. I can respect that. But something still did not add up.

“You said there were two things. What else did you forget?” Caroline asked. “Is it here in the construction zone?”

“No. It’s a fact—I hate camping. When I was a kid, my older cousins used to consider it a badge of honor to scare me to death by scratching on the outside of the tent like ravenous mountain lions. This was especially effective after ghost stories and urban legends around the campfire.”

Caroline suppressed a laugh. “I’m Caroline Bennett,” she said, holding out her hand. “I went camping one time when I was a Girl Scout.”

“And?”

“I was trapped in a tent with a spider large enough to cast a shadow.”

He took her hand and gave it a lingering shake. “I’m picturing you ordering the spider out of your tent. Or else.”

She smiled. “The spider disappeared and we never found it, even though we stayed up all night looking.”

“I have no doubt you’re braver than I am,” he said. “Which is why I’ve already decided to surrender should you cuff me and haul me off to the Starlight Point Jail. I just hope you serve funnel cakes and boardwalk fries for breakfast. It’s the least you could do for keeping a man from his own worries.”

“What are you worried about?”

“Getting this done in the next three hundred and forty-two days.”

Caroline pulled her radio off her belt and keyed the police dispatcher to let her know the situation was under control and she would be escorting a guest back to the camping area. She clipped the radio to her belt and gave Matt her attention again.

“So you wandered off the Western Trail and thought you’d poke around here since you couldn’t sleep?”

A line appeared between his eyebrows as he scanned the area. “I just thought it might be interesting to get the lay of the land at night. I’m trying to picture it all lit up with miles of steel track going everywhere.”

Caroline glanced around. It was dark inside the walled-off section of the park, especially after closing time when lights all over the Point were dimmed or switched off. Only the chasing lights on the tall hills of a few roller coasters were visible.

By next season, there would be an addition to the Starlight Point skyline. The new top secret coaster was being built on the site of the ill-fated and short-lived Loose Cannon that had claimed a life and closed after only part of one season.

She shuddered, imagining the girl being thrown from the ride and dying on what should have been a fun day.

“Cold?” Matt asked.

Caroline shook her head. No way was she sharing her plan to investigate an old case no one wanted to reopen.

“I wish I had a jacket to offer you,” he said. “I could give you my hard hat but it won’t do much good.”

“I should escort you out of here and secure the site,” Caroline said. She swung her flashlight in an arc toward the gate. “Let’s go. I’ll see you back to your tent.”

Matt blew out a long breath. Maybe he wanted to stay and work, but she couldn’t allow it. It was her job to keep the area free of trespassers all night. No matter what they claimed. She planned to check his name and credentials the next morning.

“Will you come in and do a spider check?” he asked.

She pressed her lips together to suppress a smile. “You’ll have to handle that yourself. Not in my job description.”

Caroline opened the gate and they walked onto the dimly lit, empty midway. During the day, there was barely room for a shadow on the crowded thoroughfare, and now it was abandoned.

Matt fell into step beside her as they passed the long fence concealing the construction site and then the dodgem cars and several shuttered food stands. The late May evening was chilly and the damp air smelled like the earth recently churned up in the flowerbeds. A lingering aroma of hot dogs and fried food remained, even hours after park closing.

“Have you worked here long?” Matt asked.

“This is my second season,” she said, hoping the finality in her tone would discourage him from asking further questions. If she hurried back to the station, she could reclaim the second half of her lunch break and get another look at that file. Was it really empty or had the contents been misfiled?

“So you want to be a police officer, huh?”

“I am a police officer,” she said. “I’m a member of the Starlight Point Police Department.”

“But you don’t have a gun.”

She shot him a sideways look and squared her shoulders. Was he planning to challenge her? He’d find out she could take down a man his size before he saw it coming.

He laughed. “Easy, sergeant. It was just an observation.”

“I’m not a sergeant. And I don’t carry a gun yet,” she said. “I plan to complete the police academy over the next year.”

“Then I better watch out,” he said. “Or at least stay in my tent at night.”

They passed the loading platform for the cable cars, Tosha’s Homemade Ice Cream and the scrambler ride. Caroline began to wonder why she’d offered to escort him all the way to his tent like a lost kid. Maybe she should just point him in the right direction. She could tell him she’d be watching him and he would probably comply.

But it was a quiet night. And walking under the stars was pleasant. And she was completing the trespassing call she’d answered by making certain the perpetrator was secured for the night. She could zip up his tent and wash her hands of him.

“Too bad none of the vendors are open,” he said. “I’d like to buy you a soda to thank you for walking me home down the mean streets of Starlight Point.”

“You’re not in danger,” she said.

“I can’t see in the dark,” he replied. “I could fall and break both elbows, and then the new ride would be behind schedule.”

“Hard to believe you can’t manage in the dark when you wandered all the way to the construction site without a flashlight.”

He stopped, faced her and smiled. “You got me. How about taking a lap around the peninsula?”

“No.”

“It might tire me out and cure my insomnia. Then you’ll know I’m snoring away in my tent the rest of the night.”

Caroline pointed down the Western Trail and started walking again. “Not negotiable. I’m depositing you in the camping zone where one of my colleagues is on guard. I’ll have Big Kenny keep an eye on you.”

Matt sighed. “You’re no fun.”

“Not in my job description.”

They crossed the train tracks where an old-fashioned steam engine chugged past dozens of times every day, pulling passengers through a shoot-out with animatronic characters in a Western ghost town. Caroline enjoyed a mellow trip around Starlight Point in the open train cars on days when her feet were tired or she wanted to unwind, but most days she preferred buckling in for a heart-stopping ride on the roller coasters Starlight Point was beginning to be known for.