Shadow in Serenity (12 page)

C
arny pulled her motorcycle into Logan’s motel parking lot, pulled off her helmet, and straightened her hair.

She didn’t like being confused. It disturbed her, and it blurred the lines and grayed all the colors. It made her feel unbearably vulnerable.

But these new developments with Logan had thrown her. How could a con artist give back a hundred thousand dollars that no one even knew he had? How could he take up the care of a grieving dog, when he had to stay on the run?

In the hours since the funeral, the remote possibility that Carny could have been wrong about Logan had tiptoed through her mind, then finally taken center stage, forcing her to come face-to-face with it. No matter what else he was, Logan Brisco was a man with a heart, as well as a conscience.

He didn’t answer immediately after she knocked. Just when she was about to give up, the door opened.

The room was dark, lit only by a small lamp in one corner. She felt like an intruder. “Carny,” he said, clearly surprised.

“Did I wake you up?” she asked.

He ran his fingers through his hair. “No. I was just reading. Jack was asleep in my lap, and it took me a minute to move him.”

She came into the room and saw Jack, curled up on the bed, looking up at her with sad, sleepy eyes. “Is he all right?”

“He will be. We’ve kind of been bonding.”

She smiled and turned back to him. With his face half in shadow, half in light, he looked almost compassionate, and almost as vulnerable as she felt. “You know, you’re blowing all my theories about you. I hate it when that happens.”

He breathed a laugh. “Well, I guess something good came out of all this.” He went to clear the books off a chair so she could sit down. “Where’s Jason?”

“He’s at Nathan’s. I had to go over to Betsy’s to take her some casseroles I made. She’s going to have a lot of company for the next few days.”

“That was sweet.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what you do in Serenity when there’s a death in the family. You don’t know what to say, so you bring them food. Anyway, she asked me to send all this stuff over to you.”

She handed him the bag, and he reached into it.

“It’s just Jack’s food and the blanket he likes to sleep on, and his bowl. Familiar things … to make the transition a little easier.”

Logan took the bag and set it down on the table. “I fed him a hamburger for supper. He ate some of it, but he didn’t have much appetite.” Dropping into his chair, he rubbed his face.

“A lot of responsibility, isn’t it?” she said softly. “I mean, after being alone for so long, suddenly having to worry about someone else.”

She could see that he was in a reflective mood, and his guard was down. Why that fascinated and attracted her, she wasn’t sure.

“A few years ago, I knew a fourteen-year-old kid who
had no home, no place to go, and no money except what he could make hustling pool,” he said softly. “And someone came along, at just the right moment, someone who had every reason to keep going and not look back. But he stopped and took that fourteen-year-old kid in, made him his partner, and taught him to believe he was somebody. You know who that kid was?”

“You,” she said without a doubt.

“Yeah. And if Montague Shelton could encumber himself with a fourteen-year-old runaway, then I can take care of an orphaned dog.”

For a moment, Carny couldn’t think of a reply. His eyes were weary and defeated.

“Tell me about your parents,” he said suddenly.

She couldn’t tell if he was changing the subject, or if it was connected. “What do you want to know?”

“Are they still living? Do you see them? Talk to them?”

“Yes, on all three,” she said. “I may have wanted to escape their lifestyle, but they’re still my parents.”

“Do they approve of your becoming an upstanding citizen?”

“I’m not sure they believe I have,” she said with a rueful smile. “I think they’re a little doubtful that things will work out for me.”

“Do they love you?”

Her smile faded. “Of course they do. I’m their daughter.”

“Lots of parents don’t love their children.”

“Well, mine do. I’m their only child. There was never any question that they loved me.”

“Then why did you leave?”

Sighing, she got up and walked across the room, then turned back to him. “We came to Serenity, and set up next to this little church. It was really cold one Sunday morning,
so I went in to get warm. And what I heard there changed my life.”

“What did you hear?”

“That to Jesus, I’m not just the inconvenient daughter of petty thieves. I could be the child of a king. They told me I could be forgiven for everything I’d ever done. That I could have peace.” She blew out a laugh. “That’s when I started to dream … that I could have a real home, and real friends, that I could stay in one place, and belong there, and raise my children to belong. When Abe came along, he said all the right things. He seemed like a man who cared about the same things, and could give me those things. So I married him and stayed in Serenity. The marriage turned out to be a bad idea, but staying in Serenity was just right.”

“I envy you,” he said.

“Why? You can do the same thing.”

“Not really. I’ll always be an outsider.”

“It doesn’t take a lot to be an insider in Serenity,” she said. “They’re very accepting people. You’ve already seen that.”

Sliding down in his seat, he leaned his head back. “Do you ever miss it, Carny? Traveling, I mean? Do you ever miss the gypsy life?”

“Never. I spent too many years wishing for a backyard where I could plant a tree and watch it grow. The first year I had my house, I planted three trees in the yard. In a few years, they’ll be big enough to climb.”

“But what about your husband? Being a widow wasn’t part of your plan.”

She sighed. “No, it wasn’t. But you know how it goes. You make lemonade.”

Again, that contemplative silence filled the room, and she wondered what he was thinking. Her eyes roved around the room and landed on the books he had stacked on the
table. She scanned the titles; they all had to do with amusement parks.

“Why all the reading?” she asked.

“Just trying to anticipate any problems that might come up,” he said. “It’s kind of like comparing notes with others. I was particularly interested in seeing how other parks have affected the communities around them.”

Again, she was at a loss. His interest indicated that he was sincere, that he wasn’t a fraud, that he had every intention of building a park.

But her instincts said otherwise.

As if he could read her conflicting thoughts in her expression, he asked, “What are you thinking?”

She sat back down. “Oh … I was just thinking that my parents have good hearts. My father used to have a miniature horse he exhibited in a freak show, and he sometimes let it in our trailer when it was cold out. And lots of times I’ve seen him give a kid a free teddy bear for his girlfriend, just to help him earn points with her.”

“What’s your point?” he asked, as if he knew that it somehow related to him.

“My point, Brisco, is that compassion doesn’t necessarily preclude fraudulent behavior. A con artist can save a cat from a burning building one minute, then turn around and rob someone blind in the next minute, without one stirring of conscience. That you may have a good heart doesn’t mean that you’re a good person.”

“It doesn’t mean I’m a bad one, either.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she said. “And there’s the problem. I’m having trouble deciding which you are.”

“Maybe you just need more data,” he suggested quietly.

“Maybe so,” she said with a smile. She stood up. “Well, I have to go now. I have to get Jason to bed.”

He got up and walked her to the door and paused a moment before opening it for her. “I like you like this,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Sweet, soft, gentle … even if you are still suspicious.”

She didn’t like the warmth burning on her face. “I’ve got to go now. You are coming to the lesson tomorrow, aren’t you? It’ll be the first one in the cockpit.”

“Jack and I will be there,” he said.

“Jack’s already taken the course,” she said. “I taught Slade two years ago. Jack has enough hours in the air to get his own license.” Then, winking, she said, “See you later.”

As she walked out to her bike, she felt him watching her, and her face warmed again. She didn’t look back until she was on the motorcycle, pulling out of her space.

Logan was leaning on the rail above her, watching as she drove out of sight.

T
he dilemma that plagued Logan was getting harder and harder to resolve. It was time to move on. The problem was, he didn’t want to leave.

This had never happened to him before. In fact, he wouldn’t have believed it was possible. Oh, there had been times over the years when he’d grown fond of a woman, enjoyed her company, and regretted leaving her. But this was different.

Enough of that. His problem was that he hadn’t made enough of a score yet. He just had to refocus. He needed to step up the promotion of the park. Go in for one last sweep of the town, get the money out of any remaining townspeople likely to give it to him. But to do that, he needed something new to tell them. Some new morsel of hope to seal the deal. He needed a gimmick.

As he thought, his fingers absently flicked the remote control of the television, skipping past channel after channel, until finally he came to the country music video station. Dolly Parton sat in a bar with some of her music cronies, singing “Romeo.” Logan had been to her park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, two years ago, and he’d thought then that someone with more imagination could have done a better job of planning it. But it didn’t matter, since it was her name that drew crowds.

And suddenly it came to him. Why hadn’t he thought of it before? That was what Serenity needed for its park. A star who could be a partial investor, and whose name would draw millions, not just from Texas but from all over the country.

He watched the next video flash on the screen, an old one featuring Roland Thunder, the winner of five Country Music Awards last year. This video was made long before he became famous as the country/rock star who was also a NASCAR champion. Forbes had listed him as one of the richest men in America last year.

Logan doubted he could convince everyone that Thunder had agreed to put his name on the park, not this early in the game. But he
could
tell them that Roland was considering his involvement. The mere possibility would have people lining up outside Logan’s door to give him more money, and those who already had would dig deeper.

Logan brainstormed possible names for the park. Roland Land came to mind … No, that wouldn’t work. Roland Park … Thunder Park. Not good enough. But maybe … Thunder Road, like the Springsteen song Roland had covered and put back on the charts. Yes, he could see it now. Would the town buy it?

As Jack got off the bed and came to lie at his feet, Logan reached down to stroke his coat. The truth was, Logan wasn’t having much fun figuring out new ways to fleece the town. It had become a chore instead of a challenge. A lonely job. A job he’d rather not have, but one he was stuck in, because he’d already dug himself so deep.

In a job like his, there was no turning back. He’d made his own prison, and no one else could set him free.

N
ews spread like a forest fire the next day, starting in the diner where Logan and Jack ate breakfast, and making its way through the barbershop and the beauty salon, down through the drugstore and printer’s, across to the hardware store, and up to the post office and florist. Roland Thunder was considering investing in the park and putting his name on it.

Carny heard it first from Lahoma at the Clippety Doo Dah, when she brought Lahoma the delivery she’d picked up for her in Dallas that morning. “Who told you this?” she asked.

“Well, Logan. He’s been telling everybody. Roland Thunder is gonna come for the opening and give a special concert for all the investors, and folks are sayin’ he might even build a house here and live here part of the year! Can you imagine it, Carny? Roland Thunder in Serenity?”

“No, actually,” Carny said. “I can’t imagine it.”

“Well, it’s gonna happen. And I’ll be a part of it. I’ve got an appointment with Logan this afternoon. I’m gonna get a piece of
this
action. Have you invested yet?”

“Of course not,” she said. “I’m still not convinced it’s legitimate.”

“Oh, Carny,” Tea Ann Campbell said from under the
dryer. “When will you stop suspectin’ him? He’s the nicest man I’ve ever met. How can you watch him traipsing around town with that dog and not just know he’s pure as the driven snow?”

Carny didn’t argue. No one in town would buy her objections anymore. Logan had convinced them. And the truth was, she was starting to wonder herself.

But Roland Thunder? Something about that didn’t ring true. Where would Logan have gotten a connection like that?

She left the beauty shop and started up the street to the hardware store to make another delivery while she turned the new information over in her mind. As she passed the barbershop, she saw Logan and Jack chatting with Cecil, to whom Slade had left the shop.

Slowing her step, she looked at the dog, sitting where he had always sat, though his head was tipped and his ears were cocked, as if he waited for Slade to come in at any moment and take him home.

The men in the shop looked up when she came in. “Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Carny,” Cecil said.

Logan grinned that big, irreverent grin. “Well, look who’s here, Jack.”

She bent to pet the dog. “How’s he doing?”

“About as well as you could expect. He’s a little confused. A little sad.”

“Do you think it was a good idea to bring him here?”

Logan shrugged. “I don’t know, but I figure a little familiarity never hurt anybody.”

“Maybe.” She straightened up, and sliding her hands into the pockets of her khaki shorts, said, “So what’s this I hear about Roland Thunder?”

Logan looked at the others, apparently waiting for someone else to answer, then said, “Well, it’s not a done deal yet. But we’re close.”

“We’ve even got a name for the park,” Cecil said. “Thunder Road.”

“Thunder Road? Don’t you think that’s a little silly?”

Logan laughed. “Hey, if he’s willing to invest millions of dollars, we’ll name it anything he wants.”

“And he really suggested Thunder Road?”

“Well … no,” Logan said. “Actually, that was sort of my idea. I haven’t run it by him yet. But he’s ninety percent committed, and I’m giving Serenity a few more days to invest. It’s not too late to throw some in, Carny.”

“I don’t think so, Brisco. How do you know Roland Thunder?”

“I don’t know him,” he said. “One of my investors, a bank down near Houston, does business with him, and he was looking for some new ventures. It was actually his idea. He got the idea from Dollywood. My investor decided to hook him up with us.”

“So, do you have a contract?”

Undaunted, he shook his head. “Nope. None of this is a done deal. It all depends on my getting enough enthusiasm here to convince my employers and bigger investors that Serenity’s the place to build it. Thunder can’t sign anything until they know for sure there’s going to be a park.”

It all sounded so pat, so logical, yet there wasn’t anything anywhere that could be verified as authentic — it was all based on Logan’s word. Logan had just appeared here out of nowhere, his company had never returned Carny’s calls to verify his employment, and no one in Serenity knew yet who the major investors were. Meanwhile, this man was taking money from her friends like there was no tomorrow.

“What if it all falls through?” she asked. “Do the investors really get their money back?”

“Of course.”

“With interest?”

He laughed. “No, not with interest. It’s a risk, and I’ve told everybody that. They won’t lose their money, but if the park falls through, they won’t make any, either.”

To Carny’s disappointment, this wasn’t the same man she had seen, ruffled and vulnerable, in his motel room last night. He was on stage now, all charm and salesmanship, the man with all the answers.

“You sure you don’t want to come in with us, Carny?” Cecil asked. “You stand to gain more than any of us in Serenity. You’ll have to expand the airport, and you could make a killing.”

“Not interested,” she said, going to the door. “I didn’t come to Serenity to get rich.”

“Well no, but wouldn’t it be nice if you did?”

“It’s kind of a moot point, isn’t it, Brisco?” she asked over her shoulder as she left the barbershop. And she knew, even as she walked away, that he watched her.

Driving home, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he had almost counted her among his marks. He had almost persuaded her, yesterday, that he was legitimate. He had almost made her think he was an honest man.

But he’d had on his con man mask today, that charismatic smile that hid the poison. She really didn’t know much about him, despite her research. And all she’d learned last night was that he’d met a man when he was fourteen …

Montague! That was the man’s name. And his last name … Montague … Montague Shelton! When his guard was down, when he hadn’t been covering up or putting on, when he’d only been himself, he’d revealed that name. Quickly,
she turned her truck around and revved it, heading for the sheriff’s office to dig a little deeper into Logan Brisco’s past.

Joey Malone was Carny’s primary connection at the sheriff’s office, though she knew everyone there. Two of the six deputies had been past suitors whom she had finally shaken off, politely but firmly. Joey was the only survivor among them, and he was clearly pleased that she had decided to pay him a visit.

“I need a favor,” she said, when he’d bought her a Coke from the machine and offered her a seat at his desk. “I know you can help me.”

He smiled. “I’ll do anything you ask, Carny, you know that. Unless it’s illegal.”

“No, it’s not,” she said. “I want you to run a name through your computers. See if he has a record, any arrests, anything you could tell me.”

“I can do that,” he said. “Who is it?”

“Montague Shelton,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s his real name. Would his aliases be registered?”

“Maybe, if the FBI or somebody ever had reason to investigate him. What’s the deal? Is he one of your dad’s carnies?”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “This has nothing to do with my father. Actually, it’s a long story.”

Joey punched a few keys on his computer. “Let’s see,” he said, waiting for it to come up. “Montague Shelton …”

In a moment, the screen filled with data, and Joey stared at it, fascinated. “Wow. Look at that. Had charges under three aliases, plus his real name. Maurice Hinton, Shelton Ainsworth, and Sidney Moore. Died sixteen years ago.”

She stood behind Joey and scanned the screen. “Are those arrests?”

“Yeah,” Joey said, moving the cursor down. “Had one conviction in 1983 for mail fraud. Served six months.”

“Mail fraud,” she repeated. “That’s a con artist’s crime, huh?”

“Could be. Another conviction in 1985, for passing counterfeit checks. Only served three months that time.”

Both of those convictions would have been before he had taken Logan in. “Does it say anything about a partner?” she asked. “Any accessories to his crimes?”

He scanned the rest of the report and shook his head. “No, nothing. There is something else here, though. Apparently, between the time he got out of prison the last time and the time he died, there were twenty-four warrants out for his arrest.”

“Twenty-four?” she asked. “Where?”

“All over the states,” he said. “The charges range from theft by swindle to counterfeiting. Looks like he managed to evade the authorities until he died.”

For some reason she couldn’t name, Carny felt as if a fist had just punched through her stomach. Those were the years when Logan would have been with Shelton. And if Shelton had been involved in swindling, then Logan had been a part of it too.

And that meant she wasn’t wrong about him.

“Are you sure there’s no mention of anyone else in these arrest warrants?” she asked. “Maybe even a child? A teenage boy?”

“Nothing,” he said. “The FBI file might have something a little more detailed.”

“Joey, could you get that?” she asked. “It’s real important.”

He frowned. “Why? Who is this guy?”

She sighed and glanced around, making sure no one
overheard them. “I think he was someone real close to Logan. In fact, he might have been his mentor. If I’m right, that gives us a big clue to Logan’s credibility. Please, Joey. Can you do this for me?”

He sat back in his chair and stared at Carny. “I’ll do my best, but I should tell you. I ran a check on Logan myself, just because you were so upset about him at the meeting. Turns out, he has no priors. None at all.”

“That only means he’s never been caught,” she said, getting to her feet. “And that may not be his real name. Call me when you get the file, Joey. And try to hurry. Serenity might be running out of time. If he leaves and takes all that money with him, we might never be able to find him again.”

“You’re assuming an awful lot, Carny.”

She looked at him sharply. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Yeah, I’ll help you,” he said. “Just don’t get your hopes up. And I gotta tell you, I hope to God you’re wrong. My dad just cashed in his IRA and invested it with Brisco. And my uncle’s taking out a second mortgage on his house.”

Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Why is everyone so stupid?”

“Because they want it to be true. It would be such a good thing for Serenity if he can do what he says he can.”