Starlight Dunes (28 page)

After the third time around,
River finally spotted a place the Wagoneer would fit into. She eased it to a stop at the curb and hopped out.

As she unloaded the stroller
out of the back, she spotted Brent heading their way. If she was honest, she’d missed spending her nights in his bed. But because she was a responsible mother again, lustful thoughts like that had to be shelved for now.

“
How’s it going?” Scanning the rear luggage area of the vehicle, Brent realized things had changed quite a bit. A slew of toddler gear had replaced all of River’s archaeological tools she usually lugged around. One glance at Luke as she settled him into the roller thing and he realized the boy looked different—happier than the scene at the airport.

“
We’re ready for a ride on the carousel,” River said.

“I think we can do a little better than that.
According to the firsthand information I obtained by scouting the vendors this morning, one of the rides has race cars like a merry-go-round. How does that sound, Luke?”

Luke clapped his hands. “
Race cars go fast!”

It had taken several days for Luke to warm up to Brent. But this morning it seemed as though the little boy
knew he was in for a day of excitement and fun.

Once they reached the kiddie rides,
Luke wasn’t sure about all the other kids around. No doubt the idea of auto racing though sucked him in, as did the frog hopper and helicopter. Too much of a lure for the wide-eyed tot, Luke put aside the noise and the music and wanted to get out of the confinement of the stroller.

Brent recognized
that Luke couldn’t wait to climb aboard—anything—he just had to make a decision which one he wanted to ride first.

River unbuckled
Luke, swung him up to her hip. She did her best to convince him that crawling into the red race car was a good idea. But then Brent put his big booted foot on the metal rim of the ride and stepped up. He held out his hands to Luke.

Hesitant
for a good twenty seconds or so, Luke finally decided Brent was worth a chance if it got him into the ride.

But t
here was only room for two so when the merry-go-round started up River realized she’d have to watch from the ground. While her boy experienced his first lap around a track, River took out her cell phone to capture the moment.

She did the same thing a
t the carousel where they stood on either side of a huge brown palomino horse while Luke enjoyed his first “pony” ride.

Before noon, Luke had
thrilled to riding frogs, dinosaurs, a ladybug, inside an airplane, a chopper, and a pirate ship.

“I’m starving,” River admitted.
“We need to get some food into Luke before he drops off for his nap.”

“How about a waffle sandwich?”

“I wanna hotdog!” Luke said, making his choice clear.

“He really has this thing for hotdogs,” River
explained. “I’m not crazy about his food choice but…he does know what he wants.”

“Nick told me Scott’s stuck in a rut where he’ll only eat macaroni and cheese.”

“They get like that I suppose. This morning for breakfast all Luke wanted was peanut butter and jelly on his toast. I looked it up. He’s a little young to be eating foods with peanuts in them but at least I know he isn’t allergic. He seemed to have eaten it plenty of times before now.”

“There’s a lot to keep up with when kids are involved.”

River smiled. “It’s okay to run the other way, Brent. I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I’m well aware adding a child into the mix is a lot to digest. We haven’t known each other that long. We were dating and enjoying each other. That’s all. We weren’t picking out place settings. It’s a lot to take on.”

“I didn’t mean
that at all. I just meant this is very new to me.”

River laughed. “This part
of it is definitely new to me, too.”

After
Luke got his ’dog, they settled in at one of the tables to try the waffle sandwiches. “Who’d’ve thought to take waffles and slap ham and cheese in the middle.”

“
It actually tastes pretty good,” Brent said, turning to Luke. “Wanna try a bite of waffle?” No one was more surprised when Luke reached out and took a bite.

“
Well, look at that. Maybe we’ll break through the hotdog barrier. I really hope we have time to browse through the booths.”

“Absolutely.
What else is on the agenda?”

“
First, I thought I’d stop in and say hi to my crew, show off Luke.” She glanced over as the boy’s eyelids began to droop and his head dropped to his chin. “Even if it looks like he’ll sleep through the visit.”

“Has he mentioned you-know-who?”

“It’s weird, Brent. He hasn’t said a thing about his d-a-d, not since that first night when he asked and I told him his d-a-d-d-y got into trouble. That’s the last time. I didn’t know what else to say to him or how to handle it exactly.”

“I may not know anything about kids but at his young age it’s best to keep it simple.
You did the right thing. Luke’s way too young to understand any of this.”

“
On top of that, I’m trying to get him to settle in, to feel completely comfortable with me.”

“From what I’ve seen, that’s not a problem. Luke looks happy.” When he noticed she was tapping the table with her fingers as if she wanted to add something, he prodded, “What else?”

“He has nightmares, wakes up frightened. When I asked him about it, he begged me not to leave him alone. It broke my heart. Why would Wes want to steal a baby he had no intentions of ever truly caring for?”

At that
same moment, River noticed Brent’s eyes look away at the question. “You know something, don’t you?”

“Let’s say I followed up on a few things with Swain.”

“And?”

“In the two years he’d been on the run Wes had taken on a
few personality traits that were beginning to set off alarms. The FBI found some interesting stuff in his gear.”

“Like what?”

“For one, detailed papers written on conspiracy theories that would make the Unabomber proud.”

“You’re kidding?
Wes? Are you sure we’re talking about Professor Wes Patton? I thought you were going to say they found porn.”

“They found
plenty of that, too. But it seems among all the nude photos there was one underlying theme. The once revered teacher thought a shadow arm of the CIA was out to get him.”

“What? Why on earth would the CIA be
interested in Wes Patton?”

“
It seems Wes started an online journal a month before he kidnapped Luke about the agency’s spying on its private citizens. That’s why he had to stay alert and keep on the move so often that they couldn’t find him. Swain says that night at the motel Patton probably thought they’d finally caught up with him. The mother now claims she did her best to get him to settle down in one spot to no avail. Because of his belief that this branch of the CIA wanted him dead, Wes decided they would eventually come after his son. Instead of letting that happen, he went on the run with him. According to his mother she says that’s why he abducted Luke in the first place. Hilda Patton believes her son exhibited signs of paranoid schizophrenia, which apparently runs in the family.”

“
So she helped him maintain his life on the run with her grandson and admitted it? Uh uh. That makes no sense to me. Still not buying it. First and foremost, I never saw Wes show any type of behavior that even resembled mental illness. Narcissistic? Absolutely, but not schizophrenic. And I’m having a hard time believing it as fact. Luke was never that high on Wes’s list of priorities. And now she wants me to believe Wes snatched him out of daycare that day because he was mentally ill and concerned about his son? No way. Something else is at play. Did you check the porn angle?”

“
River, the FBI found essays about shadow governments, listening devices, orbiting satellites spying on private citizens and the like in the trunk of his car. It seems Wes covered it all.”

“Well, I have my own crazy theory. I think all that was just a cover so Wes could be the asshole I know him to be. By the way,
I’d like to meet the police officer who got curious enough about Wes to follow him around and break this case wide open. You and that man are responsible for me getting Luke back. You, I can find ways to thank,” she said with a wink. “The cop needs to know that what he did is highly appreciated. I’d like to thank him personally if that’s possible.”

Brent nodded. “I’ll set it up where you can meet him.”

“Thanks,” she said as they both began to clean off their table so a family of four could have their spot. “Come on let’s drop all this talk about Wes. As far as I’m concerned, the man is history. While Luke’s still napping, what do you say we cruise through the tents? I heard from Hayden and Jordan there’s a wealth of cool homemade stuff to be found.”

“Just about everyone
in town has a booth, from grandmas to teenagers, everyone wants a shot at participating.”

“
I love that about Pelican Pointe. Seems like your town is taking this whole school project very seriously.”

Was it his town?
Brent wondered as they started down the first aisle. But they didn’t get very far before River stopped to admire what she saw in the first booth.

“Oh l
ook at all these!” She reached out to run her hand along the bubble ridges of a handmade quilt done in squares of pale blue and yellow. “This would look great on Luke’s bed.”

“T
hat’s from the Crawford sisters. Marabelle from the looks of that one,” Brent went on, earning a smile from Cora Webb, the fifty-something daughter of Ina, Marabelle’s sister.

Standing across the display in charge of the booth, Cora said,
“You’ve got a good eye there, Sheriff. Anyone who knows Aunt Marabelle knows she does her creations in different shades of blues and yellows while Mom’s fond of using purple or red with white.” Cora turned her attention to Luke. “Look at that sleeping baby. What a pretty child he is.”

“
Thank you,” River said, beaming at her son. Instinctively she reached down to touch the soft down of his hair.

“Looks like his mama,” Cora continued. When she saw River admiring the one in a soft lilac color
, trimmed in creamy white, Cora added, “Uh oh,” Cora said smiling at Brent. “This one has that look in her eye. That quilt is my mom’s favorite because of the color. But she figures parting with it is for a good cause. We love the idea of bringing the school back to its glory days. You know, I went to school there. We were called the Warriors back then.” Cora shook her head at the memory. “The Pelican Pointe Warriors.”

Brent wasn’t sure Pelican Pointe Elementary had
ever had its own “glory days” but to bump River toward buying the quilt, which she obviously wanted, he threw out an enticement. “Remember, it is for a good cause.”

“But
where on earth would I put it?” River pointed out. “I don’t even have my own place yet.” Even as she tried to talk herself out of it, she reached for her bag and wallet. “I do love the color though. Will you hold it for me? I’ll have to circle back because it won’t fit in the stroller.”

“No problem. You take your time.”

They continued to the next vendor, this one belonging to Emma Colter, the dressmaker. River feasted her eyes on a collection of elegant beaded dresses, ones that were suitable to wear for special occasions or for a night out on the town.

There were booths filled with
paintings on canvas done by Lilly Pierce, tablecloths crocheted by Myrtle Pettibone, and jewelry designed by Abby Bonner.

F
resh arrangements from Drea’s Flowers shared a space with her family’s landscaping nursery, the Plant Habitat. Tempted to load up on easy-to-grow cuttings of rosemary and basil in little starter containers, River had to remind herself she lived in a B & B. Now was not the time to start buying up nonessential items she had no room for.

She came to one
stall manned by the guy she recognized, the one she’d pulled outside at his own birthday party. Even Troy Dayton had thrown together a display for his line of carved wooden jewelry boxes and the furniture he’d made out of old wooden pallets and crates.

“How’s that new truck?” she asked the carpenter with a grin.

The lanky man smiled back. “It’s awesome.
You really had me going there that night.”

“That was the idea,” River said. “Did you make
all this stuff?” she asked, scanning the bookcases and coffee tables. “You’re a talented carpenter, Mr. Dayton.”

“
Call me Troy. Thanks. Just some things I used to tinker with when I didn’t have all that much money for materials. I used what I found at the Dumpsters. Had all this stuff just sitting around the storage shed at my old place south of town. I figured the street fair would be a good way to try and get rid of it and put what I earned toward the school.”