CHAPTER THIRTY

Jake finished his round of photos, put one of the paint-chipped bolts into his pocket for evidence, and went to check on Amanda.

When he stepped into the red-and-white tent, he found her sitting on one of the jumper horses. Staring into space.

“Is this some form of analyzing I haven’t seen before?” he asked.

A long second passed before she turned her gaze to him. “Jake. Hi.”

“Hi.” He walked closer and put his hand on her knee. “You imagining what the carousel would’ve been like in its prime?”

He hoped that guess was what she was doing. Sitting on a wooden horse and staring into space for no reason didn’t seem a viable alternative, not when she had a job to do. Same as him.

“I found a letter inside this horse,” she whispered. “A powerful letter.”

“What did it say?”

Her big hazel eyes flickered with hints of green. “To live life to the fullest. Let those we love know how much they mean to us.”

He smiled. “Sage advice.”

“We should talk,” she whispered, then cleared her throat.

“Not here. I need to use the hotel’s printer to print out these digital photos I took, then get my findings documented. If you don’t have any further analysis to do here today, let’s return to the inn and get our work done.”

“That works, but I’m on a tight time frame. The restoration company called. They need my proposal by Friday,” she said, her voice cracking toward the end in a clear moment of panic.

“Friday?” He shook his head. “Why the change?”

“The judge will be leaving the country. She wants the weekend to review our entries.”

“Then we can stay here until the light goes. Anything I can do to help?”

“No. Let’s go back to the inn and talk. I have a large part of my analysis done, and I should start working on the paper. If need be, we’ll come back later this evening.”

“You sure? I don’t want to interfere with your work,” Jake said.

“Positive, as long as I can have a full day tomorrow.”

“Works for me. Besides,” Jake said with a wink, “that’ll give us time to make good on the raincheck. A chance for some relaxation. C’mon. Let’s go to the car.”

On the walk to the parking lot, Jake shared his findings and suspicions about the overtorque and how that may have caused the derailment. The midafternoon sun cast slanted shadows of the two of them along the boardwalk, hand in hand.

When they approached the gate, Jake stopped short. “Son of a bitch!”

“What’s the matter?”

He ran to the car and confirmed what he thought he’d seen. Both tires on the passenger side had been slashed, and enough air had escaped to set the rims against the concrete pavement. He raced to the driver’s side. Same thing. Big, thick slashes through the black rubber.

“Damn it!” He held up his hands in resignation. “All four tires have been slashed.”

Amanda didn’t scream, didn’t yell. She just stood there, folding her arms across her chest and staring at him with those wide greenish eyes. “One flat tire is coincidence, but four? I think we might be in danger.”

“Why would anyone want to slash our tires? Do you think this was some cop, upset that we had permission to be here after all?”

“No. I think this might be someone who doesn’t like us digging into the accident,” she said. “Either way, it’s a definite message. We need to be careful. First the sheriff shows up out of the blue wanting to know why we’re at Zephyr Land. Do you think he randomly happened to know where we were?”

Jake’s pulse raced as he tried to piece together what had happened, what they needed to do next.

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“I’m saying four slashed tires is a powerful message. That maybe someone called the sheriff, asked him to check us out.”

“Why would anyone care?” Jake asked. “It’s an abandoned park.”

She glanced back toward the carousel, appearing lost in her thoughts. If he didn’t know better, he swore she might be exchanging eye contact with someone else.

“Well?” Jake prompted.

“I don’t know. Someone obviously doesn’t like that we’re here. It’s been ten years, but over thirty people plummeted to their death in Zephyr Land. Maybe the person who caused the overtorque is still nearby. There’s not a statute of limitations on murder. He or she might want to scare us enough that we’ll stop investigating?”

“I wish I could argue your logic, but I can’t,” Jake said. “Four slashed tires is definitely a message. But from who, and why?”

Amanda shrugged. “I’m not sure. Either way, let’s get out of here now. Should we call the inn, ask them to send a cab?”

“Yeah. That will be quicker than getting the rental company out here. We can contact them later, fill out the paperwork to get a vehicle.”

“Okay. I’ll call,” Amanda said. She reached for her cell and called Pearl.

Jake walked the perimeter of the vehicle one more time. The amount of force to slash big tires like these must have required strong arms and one hell of a knife. Kneeling down, he ran his hand around the tire to inspect the entry and exit point of the slash.

Knots formed in his stomach. As much as he didn’t want to think about it, one thought kept coming back into his mind like a boomerang.

What if the person who slashed the tires was watching them? Waiting, planning to use that giant knife on him and Amanda? He needed to have his Honda towed to a tire store right away. He hoped Abandon had one.