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“No,” the hostess shouted back. “She’s off. She’s working
tomorrow, though.” She nodded toward the windows. “She’s
probably out there somewhere, along with everyone else. I
thought I saw her walk past here earlier.”
Kevin turned and left, bumping into people as he went. Ignoring
it. Outside, he paused at a sidewalk vendor. He bought a baseball
hat and a pair of inexpensive sunglasses. And then he began to
walk.
The Ferris wheel went round and round, Alex and Josh in one seat
and Kristen and Katie in another, hot wind in their faces. Katie
had her arm draped over Kristen’s shoulders, knowing that
despite Kristen’s smile, she was nervous about the height. As the
seat rotated to its peak, unveiling a panorama of the town, Katie
realized that while she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the height,
either, she was more concerned with the Ferris wheel itself. The
thing looked like it was held together with bobby pins and
chicken wire, even if it had supposedly passed inspection earlier
that morning.
She wondered if Alex had been telling the truth about the
inspection, or if he’d heard her saying aloud whether it might be
dangerous. It was too late to worry about it now, she supposed, so
instead she occupied herself by staring at the throngs of people
below. The carnival had become even more crowded as the
afternoon wore on, but aside from boating, there wasn’t a lot to do
in Southport. It was a sleepy little town, and she surmised that an
event like this was probably the highlight of the year.
The Ferris wheel slowed and stopped, stranding them as the first
of the passengers got out and others crawled on. It rotated a bit,
and she found herself scrutinizing the crowd more closely. Kristen
seemed more relaxed and was doing the same.
She recognized a couple of people eating snow cones as regulars
at Ivan’s, and she wondered how many others were out there. Her
eyes began to travel from group to group, and for some reason she