Crowds of people were everywhere. The streets reminded him of a county fair, without the pigs and horses and cows. He bought a hot dog and tried to eat it, but his stomach rebelled and he threw most of it away. Weaving among the people, he spotted the waterfront in the distance, and then Ivan’s. His progress through the throngs was excruciatingly slow. His mouth was dry by the time he reached the door of the restaurant.
Ivan’s was packed, people waiting outside the entrance for tables. He should have brought a hat and sunglasses, but he hadn’t been thinking. He knew she would recognize him instantly, but he worked his way to the door anyway and stepped inside.
He spotted a waitress, but she wasn’t Erin. Saw another, but she wasn’t Erin, either. The hostess was young and harried and trying to figure out where to put the next group of customers. It was loud—people talking, forks clanking against plates, glasses sloshing in the bus tubs. Loud and confusing and the damn pounding in his head wouldn’t go away. His stomach burned.
“Is Erin working today?” he called out to the hostess, raising his voice above the noise.
She blinked at him in confusion. “Who?”
“Katie,” he said. “I meant Katie. Katie Feldman.”
“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 remembered that she used to do the same thing when she first started working at Ivan’s. Back when she was watching for Kevin.
Kevin walked past the booths that lined either side of the street, just wandering and trying to think like Erin. He should have asked the hostess if she’d seen Erin with a man because he knew she wouldn’t be at the carnival alone. It was hard to keep reminding himself that she might have short brown hair because she’d cut and dyed it. He should have had the pedophile at the other precinct get a copy of the driver’s license photo, but he hadn’t been thinking at the time, and it didn’t matter now because he knew where she lived and he would go back.
He could feel the gun in his waistband, pressing against his skin. It felt uncomfortable, pinching his flesh, and it was hot under the ball hat, especially since it was pulled low and tight. His head felt like it would explode.
He moved around groups of people, lines that formed. Arts and crafts. Decorated pinecones, stained glass in frames, wind chimes. Old-fashioned toys carved from wood. People were stuffing their faces with food: pretzels and ice cream, nachos, cinnamon rolls. He saw babies in strollers and remembered again that Erin wanted to have a baby. He decided he would give her one. A girl or a boy, it didn’t matter, but he preferred a boy because girls were selfish and wouldn’t appreciate the life he gave them. Girls were like that.
People talked and whispered all around him and he thought some of them were staring at him, like Coffey and Ramirez used to do. He ignored them, focused on his search. Families. Teens with their arms around one another. A guy in a sombrero. A couple of the carnival workers stood near a streetlight, smoking. Thin and tattooed, with bad teeth. Probably drug users, with long records. They gave him a bad feeling. He was a good detective and knew how to read people and he didn’t trust them but they did nothing as he brushed past them.