Page 54 of Final Escape
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Though business hadbeen slow the week before, the Fourth of July holiday brought a welcome surge in reservations. Penny and Tina each took groups on six-hour white-water trips, while Logan took care of slow-paced scenic float trips both morning and afternoon. He’d let Carrie guide with him on his early morning run, then she’d guided her first scenic float down the river solo, with a small group of passengers from California.
Now, at eight o’clock in the evening, the customers and Tina were long gone. Logan had just finished grilling hamburgers and brats out next to the river, while Penny and Carrie shook a red-checked tablecloth over the picnic table by the boathouse and brought out potato salad, baked beans and thick wedges of watermelon.
“Gorgeous evening,” Carrie said, her voice wistful. “Brings back a lot of memories.”
A shadow of worry crossed her expression, and Logan wondered if she was remembering any good ones spent with her ex-husband.
“What are some of your favorites?” Penny asked as she adjusted the foil covering on a bowl of potato salad that she’d set in a larger container filled with ice.
“Picnics—a lot like this one, back when Trace and I were kids. Fireworks, of course. And sparklers.”
“Maybe you should have gone back home to be with family today,” Penny said with a smile as she laid out paper plates. “We could’ve managed. But we’re sure glad you’re here.”
“I had to teach yesterday and figured I needed the hours of working here. I’m not sure I feel much like celebrating this year, anyway. Not after...what happened to Billy.” She bit her lower lip as she glanced toward the woods where he’d been found. “It still doesn’t seem real.”
Logan watched the range of emotions play across her face. She looked so vulnerable that he wanted to pull her into his arms for a long, comforting hug. “I’m sure it doesn’t.”
By all rights, the man who’d been killed should have made it to old age, and no one should now have to live with the memories of seeing that grisly murder scene out in the woods—especially someone who had once loved him. Good marriage or bad, it had to be the stuff of nightmares. Even Logan had awakened at night, reliving the moment of shock when he’d first seen the man lying in a pool of blood, and he’d only met Billy once. So how did Carrie feel?
Penny surveyed the food on the table. “Looks like everything’s ready—let’s eat.”
They all sat at the picnic table and served themselves family-style. When Carrie brought out a streusel-topped peach pie and ice cream, they moved over to the blazing campfire Logan had started while Carrie and Penny were clearing the picnic table.
“I’ve been doing some checking around town over the past couple of days. Talking to people,” he said.
Carrie stilled, her face pale. “Any luck?”
He flicked a glance at Penny. “We’ve both been trying to find out if anyone saw Billy lurking around town or if they saw him talking to anyone in particular. No luck so far.”
“And no word about any abandoned campsites, either,” Penny added. “A deputy found his pickup with just a blanket and duffel bag in it, but it didn’t have a camper on top. There’s no record of him checking into any cabins, motels or resorts in the area, either. So he figures Billy must’ve been camping somewhere.”
Logan thought for a minute. “If he did, maybe there’d be clues left behind about who would want to kill him, and why.”
“You’d think. But the investigators have been searching everywhere without any luck.”
“It doesn’t surprise me.” Carrie pushed at her piece of peach pie without taking a bite. “He probably slept in the cab of his pickup. He did that plenty of times when he was rodeoing and said it saved a lot of motel bills. Though he did start keeping one of those high-tech backpacking tents behind the seat of his truck. A red one, I think.”
“You should call the sheriff’s office and let them know.”
She smiled sadly. “I’ll do that, though he was never one for backpacking and camping, really. I think he won the tent from someone in a card game and just forgot he had it back there.”
Twilight had fallen and embers from the fire crackled and shot upward like fireflies into the darkening sky when Logan stirred the logs with an iron poker. “Anyone up for fireworks? They ought to start in a half hour or so.”
