The Dead of Summer: A Piper Blackwell Mystery by Rabe Jean

Author:Rabe, Jean [Rabe, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boone Street Press
Published: 2019-08-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

5 p.m.

T he sweet, crispy cornmeal breading tasted tangy with the mustard. Heaven. Piper counted Basil wrong. Corn dogs were indeed edible. She got a second corn dog and bought a Lemon Shakeup in the premium refill cup so she could return for more.

She’d walked the fairgrounds twice, talked with the manager and the ride operators again, recording the conversations, and discovered that Vernon Milgrew had been temporarily laid off from the ride circuit two years ago because he’d let children board that didn’t meet the height requirements. Somehow he’d gotten back on the circuit a few months later. Friday’s disaster had nothing to do with how tall the riders were, but Piper found the tidbit nevertheless curious.

“We’ve got time for the craft barn before the concert,” she suggested.

“Only because we have assigned seats.” Nang nodded toward the back of the fair, where a line had formed for general admission to the grandstand.

Piper was in her uniform, Nang having picked her up at the department. She’d been alternating between reading the interviews of Samuel Silver’s neighbors and watching video of the fair accident. She’d intended to go home and change into casual summer attire before coming out here, but she’d lost track of the time, and so had remained in her uniform.

The lemonade tasted like heaven, too.

Despite the line for the concert, the fair overall wasn’t near as crowded as it had been Friday night, which made it easier for her exploration, and she’d heard from her deputies that attendance was thin yesterday, too. The horror of the Cosmic Odyssey tragedy hung like a heavy dome over all. People appeared to be enjoying themselves now, however. Children tugged parents to the games of chance and food vendors. But a glance at the rides showed that not everything operated—an apparent lack of riders—and those attractions that spun merrily were not close to full. As she watched, she counted only four of the seats occupied on the Ferris wheel. Beneath the summer music that blared from the loudspeakers, Piper could still hear the screams from the Odyssey and the sirens that followed.

“Surprised you’re keeping this date with me,” Nang said.

“I feel a little guilty about it,” Piper admitted. “I’ve got a lot going on. Maybe I should be at work. I really should be at work. But I thought some hours away would let me look at everything fresh. And I wanted to walk around the fair again.”

“So you are working. I saw you talk to the people running the rides.”

“I was working. Sorry. I’m done now.” Though she wondered if she should instead be in the office, puzzling over Samuel Silver and his collection of guns. She’d told Nang she was working a murder in addition to the fair tragedy, but she didn’t provide any specifics about Samuel Silver, and he hadn’t pressed.

Besides, she really was stymied on some aspects of the Silver investigation until the banks and county courthouse opened tomorrow morning. She, Basil, and Oren would hit it hard then.

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