She was gesturing with her hands as she talked with her boss. No doubt she’d already exchanged words with the dump truck driver before he’d pulled up. What would have happened if Matt hadn’t shown up when he did? Would the other guy have continued to give Caroline a hard time? Left the scene of the accident? Or worse?
Matt had an odd sensation in his chest when he thought of Caroline facing down big burly jerks like the guy driving the dump truck. Smart and tenacious, she could take care of herself as well as anyone. But life wasn’t always fair. He’d learned that the hard way watching his father make the mistake of flouting the law.
He would never forget the day his biological father was led off in handcuffs, despite his assurances it would never happen.
Caroline usually wore her long brown hair in a tight ponytail, but her clothing and the time of day made it clear she’d just gotten out of bed. Matt pictured her flying from her bunk in the dorms to stomp out injustice. He smiled just imagining it.
Caroline glanced in his direction and he felt as if a searchlight had caught him making a prison break. He hoped she wouldn’t ask him why he was staring at her and grinning. What if she thought he was mocking her or not taking the accident seriously?
He sobered his expression. She was waving him over to talk with her and her boss. Matt crossed the road, the keys from the dump truck jingling in his shirt pocket.
“Dunbar,” the chief said. “Heard you happened along at the right time.”
Matt wondered what Caroline had told her boss about the driver’s apparent refusal to cooperate. He didn’t want to imply Caroline couldn’t have handled it herself.
“Or the wrong one,” Matt said, shaking the chief’s hand. “If I’d been here a little earlier, I might have prevented the dump truck from backing into your pickup. Wish I had.”
“That would have ruined Caroline’s fun. She hasn’t gotten to arrest anyone this season.”
Caroline narrowed her eyes at her boss. “Hey, it’s only June. Give me time.”
“If it’s okay with you,” Matt said, addressing Caroline, “I’d like to get that truck off the road. Can I pull it inside the construction fence while you write up the charming driver? It seems like a hazard on this narrow road.”
“Fine by me,” she said.
Matt started the engine while the dump truck driver leaned sullenly against the fence. The police chief inspected the yellow traffic truck while Matt drove through the gate. He stepped down from the driver’s seat and found Caroline waiting by his door.
“Thanks,” she said. “For what you did.”
“I didn’t do much,” he replied. “Just encouraged him to own up to his mistake.”
Matt held out the keys to the dump truck but Caroline shook her head.
“We’ll release him in a few minutes after we get a copy of his license and write him a ticket. He can make his trip to the quarry for more stone.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. But he might want to trade jobs with someone and send a different truck back here,” Matt said.
“Do you have a lot more stone trucks coming in?”
Matt nodded. “Shoring up the footers for the top secret ride you probably don’t know anything about.”
Caroline smiled. “I heard they were building an office supply store here.”
“A thrilling one.”
Caroline glanced over at her boss who was writing on a clipboard while the truck driver stood there, arms crossed over his chest.
“So you already poured the concrete footers,” she said. “Are you on track with the project?”
“Almost,” Matt admitted. “There are always surprises.”
“Like remains from a previous construction on this site?”
Matt took a deep breath. Why was she asking him about that? “I’d rather not think about the past when I’m trying to make darn sure the future ride is a success.”
Caroline’s expression reminded him of cop shows on television where someone was getting interrogated in the police tank.
“You’ve seen the...uh...evidence of the old ride, the Loose Cannon,” she continued. “Was there anything that would explain the accident back in 1985?”
Did Caroline know that the company that had built the ride belonged to his stepfather’s brother? Was that why she was asking him these questions? If she didn’t know already, it wouldn’t take her very long to discover the connection. For the sake of honesty and keeping his relationship with her friendly, he should probably just tell her right now.
But he couldn’t. The story of that ride had been forbidden in his family for so long it felt strange to talk about it, especially with someone he hardly knew. Someone who seemed to have a dogged sense of justice and a love of investigation.
Might she turn up something he didn’t want to know? Not that he believed his family was covering something up, but the failure and subsequent sale of the company made him wonder. He didn’t want it dredged up, especially with his stepfather’s poor health.
“That was before I was born,” Matt said. “I’m afraid you’re asking the wrong guy.”
Caroline blew out a breath. “I keep trying to find the right person to ask, but—”
The police chief walked up and started taking pictures of the back bumper of the dump truck.
“We’ll have him out of here in a few minutes,” the chief said, “and then the insurance companies can fight about it.”
Matt handed the chief the keys to the dump truck, nodded at Caroline and walked to the open gate to wave in another truck full of stone that had just arrived. Dwelling on an old story wasn’t going to help him meet his deadlines, and Caroline’s questions made him wonder if he should try to keep his distance from her or keep her close by.
STARLIGHT POINT TOOK its role as the flagship business of the local community seriously, Matt thought as he ran through the park in the early morning hours. Already this summer, he had endured the Campout for Charity, purchased advance tickets for the Beer and Barbeque for Bikes event on the July Fourth weekend, and today he was running with his brother in the Starlight for Shelters 5K, a race benefiting the local homeless shelter.
The running part was easy. Turning off his brain was the challenge. Everywhere he went, Matt Dunbar saw structures that ignited his engineering imagination. The roof of the Starlight Saloon’s porch that probably didn’t slope enough for rain runoff. The authentic copper rain gutters on the train station’s passenger depot. The emergency staircase spiraling down from the ride platform on a roller coaster.
Although he was no architect, he appreciated the thought and science behind every construction decision. Loved the smell of blueprints and the feel of the paper rolled out under his fingers—even though laptops were replacing paper blueprints on construction sites.
Matt remembered the home he’d grown up in. The wide sandstone steps where his mother had taken his picture on the first day of kindergarten. He should go back there sometime, just to see the Craftsman-style house with an engineer’s eye. An adult’s eye.
When