Shadow in Serenity (5 page)

He couldn’t remember another time since he was five
that he had cried, for that kind of weakness made him too vulnerable. But that night, as he drove across the country in Montague’s car, with no destination and no ties, he wept like a baby. For years, he had felt like an adult, been treated as an adult, been paid as an adult. But that night, he felt like a child who’d just been abandoned for the second time.

For a while, he lived off the money that he and Montague had acquired — money they had stashed in several safe-deposit boxes across the South. When several months had passed and the grief was not so profound, he tried to formulate a plan. But try as he might, he couldn’t make himself carry out any of the scams that came to mind.

It didn’t matter, because the FBI had a long memory. When they finally tracked him down, they made him pay. His sentence was fifteen years in a federal penitentiary under the name that was on his current driver’s license — Lawrence Cartland. His bankroll was confiscated to make restitution to those he’d robbed.

Even in prison, Logan knew how to work a room. He made friends with all the guards and worked with gusto at every job given him, and he was paroled after serving half his sentence.

As much as Logan deserved to be called a criminal, he hated the label. So when he was free again, he decided to turn over a new leaf. He’d lost nearly eight years in prison, and he had no desire to lose any more. Montague had shown him that he had brains and that he could do just about anything he set his mind to. Maybe he needed legitimate work. Maybe it was time to get a real education.

He worked as a fry cook while studying for his GED and aced the test the first time he took it. He immediately applied for a grant to a nearby university, using his real name — Logan Brisco. He lived four years in the college
dorm. Montague had taught him that one should never forget his assets, and Logan’s happened to be a handsome face and a wizard’s tongue. He could sell slab beef to a vegetarian and make her feel she’d gotten a deal. With minimal study, he charmed all his teachers into thinking he was their most gifted student, and he wound up with a transcript full of A’s and a degree — his first and only legitimate credential.

Logan’s first job after he graduated was in computer sales. He earned phenomenal commissions, for he was the best salesman the company had ever had. Always eager to find a new angle, he researched every aspect of the products and his customers and used every resource available to move the merchandise.

But when his boss began cheating him out of his commissions, he realized that con artists existed even within the bounds of legitimate enterprise. If that were the case, he’d rather do things Montague’s way.

One night he watched an episode of
20/20
about the effect of the economy on the Mayberry-like town of Serenity, Texas, a former oil boomtown whose wells were drying up. What could be more perfect? Decent bank accounts from the boom days coupled with desperation about the future. They would be his first marks.

It took a few months of preparation and planning, but the payoff would be worth it. He’d planned to spend two weeks laying the groundwork, hit them with the so-called seminar, sweep up all the cash they gave him, and leave town before anyone had second thoughts.

Then he met Carny Sullivan, and found that there was an even greater game than pulling off this scam. To Logan, success lay not in the money, but in the degree of challenge. Even if it broke all of his old friend’s rules, he was going to see this through.

J
ason always got off the school bus with a smile on his face that suggested he had a secret. But today, his smile was not secretive, but exuberant, as he bounded into the house, dropped his backpack on the floor, and ran to find his mother. “Mom! Mom! We’re gonna be rich! Did you hear?”

Carny came out of the back of the house and caught her son. “What?”

“That man. Logan Brisco. He came to school today.” Pushing past her, he ran into his room. “He’s gonna give us free passes.”

Carny watched as he grabbed his piggy bank and shook it, dumping pennies and nickels all over his dresser. “Passes to what? What are you talking about?”

“I’ll give him everything I’ve got, Mom! How much do I have?”

“Slow down!” Carny turned her son around and forced him to look at her. “Let’s go over this now. You’re telling me that Logan Brisco came to your school today?”

“Yeah. They let him talk during assembly. And he said he’s gonna hold workshops for us kids after school, so he can explain the whole park to us and get our ideas and stuff. And if we get our parents to give him money, we’ll be part owners!”

Carny let her son go, and he turned back to his pennies. “Jason, he’s a crook. A thief. You can’t give him your money.”

“Mom! Everybody else believes him.”

“Everybody else is going to get stung.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jason swung around. “Then how come he didn’t just take the money the other night? Lots of people were ready to help him, until you stopped them. If he was a crook, he would have taken their money then.”

“Is that what he told you?”

“Yep. And after he talked to us, when the kids were going back to class, he came up to me and remembered my name! He’s a nice guy. I like him. You’re wrong about him, Mom.”

As he spoke, Jason arranged his pennies into little stacks of ten, and Carny grabbed his hand. “Jason, I don’t want you talking to him anymore. Do you hear me? And I won’t let you give him one cent!”

“But Mom!”

“End of discussion.” Making her oversized shirt into a catchall, she raked the pennies into it and headed to the kitchen.

“But Mom! That’s not fair! It’s my money!”

She dumped the pennies into a bowl on the counter, then grabbed the phone book. “You’ll keep your money, Jason,” she said, flipping through for a number. “You can keep saving for that four-wheeler you want. I’m not taking it away from you. But neither is he.” She picked up the phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“The school,” she said. “I’m going to tell Mr. Anderson to keep that man away from you kids. He’s a thief, and he shouldn’t be on campus.”

“But Mom! People will hate you if you keep messing him up! Don’t you want us to have a park?”

“There isn’t going to be a park,” she said. “Don’t you hear what I’m saying? It’s a scam! He’s a con artist!”

Sarah Jenkins, the school secretary, answered, and Carny took a deep breath. “Sarah, this is Carny Sullivan. Is Mr. Anderson there?”

“Sure he is, Carny, honey. But before I transfer you, let me tell you that I think your intentions were good Saturday night with that Mr. Brisco fella, but you’re wrong. I can just feel it. I have feelings like that, you know. Just sensations, but they’re usually right. I can sometimes just see things, feel people’s thoughts, that sort of thing. I think during my last abduction those aliens gave me some kind of psychic ability.”

Carny closed her eyes and decided not to touch the subject of Sarah’s infamous alien abductions. “Then why haven’t you won the lottery, Sarah?”

The woman gasped. “Well, I never said I knew everything.”

“And how many con artists have you known in your life?”

“Well, certainly none. But I’m sure I’d know if —”

“I’ve known dozens,” Carny cut in. “I know their lines, I know their techniques, I know how they smile and how they walk. And I know how they make people believe them.”

“Just because your parents are dishonest doesn’t mean everyone else is.”

She grunted. “Sarah, it’s not just my parents. It’s all the carnies who work for them. People I grew up learning from. I moved to Serenity because the people here are honest and good, even if they are a little naive. I won’t let him brainwash you or anyone else — we’ll leave that to your aliens. Now, may I please speak to Mr. Anderson?”

Mumbling something incoherent, Sarah transferred the call.

The moment the principal answered, Carny could tell he was in a bad mood. “Hello?”

“Mr. Anderson, this is Carny Sullivan. I understand that you allowed Logan Brisco to indoctrinate our children today. My son came home ready to give him every cent he has.”

“Now, Carny,” Mr. Anderson said in a condescending tone, “I didn’t let him speak. I had a dentist appointment this morning, and Sarah, who had good intentions, let the man have the stage. I wouldn’t have. But now that he’s shown us that several school projects can come out of his work, I’m thinking maybe it didn’t hurt anything. It might be good for the children to get involved. They’ll see what goes into a business enterprise like this.”

“He’s a liar, Mr. Anderson. I don’t want him within a hundred yards of my son.”

“Come on, Carny. You’re overreacting. He strikes me as someone who knows what he’s doing. He’s not just trying to grab people’s money and leave town. He’s taking his time, giving people a chance to think about it. I’m beginning to think that maybe this could improve our town.”

“I can’t believe you! Serenity has everything. It’s the sweetest, cleanest, most peaceful town I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen plenty. Mr. Anderson, let’s just say he
is
telling the truth and there
is
going to be a park — which I’m absolutely positive there isn’t — don’t you realize that it would ruin this town?”

“This town could use a few changes,” he said. “Mr. Brisco is bringing us hope. All he wants is a little cooperation.”

“And a lot of money.”

“He doesn’t have to build the park here, Carny. If we give him too much trouble, he’ll take his plans somewhere else. Hugh Berkstrom had a meeting with him this morning.
Hugh has a good head for investments. He wouldn’t even be considering it if it was a scam.”

“Oh, no,” Carny groaned. Surely the richest man in town had more sense than that! “Why won’t any of you listen? You all know where I came from. You know how I was raised.” She took a calming breath and tried again. “Look, Mr. Anderson, what if — just what
if
— I’m right, and Logan Brisco
is
a con artist? What if he got everybody in town, including the children, all worked up, and managed to walk out of here with all our money? It could ruin us. We’d never recover. This town has so many blessings from God, but if we do something stupid out of greed, we could destroy those blessings. Don’t you see how high the stakes are in this?”

“And what if he’s honest?” Anderson replied. “What if he gets impatient with us and goes somewhere else, and the next thing we know some other town is getting the park and everybody there is getting rich instead of us?”

“Then we’d find another way to stimulate our economy. But we’d still have this beautiful little town and all the good people in it, and our spirits would be intact, and so would our savings. We could do the
right
thing to help our people, not something that will completely break them.”

“That’s not good enough for me,” Anderson said. “And it’s not good enough for most of us here. Please. Just stay out of it.”

Frustrated, Carny hung up and threw herself on the couch as her son came back through the room at a clipped pace, lugging his backpack. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“To Nathan’s.”

“What’s in the backpack?”

He gave her an exaggerated look of innocence, which appeared more than a little guilty. “My homework.”

She got up and took the backpack from him. “This must weigh thirty pounds,” she said, unzipping it. “What a surprise. Money. The same money I just poured into that bowl.” Glancing toward the bowl, she slapped her forehead. “And now the bowl’s empty.”

“Mom! You’re ruining my dreams! I just want to be a part of it!”

“Over my dead body.” She put the backpack on top of the refrigerator. “I have to go somewhere for a few minutes. You stay at Nathan’s until I get back.”

“Mom, are you going to cause trouble for him?”

“You bet I am,” she said, grabbing her keys. “Logan Brisco has met his match.”

C
arny shut off her Harley outside the motel and ran her fingers through her windblown hair. She hated wearing a helmet and only put the thing on when her son was riding with her. Someone from the sheriff’s department pulled her over at least once a week and slapped her with a warning, but she hadn’t yet gotten a ticket. The truth was, half the deputies had a crush on her and the other half considered her their little sister. None of them was about to get tough with her.

But Carny didn’t take advantage of that often. It was nice to know that so many nice guys lived in Serenity. If Abe Sullivan hadn’t ruined her stomach for relationships, she might even consider some of them dating material.

She walked into the office of “Doc” Carraway — so named not because he was a doctor, but because he’d flunked out of a South American med school. He’d chosen hotel management as an alternative occupation. Leaning on the counter, she said, “Hey, Doc. What room is Logan Brisco in?”

Doc looked up and instantly smoothed down his hair. “Uh … he’s in 210. I ain’t really supposed to tell you, but since folks have been comin’ in and out of there all day, I don’t guess it’s a secret.”

Dread flashed through her. “Don’t tell me they’ve been bringing him money.”

“If they’re smart,” Doc said. “Hugh Berkstrom got here at seven-thirty this morning.”

“Did he invest?” she asked. “Tell me he didn’t.”

“I don’t know. But I’ll tell you this much. Hugh didn’t make his fortune with careless investments. If he invests with Logan Brisco, then far as I’m concerned, there’s no better investment. And some of the folks who’ve come by this morning have been trying to make deals with him to put shops and restaurants inside the park.”

“Doc, there isn’t going to
be
a park.”

He just smiled. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

Exasperated, she headed up the stairwell to room 210 and knocked firmly on the door.

Logan opened the door wearing well-cut slacks and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It was the first time she’d seen him without his jacket.

He grinned as if he’d been expecting her. “Well, well.”

“We have to talk,” she said, pushing into his room. She stopped cold when she saw her in-laws, Bev and J. R. Sullivan, getting up from the table. Her heart sank. “Oh, no. Not you too.”

“Don’t start, Carny,” J.R. said. “We know what we’re doin’.”

“Not if you gave him any money, you don’t.”

Bev shot a nervous glance at Logan. “Carny, please. We’ll talk about it later.”

For the first time in years, Carny felt the ache of tears behind her eyes. But she wouldn’t cry in front of this man. That would give him too much power.

“Look at me, Bev,” she said, her voice shaking slightly.
“You know me better than anybody else in town does. Have you ever known me to say anything that wasn’t true?”

“No, of course not,” her mother-in-law replied.

J.R. looked up at her with weary eyes. “Honey, your past sometimes colors your thinkin’.”

“It sure does. If I can’t learn from my past, J.R., then I’d be pretty stupid, wouldn’t I?”

Logan leaned against the wall, arms folded, and from the amused look in his eyes, she knew he was enjoying every minute of this.

“You haven’t even prayed about this, J.R.,” she said. “If you had, you wouldn’t be doing it.”

“Honey, we can talk later,” J.R. said, and he and Bev stood to go.

Carny gritted her teeth and stared at Logan as the couple closed the door behind them. “Jail is too good for you. You should be shot.”

He broadened that maddening smile. “Did you come to invest too?”

“No, I did not,” she said through her teeth. “I came to warn you to stay away from my son. Duping the adults of this town is bad enough, but when you start conning little kids —”

“Excuse me,” he said, turning to his table as she spoke and opening a logbook. “You don’t mind if I make a few notations in here, do you? It’s important that I log in every penny I get, so I can register the shares and get the profits paid out accordingly.”

“Give me a break!” She jerked the logbook away from him and caught her breath at the number of investments he’d already logged there. “Nice prop,” she said. “Looks real legitimate.”

He shook his head, still grinning. “You’re determined to make me out to be a liar, aren’t you?”

“No,” she said, leaning over the table. “I’m determined to get you out of town. But first you’re going to give back all the money you’ve already gotten. What was the take today, Brisco? Ten thousand dollars? Twenty?”

Logan got up wearily, and crossing his arms, looked down at her. “What are you so hostile about?”

“You think this is hostility? Oh, no, this isn’t hostility. You haven’t seen hostility yet.”

He dropped onto the couch and patted the spot next to him. “Sit down.”

She gave a short laugh. “Yeah, right.”

“No, really. If we’re going to talk like two adults, then I’d prefer that you sit down.”

“I don’t really care what you prefer,” she said. “I didn’t come here to have a nice, cozy chat with you.”

“No, you came to show me how tough you are.” He stood back up and leaned against the wall. “So why didn’t your husband come? Why does he let you fight these battles all alone?”

“Brisco, by now I’m pretty sure that you’ve found out everything there is to know about me. I’m your biggest stumbling block in this town. So I’m sure you know that I’m a widow.”

“Well, that explains how vulnerable your son is. He’s hungry for a man’s attention. I noticed that right away.”

“Of course you did. It’s your job to spot people’s weaknesses. And right now you think Jason is my weakness. But it won’t work. If you insist on staying here until you’ve stolen all the town’s money, I’m going to make you sorry you ever took up crime as a profession. I’ve seen more cons than you’ve ever dreamed of. I’ve even been part of some. I’m not wrong.”

“Oh, so that’s it,” he said. “You’re so distrustful because
you
can’t be trusted. You think I’m like you.”

“You’re
nothing
like me,” she bit out. “I made something of my life in spite of my background. God washed me clean of all the garbage in my life, and these good people loved on me. I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep you from ruining them!”

His expression was serious as he stared at her, and for a moment she thought she might be getting through to him. Then he took a long breath and said, “You’re really cute when you have that look in your eye. Do you know that?”

She fought the impulse to slug him. “Give it up, Brisco. I can’t be charmed.”

His eyes danced with the challenge. “Want to lay odds on that?”

“I don’t gamble, but if I did I’d take that bet.”

He laughed. “A hundred bucks says you’ll be chasing me before the month is up.” His eyes twinkled. “Winner take all.”

For a moment, she stared at him, incredulous. What arrogance! This might even be fun. Winner take all, indeed. Lock, stock, and ego. “Like I said, I’m not a gambler.” Heading for the door, she looked back over her shoulder. “If you come near my son again, Brisco, I’ll hurt you.”

Then she slammed out of his room.