CHAPTER 1
Miss Ashton,” Hailey said, pressing down the lighted button on the intercom panel.
“Miss Ashton, this is Dawson.” Hailey Ashton could tell by the scratchy static and the background noise that the security guard was speaking into his pocket pager. “You’d better get over here to the Sidewinder quick. All hell’s broken loose and no one can seem to determine exactly what’s happened.”
This was an emergency call, Hailey realized at once. The steady, reliable Mr. Dawson was obviously shaken. “What’s going on?” she asked with professional crispness.
“Well, this guy here is raising Cain, yelling at everyone like a banshee. Says something’s happened to his daughter. From what I can tell, the kid dashed into the ladies’ rest room and holed up. This character has attracted quite a crowd. People are beginning to speculate all sorts—”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Do you want me to send a cart for you? It’s hotter than—”
“No, I’ll run through the compound,” Hailey said quickly. “Dawson, try to calm everyone down. Especially the father.”
“Right.”
He clicked off his transmitter and Hailey dashed out the door after calling, “Take over, Charlene,” to her assistant. The glass cubicle of Hailey’s office was near the front gate of the amusement park. The September heat slammed into her chest as she adroitly weaved her way through the throng of guests who, with their cameras and children in tow, were streaming through the turnstiles into the park.
One customer was holding up the line by arguing with the gate attendant over a discount ticket. The frantic employee looked up with relief as Hailey sped by. “Miss Ashton—”
“Are you having trouble, sir?” Hailey went straight to the heart of the matter to save time. Her mind was on the emergency at the Sidewinder.
“Yeah,” the man answered belligerently. “She says I can’t get my little one in on this discount ticket. He’s only three. He won’t be able to go on the big rides anyway. I thought—”
“Please, sir, take your family on in. I’m sure that ticket is acceptable,” Hailey said hurriedly. Her decision wasn’t fair to the park’s management, or to the employee who hadn’t been backed up, or to the other guests who had paid full ticket price for their three-year-olds, but Hailey had an emergency to attend to. She’d make it up to the disgruntled employee later.
Barely nodding in response to the man’s effusive thanks, she let herself into a gate through the tall, gray wooden fence that separated the public areas from the employees’ compound in the center of the park. Serendipity Amusement Park was crowded on this Saturday afternoon, and the greater the number of people, the greater the probability that crises would crop up. As Director of Guest Relations, Hailey was accustomed to handling minor emergencies instigated by either God or man.
Her low-heeled sandals weren’t conducive to jogging, but she moved at a brisk trot across the expanse of asphalt that fairly shimmered in the unseasonable heat. Her white skirt swirled around her slender legs. She could feel perspiration dampening her green cotton shirt, where the park’s emblem was discreetly appliquéd on her breast pocket just under her plastic name tag. Thank goodness she had worn her hair up in a topknot today. Otherwise the copper-colored, shoulder-length skein would be curling riotously in the humid heat.
Hailey reached the opposite side of the compound in record time and went through the gate. The Country Roads Theater where college performers provided a musical revue six times a day had just been emptied and she was absorbed by the milling crowd.
A gracious smile hid the turmoil in her mind. A little girl hiding in a rest room? What could have happened to her? Despite her haste, Hailey bent down to pick up a cigarette butt someone had negligently dropped. An employee who was seen stepping over any form of litter on the park grounds was fired immediately. A veritable army of maintenance workers in bright green uniforms kept the park as clean as a grandmother’s parlor.
Hailey passed one of the many large gift shops that sold posters, T-shirts, and souvenir coffee mugs, as well as other commemorative items of the Great Smoky Mountains, the state of Tennessee, and Gatlinburg itself. It was doing a thriving business.
The crowd in the gift shop couldn’t compare, however, to the curious crowd gathered around the ladies’ rest room near the Sidewinder. The roller coaster was of such fearsome proportions that Hailey had never dared ride it. She paid scarce attention to it now as she plunged into the throng.
“Excuse me, excuse me, please,” she said courteously but firmly as she elbowed her way through the crowd. “Excuse me.” She edged around a man eating a dripping ice cream bar and virtually stumbled into Dawson.
“Dawson,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention over the racket.
He spun around. “Miss Ashton, thank—”
“Is this who we’ve been waiting an eternity for?”
The voice was hard and scornful, impatient, and obviously furious. It also implied that Hailey hadn’t been worth the wait. She turned around to meet steely gray eyes under scowling dark brows.
“I’m Hailey Ashton, Director of—”
“Guest Relations,” he mocked as his searing eyes swept down and across her breast to locate her identification badge. “Spare me the title. I want some action.” Only then did he raise his eyes back to hers. The anger in his gaze seemed to flicker for a heartbeat as he stared at her. He paused, blinking, then said, “Something has happened to my daughter and I’m surrounded by a bunch of bungling inco
mpetents.” His lips hardly moved as he spoke.
“Please calm down, sir, and tell me what happened,” Hailey said authoritatively. “Your loss of control isn’t helping either yourself or your daughter, is it?”
Had the situation not been so urgent, Hailey would have tempered her rebuke. This man certainly didn’t look the type who would take criticism lightly, if at all. But his insults and anger were only adding to the problem.
He glared down into Hailey’s cool green eyes. Her control battled his rising impatience and won. He conceded grudgingly and continued in a more rational tone.
“We were standing in line for that thing….” He gestured toward the roller coaster. “Suddenly, for no apparent reason, my daughter went as pale as a ghost and started screaming. Then she ran into the rest room. I ran after her, but was met at the door by a militant attendant who wouldn’t let me in. I—”
“She’s still in there?” Hailey asked Dawson, turning her back on the man. Dawson nodded. “What’s her name?” she asked of the father, whose frustration had trebled while Hailey ignored him.
“Her name!” he roared. “For God’s sake, what difference does that make? Something dreadful may have happened to her and you stand here like some robot and ask me—”
“Her name.”
He raked his fingers through his dark hair, which had already been mussed from similar handling. “Her name is Faith, dammit. Faith.”
“Thank you,” Hailey said. She hastened toward the door of the rest room and called over her shoulder. “Dawson, please disperse this crowd. Send for a cart and notify the infirmary that I may be bringing someone in.” She didn’t look back to see if her orders were being carried out. She knew they would be. Nor did she glance back at the tall, broad-shouldered man who she knew was stalking her like a combat soldier bent on revenge.
She went into the cool rest room and took a moment to adjust her eyes to the dim interior after the blinding sunlight out-side. The attendant looked at her with unqualified welcome. Before Hailey could ask her anything, she rushed to tell what she knew.
“Miss Ashton, there was a crowd of ladies in here. I was cleaning one of the sinks when this little girl comes running in screaming and crying. She locked herself up in that last stall. I’ve been trying to get her to open the door, but she won’t come out. I even stood on the commode in the stall next to her and looked over. She’s just crouched in the corner sobbing her little heart out. That wild man came running in here, carrying on something terrible. The other ladies started screaming, thinking he was a pervert or something chasing that frightened little thing. I sent everyone out. I’m telling you, I—”
“Thank you, Hazel,” Hailey said, breaking off the explanation which she feared might go on forever. “Why don’t you wait for me outside? If I need you, I’ll call. And please don’t let anyone else in here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Hailey walked to the last stall and pushed gently on its latched door. “Faith? Are you all right?” There was no response except for the weeping she had heard since coming into the rest room. “Faith? Please let me in. I want to help you. Your father is very worried about you.”
There was a slight cessation of the crying. A few sniffles. Some dry sobs. Then a gentle hiccuping, Hailey took advantage of the quiet. Speaking softly she said, “My name is Hailey. Whatever is wrong, you can tell me.” Intuitively, she added, “No one else has to know the problem if you prefer. Not even your father.” Hailey hoped that was a promise she would be able to keep, but at the moment it was crucial that she get the child to open the door.
“You … you won’t tell anybody?” The question was faint, barely audible.
“Not if you don’t want me to.”