Page 20 of Glimmer in the Darkness

The father chased the littlest boy down and swung him over his head. “Let’s get your floatie on, buddy.”

The kid whined while the father wrangled him into a vest and fastened it on. Then, the kid toddled to the shore and plopped down on the sand.

The mother finished setting up their little spot and glanced Cassidy’s way.

“Good-looking boys you have there.”

The woman shaded her eyes with her hand and watched her sons. “They’re a handful.”

“I bet.”

The woman took in Cassidy’s towel and backpack. “You camping alone?”

“I wasn’t up for another day of hiking.” There. That was true, even if she’d implied things that weren’t.

“Don’t like hiking?”

“It’s fine, but I don’t go on vacation so I can tromp through the woods every day.” Also true. Not that this was a vacation.

“I understand that.” The woman settled in beside her husband. “Family vacations aren’t so much vacation as business trips, since I’m bringing work with me.”

“I can only imagine.” Cassidy had never been on a family vacation. Not with her mother and any of the guys who used to hang around. Not with any of the foster families that’d taken her in.

She faced forward and laid her head back, angling her cap and shielding her face. The last thing she needed was more freckles. She wished she’d brought a chair. It was hard to observe facing the sky.

After thirty minutes, she stood, adjusted her sunglasses, and packed her things.

“Giving up so soon?” the woman asked.

“My skin can’t handle much direct sunlight. It’s the vampire in me.” There was a picnic table beneath the trees near the volleyball court. “I think I’ll go sit in the shade.”

Cassidy settled at the picnic table and took out her novel, keeping her eyes on the surroundings. Across the dirt road from the restroom, the office was a one-story wood-sided building. It sat in the center of the campground, and dirt roads led in from both directions by the lake. She and James had snuck onto the property enough that she knew that those narrow roads branched off, so some campers were nearer the lake and some higher on the hillside.

Where were Wilson and Eugene Cage? Wilson was probably in the office. Eugene? He had to be around here somewhere.

She ate her sandwich and sipped her water, refilling it once at the fountain between the restrooms.

One thing she’d learned in her decade as a fugitive was how to look like she belonged, like she had nothing to hide. She donned that look now, resting one foot on the bench beside her and propping her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand. She smiled at passersby, always making eye contact. She had little to fear here at the campground, anyway. The lifeguard on the lake was too young to remember her from ten years past, and she’d seen no other employees. The campers were all tourists and likely not paying that much attention to local news.

Wilson and Eugene… She’d never met either of them. Officially. Of course, if one of them had kidnapped her and Hallie, then he might just recognize her. And be a threat.

Which was why, behind the casual smile and novel lifted as though she were reading, she kept her gaze scanning the campground. Where were they? Would they recognize her? And if so, what would they do?

Chapter Eight

James pushed into The Patriot just after noon, pleased to see all the tables were full. Between the lunch crowd from HCI and all the tourists in town, the restaurant stayed busy most of the time. He waved to the hostess and the server and headed for the coffee bar, stopping to wait for the chair he wanted.

Tip cashed out the customer, and she left with a bag full of take-out.

James slipped onto the vacated stool.

“In town two days in a row.” Tip grabbed a plastic tumbler and filled it with iced tea. “That’s gotta be a record.”

James sipped the brew. “Went by to see Reid.”

“How’s he holding up?”

“About as you’d expect.” Which was to say, not well.