“You trust him that much?”
“I trust him implicitly,” Jake answered without a hint of hesitation. “If Max says it’s safe, it’s safe.”
When they reached the cart, Jake had a treat in hand. “Good boy.”
Cassidy turned in a slow circle, taking in the area around them. Then she spotted something dark lying on the metal ramp leading to the Fun House entrance. She took two steps in that direction, her hand sliding from Jake’s grip as she squinted at the object.
“Oh, it’s a hat,” she said, a nervous laugh bubbling out of her.
“What?” Jake turned and peered in the direction she indicated.
“There’s a hat on the ramp,” she explained. Tilting her head to the side, she saw there was white printing on the crown. Her breath caught in her throat, and she whirled back to him, her eyes wide. “It’s a LRFD hat.”
“Hang on.” He snapped his fingers and pointed to the ground. Max hopped down from the cart, head lifted and ears pricked with anticipation. “Go get it,” Jake said, pointing to the hat.
Max fetched and delivered the hat into Jake’s hand without a beat of hesitation. Jake pinched the brim of the hat and turned it over to inspect it. “Baker was wearing a hat?”
Cassidy nodded, recalling how she’d thought the man was using the curled brim to shield his eyes from the glaring sun. “Yes. He kept it pulled down.”
“This hat?” He turned it so she could see the front.
“Or one like it,” she confirmed.
He nodded once, then lowered it so Max could give the inside a good sniff. “It was a warm day. I’m sure Baker worked up a sweat.” Then he knelt down to speak to his partner. “Got it?”
Max slow-blinked, as if Jake had asked a silly question.
Smirking, Jake straightened then gestured to the ramp. “Go find him.”
The dog took off at a gallop. His toenails clicked and skittered on the metal ramp. He sped to the top then ducked through a curtain made of wide strips of black vinyl.
Jake and Cass followed him into attraction, stumbling into one another as they tried to get their footing on a floor tilted at a sharp enough angle to send them careening into walls.
“It would be the Fun House,” Cass grumbled as they made it to the other end.
Before Jake could answer, they fell into the next room. It was completely inflatable. A bounce-house with inflated flooring, walls and furniture. They bounced around a bit before Jake finally dropped to his side and rolled toward the exit. Cass quickly followed suit.
Breathless and sweating, they tumbled into the next room – a square of dark walls covered in neon paint graffiti lit by black lights. It was so dark, Jake hadn’t realized the flooring had been replaced by industrial rollers until he landed on his backside.
Cass helped him to his feet. “That can’t be safety approved,” he muttered as he found his footing.
“A lawsuit waiting to happen,” Cass concurred.
“Of course, they’ll be out of town before anything could happen, and I doubt they run cameras in here.”
At the end of the roller walkway, Jake peeked around the doorframe to get a glimpse of their next obstacle. A room covered in mirrors from floor to ceiling. There was even an enormous mirrored ball dangling from the ceiling.
The room was unlit, but enough of an opening in the rear access panels for daylight to seep in. They stepped into room only to find the walls were angled to reflect back on themselves.
Cassidy groaned. “The last thing I needed right now was a look in the mirror.”
Jake chuckled, but he was too busy scanning the floor for obstacles to take a peek at himself. He was about to assure her she looked fine to him when the lights came on and the Fun House sprang to life.
They instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes from the glare, but it was the noise made his heart start racing. Rock music blared over the squeal of metal gears meshing and the amped up hum of a generator.
The mirror ball sent hundreds of spots bouncing endlessly off the walls, the floor and the ceiling.
Cassidy had just lowered her arm when they heard someone call from the next room, “Having fun, Lieutenant?”
