Burn Out (18 page)

She only saw Paul lose his cool twice.
The first time was during their senior trip to Disney World. The
park opened its gates at midnight every year for graduation night.
All Florida seniors were invited to play at the parks from midnight
to six the next morning. She couldn’t ride some of the roller
coasters because of the head injury she got during the accident.
She was susceptible to headaches. So, while Paul and his friends
rode Space Mountain, she sat down at a table and waited. Another
guy from a rival high school she knew, Kenny, offered to buy her a
Coke and wait with her. Kenny was also a football player and she
thought he was kinda cute. They talked about school, football, and
college plans while she waited for Paul. When Paul and his buddies
got off the ride and he saw her talking to Kenny, Paul lost it. She
had never seen him jealous before. He started shoving Kenny around.
If his buddies hadn’t pulled him off, there would have been a
fistfight.

She was cool to him for the rest of
trip. He apologized over and over, but she didn’t give in. He gave
her a sterling silver necklace with a broken heart charm to make it
up to her. It had their initials, P + S on the backside of the
charm. “You wear this half of the heart,” Paul told her. “And I
have the other half of your heart.” He put the second broken heart
charm on a key ring he always carried around. The thought of Paul
carrying around a silver heart charm made her giggle. Paul took it
to mean she forgave him. But the fiasco at Disney World was when it
all started going downhill, she thought. She saw a side of him that
was a little scary and possessive. What she first thought was cute,
Paul always insisting on taking her places and never letting her go
anywhere alone, was now feeling claustrophobic to her.

She was glad when graduation and
summer were over. They started school together at the Fire College
and while she excelled in all of her classes, Paul struggled. She
wanted to break up with him then, but she felt bad he was having
such a hard time with school. So she stuck it out for two years
until graduation. Paul was also pushing her to marry him. She kept
holding back, saying they needed to finish school and get jobs
first.

The night after graduation, she saw
the angry side of Paul again. For what she thought was the last
time. He wanted to take her to dinner to celebrate, but her family
had already made plans. She promised him she would meet him
afterwards and they would celebrate. She figured it was time to
break it off with him. What she didn’t know was he had other
plans.

After dinner, Paul took her to Millers
Lake where they frequently went to hang out. She willed herself to
be strong and tell him how she felt. She rehearsed the words in her
head all night. She would tell him they needed a break, she wanted
to remain friends, and they would still see each other. Paul parked
the truck and they walked over to the picnic area. He pulled out a
bottle of champagne and glasses out of a bag. She thought he was
celebrating their graduation. She took a deep breath and started to
say the words that had been in her head all night. “Paul, I just
want you to know I have really enjoyed our time
together…”

He reached over and put a finger on
her mouth. “Shhh..I have something to ask you.” Paul got down on
one knee at took her hands in his.

Oh shit, she thought. Not this. Not
now. She should have seen this coming. The champagne, the flowers,
his nervousness.

“
Paul, I don’t
think…”

“
Please, Sam, let me finish
before I lose my nerve,” Paul pleaded. “I have loved you all my
life. I want us to be together forever. We have the same dreams,
the same goals, and we are perfect for each other. Will you give me
the honor of being my wife?”

She was stuck. She didn’t want to hurt
his feelings, but at the same time, if she didn’t say something
now, it would just be harder later on.

She took a deep breath. Now or never.
“Paul, I can’t do this. I was going to tell you tonight. I think we
need to take a break. This is just too fast for me. I want to get a
job and get settled. I’m not ready to get married.”

Paul was crushed. She would never
forget the look on his face.

“
What? You want to break up
with me?”

She nodded her head yes.

“
Are you fucking kidding
me?” His face got red and flushed. “Who is it?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Who are you
seeing?”

“
There isn’t anybody. I
just want to take a breather. That’s all.”

He sat there for a minute, trying to
calm down. He took the ring and twirled it around his hand. The
tiny diamond glittered in the moonlight.

“
You can still wear this.
We can call it a promise ring. We can wait to marry after we get
jobs,” Paul pleaded with her.

“
No, Paul. I can’t accept
it. It’s time for us to move on.” She forced herself to look
directly at him. He was crushed. “We can still hang out as
friends.” She regretted saying it as soon as the words came out of
her mouth.

He started to get mad again. He stood
up and clenched his fists.

“
Don’t…do…this…Sam. Please.
If there is no one else, then why are we breaking up? Don’t you
love me?”

She shook her head no. All the things
she planned to say were gone. “No, Paul. I’m sorry, it’s
over.”

Paul took the bottle of champagne and
threw it, the bottle giving a satisfying pop and sizzle, as it hit
a tree. He took the skinny champagne glasses and did the same
thing. “I can’t believe this!” He yelled at her.
“You…will…regret…this…you fucking bitch!” Paul was shaking as he
got in his truck and left. She sat on the picnic table and cried
for a long time. She wasn’t sad, she was relieved. She didn’t
realize until that moment she was feeling stressed the whole time
she was with Paul. Now, she felt nothing but sweet relief. She was
free.

Finally, after what seemed to be
hours, another vehicle pulled up. It was one of her brothers
friend, Blake, and his girlfriend. They gave her a ride home. She
didn’t see Paul again for a couple months.

They ran into each other at the fire
station for tryouts. He acted like nothing ever happened between
them. It was awkward at first, but then she got used to it. They
both ended up getting hired for Santa Rosa Beach fire department
and thankfully worked on different shifts. She managed to be civil
to him when they saw each other. Eventually, the awkwardness went
away and she didn’t give Paul a second thought.

Then she met Ken at a call. She didn’t
realize it was the same guy she met at Disney World her senior
year. Kenny Collins. He had gone to another rival school and they
knew of each other, but never hung out. Ken looked a little
different now. His skinny frame had filled out nicely and he was
taller.

Ken was working with the police
department as a new officer and they ran into each other at a
domestic dispute call. The husband had set fire to his house with
his wife tied up inside. After the victim was rescued and her
husband in custody, they all stood outside the house talking shop.
Ken asked her out for coffee. She told him no, but he could take
her to dinner instead. She was a little reluctant to know Ken and
Paul were already friends. It didn’t seem to bother Ken she and
Paul had once dated, so she decided to put the past behind her and
move on. Ken and Sam were married within six months of dating. They
had two beautiful girls and everything seemed good. Until she
learned Ken and Paul’s secret.

Santa Rosa Beach, Tuesday
late evening

Stacy handed Rachel her cell. “This
thing has been going off like gangbusters since you’ve been in the
shower. Vibrating all over the counter.”

“
Thanks.” Rachel took the
phone and glanced through the call log. “Jeff Stanton called.
Probably to let me know the tool impressions have come back.” She
sat down and put her head on the table.

“
Everything ok?”

“
It’s been a long
day.”

Stacy sat down at the table with her.
“I hear you. The hot lead I got about Pedro Gonzalez turned out to
be a dead end. At least the dinner with Mack wasn’t a waste of
time.”

“
Mack is a very handsome
guy.”

Stacy agreed. “Yes, he is. But it is
so obvious that is in love with Sam.”

“
Really? Why do you
think?

“
You really have to ask?”
Stacy laughed. “When he talks about Sam, his eyes light up. They
were in love.”

“
What happened at
dinner?”

“
We went to Jack Speight’s
house. He is a detective at the police department. Even though he
is not active on Sam’s case, Mack thought he would be able to give
me some insight on the arson cases.”

“
How did it go?”

“
Good. Although, I don’t
think any of the information he gave me will help us with finding
Sam. What happened with Ken?”

Rachel told of her visit at the jail
and the decision to search around the lake. Since no money was
found, she thought it was okay to tell her what happened. “We found
a necklace that belonged to Sam.”

“
How do you know for sure
it was Sam who left the necklace?”

“
I don’t know for sure, but
it seems to fit the puzzle. Tammie told me the story about the
necklace when we met before the press conference. As far as she
knew, Sam didn’t wear it anymore. If it had been in the tree for a
long time, it would have shown some wear from the weather. The
necklace was clean when we found it. I think Sam left it there on
the chance Ken or Mack would find it and understand the
significance of the necklace.”

“
You think Paul kidnapped
Sam?”

“
That is a strong
possibility. We need to find Paul and talk to him.”

“
At dinner, Mack mentioned
Paul had a cabin somewhere north of here. He is supposed to be
there now. Fishing or something.”

“
Do you know where the
cabin is?”

“
Not sure. I can call Mack
and ask for directions.”

Rachel looked through her call log
again. “Jeff Stanton called me three times. I better call him back
before everyone comes back. Mike went to pick up some pizza and we
were going to come up with a plan to find Paul.”

“
Are you going to tell Jeff
about the necklace?” Stacy asked.

“
Not yet.”Rachel walked
into her bedroom to call Jeff. “Hey, Jeff, it’s Rachel. Sorry I
missed your calls.”

“
Hi, Rachel. I’m sorry to
be calling you so late, but I wanted to let you know this before it
comes out in the media.” Jeff hesitated.

Rachel sensed something bad was coming
down. She instinctively sat down on the bed. No late night phone
calls were usually good ones.

“
Mack Dixon was killed in a
car accident tonight. I wanted to tell you before it hit the media
outlets.”

“
Oh my gosh! What
happened?” Rachel asked.

Stacy could tell something was wrong
by the tone of Rachel’s voice. She came into the room and sat down
next to her on the bed.

“
I don’t know all the
details yet. It happened on Highway 20. From what the state trooper
told me, it looked like he lost control of his truck and it flipped
over in a ditch. He died on impact.”

“
When did this
happen?”

“
About ten
o’clock.”

“
That is just awful. Please
keep me updated.” Rachel clicked off. She felt numb. She didn’t
know how she was going to tell Stacy. She had just had dinner with
him.

Stacy put her arm around her. “Bad
news?”

Rachel nodded her head and whispered,
“Yes. Mack Dixon is dead.”

“
What? I just saw him a
couple hours ago!”

Rachel repeated what little
information Jeff had given her. “He said he would call me later
when he found out more.”

“
He said he was a little
tired when we were leaving. Maybe he fell asleep at the wheel?”
Stacy covered her face with her hands. “Oh, god. I can’t believe
this is happening.”

Rachel rubbed her back. “I know. I’m
sorry.”

“
Mack was fine while we
were at dinner.” Stacy reflected. She just couldn’t wrap her head
around the fact Mack was now dead. “Maybe someone messed with his
truck?”

“
Yeah, you have to admit it
is suspicious with everything else that is going on with Sam’s
disappearance.”

Rachel heard some noise in the other
room. “Sounds like Mike is here with the pizza. Want to get
something to eat?”

Stacy shook her head. “Not hungry.
Give me a few minutes, okay?”

“
Sure. Take your time.”
Rachel went to go tell Mike the bad news.

Santa Rosa Beach, Wednesday
morning

Jack Speights was the last person to
see Mack alive. Stacy thought it was a good idea to head over there
first thing in the morning to talk to him about Mack. She couldn’t
shake the feeling his death had something to do with Samantha’s
disappearance.