Fatal Impulse: A Widow's Web Novel (24 page)

D
ana nodded her head and declared, “Chad was a lying, cheating bastard and what you did to him was too good for him."

Andi's mouth dropped open. “So, you’re not going to turn me in?”

“Of course not! And I’m going to call Edward in the morning and see if he can help us out with that whole Will situation. Working for a lawyer comes in handy sometimes. He’ll know what to do. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

Andi leaned her head against her friend's shoulder and sighed, “Thank you. Thank you for understanding, and not hating me.”

“I could never hate you. And that’s enough depressing talk for tonight. I got us a bottle of wine and you and I are going to have our own little bachelorette party tonight. Forget your worries and help me celebrate!”

Andi felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, if only for a night. Sharing the burden helped. The friends spent the rest of the evening drinking, laughing and talking. Dana did a wonderful job of making Andi forget her problems.

The phone jangled jarringly in the quiet of morning. It was their wake up call, and they were both still fully dressed in their clothes from the night before. Two empty bottles of wine stood watch on the nightstand between the beds and Andi's last glass of wine had tipped over in the bed beside her, leaving a small red stain on the white sheets. Dana saw Andi dab at the stain and shrugged, then pointed at a much larger stain on her own bed, also next to an overturned wine glass. The two grinned at each other and shrugged.

Dana took her shower first, and Andi straightened up the room a bit. She worried about what she was going to do when she got back to reality. The blackmailer wanted those certificates, but she suspected they were leverage and hesitated to let go of them. But the reality was, if she didn’t give the certificates to Portia, the woman could go to the cops with the photos. On the other hand, it wasn’t like the heiress needed the money, so Andi was afraid she'd turn the photos over anyway.

And since Andi’d lost her job, she had to start looking for something as soon as she got back to Buccaneer Bay. The credit card situation would have to be dealt with, too. She sighed. The weight on her shoulders had returned and was just as heavy as ever.

Maybe it was time to give up and move back home to Missouri. In spite of Dana’s confidence in her boss’s abilities, Andi worried that this might be beyond his realm of experience.

The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. It was Derek. "Hey, Andi! Is Dana around?"

The shower shut off, so Andi hollered at Dana to let her know her fiancé was on the phone. While she waited for Dana to come out, she chatted with Derek. "Did you make it in?"

"Yup. Just did. You and Dana stay out of trouble last night?"

"Of course. You ready for your big day?"

"I've been ready since I met her." He sounded just as excited as her best friend was, and Andi was happy for them, yet jealous at the same time. Dana popped out of the bathroom with a white fluffy towel wrapped around her. She took the phone and flopped down on the bed.

Andi slipped into the shower, determined to put her own problems behind her until her best friend was married off.

The pair ordered room service for breakfast. Neither was very hungry, and certainly couldn't stomach eggs, so opted for toast and coffee. As soon as they were finished, it was off to the spa for massages and then to the salon for hair and makeup. By the time they made it to the bridal preparation room, Andi felt like as much a queen as the bride herself.

The gorgeous vintage white dress from Blissful Beginnings hung on a hook, and it made Andi's heart ache, as she wondered if she'd ever wear a dress like that again. She helped Dana into the dress, then got dressed herself. Before she knew it, they were headed for the chapel. Derek, his best friend, James, and Andi stood at the front, waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle to the prerecorded music. She appeared in the archway and everyone oohed and aahed.

Andi imagined what it would be like when she walked down the aisle to meet Paul, and thought that a destination wedding might be just the thing for them, too.

She half listened as the two recited their vows. Hopefully things would turn out better for Dana than they had for her. After they said their I do’s, the group gathered for pictures, and then headed to the patio for the reception, where they cut the cake and the best man toasted them, with the sparkling blue ocean as the backdrop. Derek's parents were there, as were Dana’s aunt and uncle from Iowa, the closest family she had, and everyone seemed to get along well. Dana and Derek had eyes only for each other.

Andi slipped away as soon as she could, and went back to the room. She pulled on her flannel pajamas, flipped on the television and called room service. Within fifteen minutes, she was in bed eating the biggest hot fudge sundae she'd ever seen, watching a James Bond marathon.

The next morning, though Andi hesitated at calling so early, she gave in and called Dana’s room to wish her well and tell her good-bye. Her friend sounded groggy with sleep, but her voice still carried the excitement from their wedding day. Everything was already ‘we,’ and she promised to spill all the details when they got home. As a wedding gift from Derek's parents, they were going to spend a week in Kennebunkport for their honeymoon. Just before she disconnected, Dana said, "I haven't forgotten about your problems."

Andi shook her head, sorry that she had burdened her friend with such news right before her wedding.

Dana continued, “I’ll call Edward today and get his opinion. He’ll know what to do. Want me to have him call you directly, or do you want me to stay on top of it?”

“I don’t want to bother you on your honeymoon. It can wait until you get back.”

              “Nonsense,” Dana said, giggling. Derek’s voice was in the background. “I’m taking my laptop. I’ll have him send the results to me, and I’ll keep in touch by email. Tell me again – what was the name of that lawyer in Bangor? I’ll see if Edward knows him or anything about him.”

Andi gave her friend the attorney's name and wished her the best, safe travels, and all that, and they hung up. She checked out of her room and took the shuttle to the airport. Traveling alone made her uncomfortable. People tend to target you and think you’re lonely and glad to talk to them, when in truth, you couldn’t care less about their trip to see Uncle Harry and Aunt Sylvia. Andi picked up a Paul Doiron paperback at one of the airport shops, stuck her nose in it and waited impatiently for the flight to board. At least the early flights were mainly business travelers, so she didn’t have many families to deal with. They boarded and she started reading before they took off.

She'd just finished her little bag of peanuts when a ding sounded and the fasten seatbelts sign came on. The captain announced over the loudspeaker that they were beginning their final descent. She looked down and saw several planes parked on the tarmac. It looked like a traffic jam, which never happened at this little airport. The flight attendant's face pinched as she announced that a plane in Philadelphia had crashed. She warned that the cascade effect was causing significant delays in air traffic. 

Andi's heart dropped and goosebumps rose on her arms. Philadelphia. She took a deep shaky breath. That's where Dana and Derek were flying out of. What time was their flight? She couldn't remember. Was the crashed plane flying to Philadelphia, or from?

Andi watched the young woman as she walked to the front of the plane, where she and another flight attendant leaned close and talked. They both dabbed at their eyes, and their makeup stood out in stark contrast to their pale faces. Andi raised her hand to press the call button, but stopped when the captain's voice came over the loudspeaker, and announced that the plane would be landing soon.

She let her hand drop and stared out the window, feeling completely useless. As the plane taxied to a stop, she fished her cell phone out of her purse and gripped it tightly. As soon as they were cleared to make calls, she'd call Dana.

She caught the flight attendant's eye and waved. The woman walked towards her, her features tight and thin eyebrows raised. As soon as she reached Andi's row, Andi leaned towards her and asked, "Was the plane going to Philadelphia? Or leaving?" She crossed her fingers as she spoke.

"I don't know," The blonde shrugged her shoulders and blinked back tears, "All I know is that it was a Destination Airways flight."

A shiver ran up Andi's spine. That's the airline Dana was going to fly. Just then, the captain announced that they could use their cell phones, but disembarking would be delayed while the tarmac was cleared. The flight attendant smiled an apology and turned away. Andi tried to call her friend, but got a fast beeping instead of a completed call. The guy next to her held up his cell phone and shrugged. Only a handful of people seemed able to get through. The cell phone systems were probably overloaded.

They waited on the tarmac for what seemed like an inordinately long period of time before the plane taxied to the gate, though her watch said it was only twenty minutes. Finally, they disembarked.

Andi stopped in front of a television with a group of travelers and watched the images on the screen, the smoke, the fire, the horror. The graphic on the screen indicated that a Destination Airways plane traveling from Philadelphia to Orlando had crashed just minutes after takeoff.

Andi closed her eyes and fought back the tears. They were flying to L.A., via Atlanta. Thank God it wasn't their flight.

A thick woman with a shock of gray hair blew her nose, then glanced over at Andi and apologized.

"Quite all right," Andi murmured as she turned her attention back to the screen.

"All those people," the woman mumbled as she blew her nose again. "They didn't have a chance."

"Do they know what happened?" The images on the screen brought back so many memories of panic, terror. That fear was reflected in the faces of those around her as they watched anxiously.

The older woman shrugged, "I heard them say the flight was delayed due to mechanical problems. The pilot had time to radio for help and turn the plane around, but that was about it. Sounds like it dropped from the sky like a rock."

Andi's phone vibrated in her hand. Dana’s voice crackled through the static. “Oh, God! Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!”

“Yes!” Andi spun away from the clump of people and held her finger in her other ear so she could hear better, “And you? You okay?”

“Yes. Where are you?”

She pressed the phone tighter to her ear, “Just got into Hancock County. Where are you?”

“Still in Philadelphia. Our flight was grounded before we even boarded.”

Dana told her they’d been watching MSNBC at the airport. Since it was a Destinations Airway flight, that whole terminal was a madhouse in Philadelphia. Andi thought about her luggage, then felt in her purse for Dana’s keys. She'd planned to take Dana's car home for her. She was glad she didn't have to get on another airplane now - or wait for a delayed flight.

Andi said, "Go back to the hotel and wait until it's safe to fly. Maybe you can get on another airline."

Dana laughed, but it sounded forced. "You're reading my mind."

The two promised to touch base later and Andi stuck her phone back in her purse, as she hurried to her friend's car.

Andi just wanted to get home. Suddenly, having to deal with a cancelled credit card didn’t seem like the end of the world.

She listened to the radio on her drive home. Every channel carried the same thing, news of the crash. The stories coming in were horrendous. No survivors had been found, and the authorities didn't sound hopeful. She glanced up at the sky. Not a single jet trail crossed the clear blue sky. She couldn't remember the last time she'd noticed that.

The next morning she flipped on Good Morning, America, where the crash was the leading story. She had a hard time watching the screen, listening to the reporters, and reading the scroll across the bottom, given how close this had hit. If Dana had been on that plane . . . Suddenly, she blinked and moved closer to the screen as she waited for the scroll to repeat.

When it finally did, she clapped her hand over her mouth as she read. A spokesman for Woodson Enterprises confirmed that August Woodson’s eldest granddaughter, Caren Woodson Thompson, was on Destination Airlines Flight 121.

She watched until it ran again, and made sure she was reading it correctly, then rocked back on her heels.

Another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

A
ndi snatched up the phone and dialed Paul’s number. She got his machine, and left a brief message that she'd just heard the news, and told him to call if he needed anything. She didn’t leave her name, and didn’t expect a return call, but at least he'd know she was thinking about him.

How was it possible that she could be so connected to the Woodson family without even knowing it? Was it a coincidence that she was falling for the man married to the sister of the woman her dead husband had been sleeping with? Things like that didn’t happen in real life.

During the next few days, she watched the news trying to catch clips about Caren Woodson Thompson. She thought about calling Paul again, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She wasn’t sure how he fit into all this. She was torn. Part of her was angry, because he surely knew about her husband’s affair with his sister-in-law, but another part of her was relieved he was free of his wife. She would never, ever, have wished the woman dead, but she was relieved, just the same. After he grieved, they could date properly. They would come out of this just fine, and no one would ever know that they'd had an affair.

Later that morning, a couple stopped by to look at the house. They walked through, commenting about tiny cracks in the walls, small rooms and the lack of an open floor plan. Andi escorted them out and watched through the window as they huddled together on the front walk. The man turned around and rang the doorbell.

When she opened the door, he grinned. "My wife and I agree - this is exactly what we're looking for. We'll give you your asking price!"

Her heart dropped and she swallowed hard. "You'll have to contact Gabby Martin, the agent." She pointed to the real estate sign, then shut the door on the happy couple.

She couldn't put off getting a place of her own any longer. She got in the Jeep and drove around, looking for For Sale signs. On a whim, she stopped at Bunch o' Blooms and ordered a small plant and picked out a sympathy card. She signed it “thinking of you – Andi,” and made arrangements to have it delivered to Paul’s home. Her next stop was Martin Real Estate. The woman had been polite about bringing customers by to view the house and, after all, the situation wasn't her fault.

Gabby drove Andi around in her white Cadillac to show her several nice houses around town, most little salt block houses. The prices shocked Andi. Until the insurance money came through, she couldn't hope to own anything in Buccaneer Bay proper. None of the houses really did anything for her, either. Gabby showed her quaint houses, which Andi suspected was because she was a single woman. The agent likely assumed a widow wouldn’t need much space, but Andi couldn't fathom a future of living alone.

After the sixth house, the agent sighed and said, “I just can’t think of anything else in town that might work.”

“Okay,” Andi countered, “How about outside of town?”

The woman nodded and thought for a moment, “You know, there is a very nice little cottage just outside of town.”

“North or South?”

“South.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Andi nodded, “Let’s go.”

She couldn’t help but look as they passed Paul’s house. His Jeep sat in the driveway, next to a silver Lexus and a dark green Lincoln Navigator. Gabby kept going for a couple of miles, then turned right onto a narrow blacktop road. They rounded a curve and topped a rise and Andi's eyes widened when she spotted a cute little cottage. The white one story with sea foam green shutters had an unattached two-car garage to the rear of the house. A covered porch ran the length of the house, and flower beds filled with a rainbow of plants made it look homey. Andi knew this was her new home before she even looked inside.

As soon as Gabby dropped Andi off at her Jeep, Andi ran calculations in her head and headed for Harbor Regional Bank.

The loan officer who helped her with the Grand Cherokee loan asked her to fill out a loan application before he took her back to his office. She waited nervously while he reviewed the application, and entered numbers into his computer. He tapped his pencil against the desk and mumbled under his breath. He stared at the screen, then at the application. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

Finally, he looked up from his screen. “How much do you plan to put down on this house?”

Her stomach lurched. “I  don't have anything to put down."

"Are you waiting for your current house to sell? Because if you are--"

She shook her head. "I'm not. My husband had the house in a trust, and I'm not . . . " Her voice trailed off when she recognized the pity in his gaze.

He shook his head and stroked his moustache. “And you do not have a job at this time?”

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “No, sir.”

His eyebrows rose and he asked, “Do you have any leads on jobs?”

“No.” She shrugged, “But I've been busy and haven’t really looked yet.”

He blinked several times, then barked out a laugh. “And how exactly do you intend to make a mortgage payment with no job?” He clamped his mouth closed and nodded, tilted his head back as he frowned at the screen again and clicked his mouse. “I can take this to our loan committee, but I’m not making any promises. You should hear from me next week if your loan is accepted.”

She hated feeling powerless. “What would improve the chances of acceptance?”

His eyebrows crept up his forehead and he leaned forward. “Get a job.”

She left the bank and drove around town, thinking. She needed a real job, not a part time gig like the Chamber of Commerce, but she had no experience and no college degree. What if she didn't get the loan? She didn't have enough to buy the place outright. Her mother didn’t have enough money to loan, and neither did Dana. Perhaps Paul? Given his family connections, he had access to a lot of money, but she hadn’t spoken to him since she’d gotten back from Atlantic City, and didn’t know if he would loan her anything anyway.

And then she remembered the documents in the gun cabinet.

Could they be turned into cash?