Accidents Waiting to Happen (18 page)

“And it definitely came from Pinnacle Investments?” Bob asked.

“Yeah, I had to call them back to check some details.”

Josh frowned.

“Is that the answer you were looking for?” the florist asked.

It wasn’t.

***

Josh walked the five blocks from Forget-Me-
Nots
to his home with a bunch of roses in one hand.
 
The flowers would be something nice for Kate.
 
He hoped it would put a smile on her face.
 
Also, the purchase was in some way Josh’s apology to all those employed at the florist he’d offended.
 
He hoped he would start making people happy.

But he was far from happy.
 
He’d tracked James Mitchell down to his motel, but that wasn’t his name and there was no sign of his existence.
 
He’d expected the man to have bought the wreath, but he hadn’t.
 
Pinnacle Investments had sent it.
 
It didn’t make sense.
 
There was no connection, no conspiracy, no nothing.
 
Maybe he was overwrought from the stressful events of the last week and his paranoia was unfounded.
 
An irritated driver beeped her horn at him.
 
Josh snapped back into the real world and found he had stepped onto the crosswalk when the light was against him.

Josh let himself in and called out to his family.
 
He heard voices from the backyard and he immediately put the flowers behind his back.
 
He closed the door with his foot as Kate and Abby came in from the patio.

“Hi, dad,” Abby said.

“Everything okay?” Kate said.

“Yeah.”
 
Josh produced the flowers from behind his back.
 
“These are for you, babe.”

At a loss for words, Kate took the flowers, put her arms around her husband and kissed him.
   

Kate whispered in his ear.
 
“Thank you.
 
I love you.”

“I’ve been such an idiot,” he whispered back.
 
“I’m sorry.”

“Never mind that.”

Their embrace was brought to a sharp conclusion by Abby.
 
“What about me?” she said.

They looked down at their daughter.

“Oh, yeah,” Josh said.

He released Kate and removed a single rose from the bunch.
 
Kneeling, he gave it to Abby.
 
“Of course a rose for my other lady.”

“I’ll put it in my room,” Abby said, and tore up the stairs.

“Don’t forget to put it in water,” Kate called after her.

“Am I a good husband?” he asked.

She smiled at him crookedly, bemused.
 
“Yeah, I suppose.”

Kate turned her back on him and went into the kitchen.
 
She arranged the flowers in a vase and placed it on the kitchen table.

In the living room, Josh flopped onto the couch, exhaled, and ran his hands through his hair.
 
Kate came into the living room and sat on the coffee table in front of him.

“How did you get on?”

“Okay, I guess.”
 
He paused.
 
“I don’t know.
 
We didn’t find anything out really.”

“Tell me,” Kate said.

Abby bounded down the stairs and tore into the living room.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said.

Standing over Kate, looking as menacing as an eight-year-old could, Abby asked, “Can we go now?”

Kate smiled and slipped an arm around her daughter.
 
“I suppose so.”

“Go where?” Josh asked.

“The zoo,” Kate said.
 
“I was waiting until you got back.
 
You coming?”

The zoo brought back a recent unpleasant memory.
 
“No, I don’t think so,” he replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some paperwork to put together for the FAA.”

“Okay.
 
Your loss.”

She got herself and Abby ready for their afternoon at the zoo.
 
Josh saw them out.
 
Before he closed the door, Kate said, “Miss you.”

He busied himself with the task of producing the documentation for the destroyed Cessna.
 
In his office, he removed his copies of the Certificate of Airworthiness, Technical logs, insurance certificates and other mandatory documentation that would be requested for inspection.
 

He still had to inform the insurance company that the airplane had been destroyed.
 
That was a nuisance he could do without.
 
Insurance companies were the bane of his life at the moment.
 
He picked up the phone and started to dial the claims line.

The doorbell chimed.

Josh put the phone down and answered the door, his thoughtful mood shattered upon opening it.
 
Belinda Wong stood on the porch.

“You asshole!”
 
Her beautiful oval shaped face was screwed up in hate.
 
She pushed the door wide open and walked in without invitation.

Josh checked that none of his neighbors had seen Bell’s arrival and quickly closed the door behind her.
 
“What are you doing here?”

“You know why I’m here, Josh.”
 
She spat his name like she had venom in her mouth.
 
“And don’t worry.
 
Your wife and kid didn’t see me.
 
I can see the look on your face.”

She was right.
 
Her invasion of his home in broad daylight terrified him.
 
But she didn’t have to rub his face in it.
 
Throwing her out by the scruff of her neck sounded totally appealing, but the undesirable publicity it would bring prevented him.

“I’ve been waiting for your family to leave all morning,” she continued.

“What do you want, Bell?” Josh demanded.

“You coward.
 
Sending your fat friend, Bob, to tell me not to ruin your little family unit.”
 
She mocked him by speaking in baby talk.
 
“Did you tell him to do that?”

“No, I didn’t.
 
And I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

Bell shook her head in disgust.

“Why did you crash the party, Bell?
 
I paid you as you asked and I shouldn’t have seen you again.”

“Because I wanted to, because I want you to know that I can drop into your life any time I want and I don’t need to ask.”
 
She scraped an index finger with a wicked looking manicured nail under Josh’s chin.
 
The nail rasped against his stubble when she curled her finger back sharply.

Anger, hate and frustration welled up inside him.
 
He should have known that Bell’s return hadn’t been intended to be a brief encounter.
 
She toyed with him like a cat with a mouse and he wondered when would she go in for the kill.
 
He’d had enough.

“How much to make you disappear forever?” he asked.

“Josh, that’s half your problem.
 
You think money will solve everything.
 
If you hadn’t been so fascinated with the stuff, you would never have gotten yourself into this shit pile you’re in now.”
 

“That’s bullshit, Bell, I took that money because I needed it for Abby’s medical treatment and you know it.”

Suddenly, Bell softened.
 
She became seductive, sexual.
 
“Josh, you know it doesn’t have to be like this.
 
You know what you have to do to stop all this…” she searched for a word, “unpleasantness.
 
Don’t you, Josh?”

Josh allowed her to come close to him.
 
She slipped an arm around his neck and looked into his eyes.
 
His body went rigid, unbending to her will.
 
He resisted her.

“No, I don’t, Bell.”

“Dump that wife and brat of yours for me, of course.
 
Silly boy.”
 
She oozed sex and temptation.

Raising a hand to his face, Bell caressed his cheek and kissed his mouth.
 
The kiss was brief.
 
He slapped her hand down but kept the force on her arm, gripped her wrist and twisted it behind her back breaking the kiss before she could make it openmouthed.
 
Bell released a short laugh, taking pleasure from Josh’s rough play.

“I don’t think so,” he whispered.

She laughed.
 
“You seem in the mood to play.
 
Are you sure?”
 

 
“Never in a million years, would I ever want you back.”
 

He released her arm and pushed her away with a sharp shove to the chest.
 
He’d washed his hands of her.
 
He didn’t want her.

Bell stumbled back, nearly falling, but saved herself by striking a small table housing the telephone.
 
The impact rocked the table and the telephone fell, the receiver clattering to the hardwood floor.

Hatred consumed her face again.
 
“You prick, Josh.
 
You think you’re so righteous, so perfect.
 
Well, I’m not the one who took a bribe, cheated on my wife and screwed my secretary.
 
Josh, you’re going to be so sorry when I’ve finished with you.”
 

“And are you going to do that alone, Bell?
 
Or are you going to get your new friend involved?”
 

Bewilderment crossed Bell’s face like she didn’t understand.
 

“You know, the guy who pushed me off the bridge.
 
I saw you with him at the party.”

After a long moment, recognition, then a malicious grin spread across her face.
 
Still slumped against the table, Bell righted herself.
 
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Well?”
 
Josh wanted an answer.
 
Was James Mitchell her partner?

“Fuck you, Josh.
 
I think I have the answer I was looking for from you.
 
And you will be hearing from me…in one way or another…or your wife will.”

“Get out!” he barked, shaking with rage.

“Suit yourself,” she said, the evil grin still present on her face.
 
She opened the door and let herself out.
 

“Dammit!” Josh said to himself, his hands balled up into fists.

Chapter Thirteen

The park was a city block square of grass in the downtown area, one of several plots scattered throughout downtown like lame property squares on a Monopoly board.
 
The children’s playground occupied one corner of the park like a stamp on a postcard.
 
Unsupervised and shrouded by trees, it was home to rubber tire swing sets, slides, monkey bars, seesaws and a merry-go-round all contained in a sandbox.

Abby had the playground to herself in the late afternoon.
 
She had free run of the amusements and no petty arguments about whose turn was next.
 
It was every child’s dream and today, Abby’s had come true.
 

Abby’s good fortune wasn’t because of good timing or knowing an out of the way place.
 
She had the playground to herself because most of the city parks were populated with bums spending their days lounging or panhandling.
 
Parents feared their children coming in contact with an undesirable and they would rather take them to more secure forms of entertainment.
 
However, this park and playground was the exception.
 
Not in a part of town heavily populated with city workers who had money to give, the park was virtually unmolested by bums who gravitated to those places with better pickings.