Illusion of Luck (27 page)

“
Oh, I’m sorry. Please don’t
tell him I said anything.”

“
No, of course
not.”

“
Well, you two kids have
fun. Can’t wait to meet you, Chaucey.”

After she hung up, she walked over to Crow’s
apartment and let herself in. He had entrusted her with a key many
months earlier.

Maybe there was a brochure or a scribbled
note somewhere, she thought. But she found nothing to indicate
what he was up to. Then she bumped the mouse to bring his computer
to life.

His email program was open. She hated to
snoop, but really needed to know what was going on. The subject for
one of the emails was an airline ticket confirmation.

Oh no, she thought.
He
is
planning a trip. How would she let him down gently? She just
wasn’t ready for that. What if the tickets were non-refundable?
Then she might feel obligated to go.

But the reservation was only for one
person—to Orlando. What’s going on here?

She opened the other browser
window and saw the familiar page of Barry Undermine. Crow needs to
just forget about Barry, she thought. Chaucey wished
she
could.

She had not seen this
chapter. It made her cringe, reading about the beautiful young
woman who met the manipulative writer in a motel room and had wild
sex with him. That woman was
her
. What if Crow thought that
was what really happened?

Chaucey refreshed the page to see if anyone
had commented, and was surprised to see a new chapter that had
been posted early that morning.

Clearly, Barry was still after Cynthia. But
how foolish of him to announce his intentions on the web. Greg and
Cynthia would surely be following his writings and alert the police
immediately.

She couldn’t believe she had ever been
interested in such a man. The writing that had days before seduced
her, now made her skin crawl. He would force Cynthia to have sex
with him so she would have his baby. What kind of sick, twisted
mind would refer to that as ‘the fulfillment of my fantasy in
Orlando?’

Then it clicked. “Crow went to Orlando to
hunt down Barry.”

But it could go terribly wrong, she thought.
Crow might yell to him from across the street. Barry starts running
and leads him into a dark alley. When Crow follows him in, he
doesn’t see Barry at first. Then he sees the gun—too late.

If Crow would only answer his phone. She
knew that once his mind was set, there was no stopping him. Crow
was on a mission: to avenge the attempted rape of the woman he
loves.

Now she wondered if she loved Crow. Just two
days earlier she wasn’t even thinking ‘Crow’ and ‘love’ in the same
sentence.

The question of love could be decided later.
Right now, she had to keep him from doing something crazy and
getting himself killed.

She clicked back to the confirmation email,
picked up the desk phone, and called Continental Airlines to see if
there was still a seat available on Crow’s flight.

**********

Greg and Cynthia were in Disney-MGM Studios
park, on their way to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

“
I need to stop by the
restroom, Sweetie.” Greg gave his wife a quick peck on the lips and
walked toward the restroom.

Cynthia took a deep breath and closed her
eyes, bathing her face in the warm Florida sun. It was late
February, and 70 degrees in Orlando—about ten degrees warmer than
Coreyville, she figured.

“
Nice day, huh?”

She heard the man’s voice, but didn’t
realize at first that he was talking to her.

“
Uh, yes. Yes, it
is.”

“
You and your husband look
like newlyweds.”

“
Oh, really?”

“
Yeah. I saw him kiss you
before he went in the restroom.”

“
I see.” What made this
ponytailed guy an authority on marriage? He couldn’t have been
over 25, and he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

“
Have you two been to the
Tower of Terror?”

“
We’re on our
way.”

“
Oh, you’ll love it. As long
as you don’t have a weak stomach like I do.” He laughed. “Yeah,
the first time I rode it I ended up shooting chunks all over the
gray-hairs in front of me.”

“
Oh, no.”

“
Yeah, I felt sorry for
those poor old ladies. They got mad at me. But then
they
started
throwing up too.”

“
So, they couldn’t handle
the ride either.”

“
No, I think it was so much
the ride as it was the puke running down the back of their necks.”
He laughed. “I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t laugh at those old
ladies.” He saw Greg coming out of the bathroom. “Well, anyway,
have fun!” He walked away.

“
Who was that?” Greg put his
sunglasses back on.

“
I don’t know. But he was
warning me about the Tower of Terror. Made me wonder whether I
have the stomach for it.”

“
Oh, don’t be silly. I’ve
seen you handle some very tough situations. I can’t imagine there’s
anything out
here
that can take you down. Now, me, on the other
hand…”

“
Don’t worry, Baby. I’ll
hold your hand.” She took his hand and kissed it.

“
Well, then I guess I’ll be
okay.”

She smiled seductively as she slowly licked
one of his knuckles.

“
There is
one
wild ride that
doesn’t scare me at
all
. In fact, I could ride all
night long. And unless you want me to hop aboard right now, you’d
better quit licking my hand.”

She stopped abruptly and grinned. “Okay.
Let’s go ride the Tower of Terror.”

They started walking.

“
We’ll save your
favorite
ride for
tonight. It’s my favorite too,” she said with a wink.

**********

The ponytailed young man watched Greg and
Cynthia walk toward the Tower of Terror. He had raised the pitch of
his voice slightly and used a Midwest accent. That, along with his
clean-shaven face, the ponytail, and his youthful attire had
completely fooled her.

Now he knew he could walk up
to her and start talking, and she would not be afraid of him. And
by the time she realized his true identity, she would be
his
.

Chapter
36

Chaucey barely caught the 1:15 PM flight on
Continental Airlines out of Houston. By the time she found her
seat, the door had already been closed and the plane was ready to
pull away. There was just enough room in the overhead for her small
bag. The teenage boys in the aisle and window seats were thrilled
to have a hot chick sitting between them.

Once they were in the air and the seatbelt
sign went off, Chaucey got up and headed for the back of the plane.
It was nice to get away from the smothering heat of the
testosterone twins.

There he was—near the back of the plane in a
middle seat.

“
Crow?”

He looked up.
“
Chaucey?
”

She leaned over and spoke quietly. “Crow,
what are you doing?”

“
Going to
Orlando.”

“
Because you think Barry’s
there?”

“
Yes.”

The middle aged man in the aisle seat was
enjoying a lovely view down Chaucey’s blouse. She sensed that at
any moment he might press his face against her cleavage, like a kid
at a candy counter.

When she stood up, his neck stretched
impossibly long as his eyes followed her breasts.

“
Sir, would you mind trading
seats with me?”

The expression on his face said he would
give up his seat, open the emergency door and jump out of the
plane—if that’s what she wanted. “Oh, uh, sure.”

“
It’s 18E. Thank you so
much.” She was careful to make her smile friendly, but
platonic.

He got up and began to walk toward his new
seat. She sat down next to Crow.

Then the man came back. “Forgot my
headphones.” And before she could get them for him, he reached to
the floor, rubbing his arm against her smooth, firm calf. Then he
slid his hand across the top of her thigh and unplugged the wire
from the armrest. “Thanks.”

In her mind, she slapped him so hard that he
tumbled to the back of the plane and bowled over a couple of flight
attendants. But he had given up his seat for her, so she smiled
and told him he was welcome.

Chaucey turned to Crow and whispered, “So,
what were you planning to do—just walk up and strangle him? Or
maybe you were gonna knock him down and bang his head on the
pavement until it split open and his brains fell out. Is that your
plan?”

“
No…”

“
You took off work and
hopped on a plane without telling me anything. And your dad thinks
the two of us are on some kind of lovers’ retreat. What have you
been telling your parents?”

“
Not that much
really.”

“
Look, this guy is bad news.
You could get yourself killed messing with him. What were you
thinking?

“
I was thinking that I can’t
stand for that cockroach to be running around free after what he
did to you.”

“
Cockroach, huh?”

Crow couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“
This is nuts, Crow. He’ll
never bother me again. So, just forget about it.”

“
But what about Greg
Tenorly? And his wife—that redhead at the motel? I called Disney
World and found out where they’re staying. I wanted to warn them.
But they’re not answering the phone.”

“
Okay. When we get to
Orlando we’ll try calling them again. If there’s still no answer,
we’ll go to their room and tell them in person.”

“
Good.”

“
And then we’ll catch a
flight back home. And you will NOT, under any circumstances, go
after Barry Undermine. Right?”

“
I guess.”

“
No. You’ve got to
promise.”

She was waiting for him to say something,
but what he really wanted to do was to kiss her. “Fine.”

**********

Delta Flight 1595 would begin boarding any
minute. Sandy and Rebecca had just arrived in Atlanta thirty
minutes earlier. He sat in the waiting area, watching for her to
come out of the bathroom. Just five minutes of separation, and he
was already missing her.

When she came out and walked toward Sandy,
he studied her carefully. What was it about her that made him want
to be with her so much?

A little girl was trying to catch up with
her mother and siblings when she tripped and fell down and began
to cry. Rebecca rushed to her side and reassured her until the
mother could take over.

She smiled and said ‘hi’ to an old man who
looked like he didn’t have one friend in the world. Almost
instantly the man had more spring in his step.

How could a woman be so tough and blunt, yet
so kind and loving?

Sandy grinned at her. “Everything come out
alright?”

She punched him hard in the arm and sat down
beside him. “You don’t really think Larry is in Orlando, do
you?”

“
I hope not, but it’s
possible. With the police after him, he’d have to be
crazy.”

“
But, as we
know…”

“
Yeah. He
is
crazy.”

“
Did you try calling Greg
again?”

“
Yeah. His cell phone is
still off. But I left a message on their room phone.”

“
I thought you were afraid
that leaving a message about Larry would spoil their
honeymoon?”

“
Well, after a little more
thought I figured Cynthia disappearing again would spoil it even
more. And Greg would kill me if that happened and I hadn’t even
tried to warn him.”

“
So, we’ll go warn them
about Larry—and then what?”

“
I don’t know. Grab a room
somewhere and—“

“—
wait a second. Grab
a
room? As in a
single room for the two of us?”

“
Sure. Why not? No sense in
paying for two.”

“
Okay. Now I see what this
trip is really about.”

“
We can get
two
beds, if you
like.”

“
If I
like
?”

“
Strike that. We will get
two beds. Okay?”

“
Right. One to put our
luggage on and the other for you to put
yourself
on
me
.”

He smiled slightly. “No, not at all.”

“
You dog,” she snarled, but
only half-seriously.

“
Yes, I
am
a dog. I’ll admit it. And as
such, I will jump your bones at any time of the day or night.
But
only
if
you want me to. I’m a
gentleman
dog.”

“
Really? A gentleman dog.
Now I’ve heard everything.”

“
And I know many commands,
such as ‘stay,’ ‘fetch,’ ‘rollover,’ and ‘pounce.’”