The next morning we woke to find that during the night, one of us had pulled up the covers. “Wow,” Jack said.
“I know,” I smiled.
“I had no idea you had that much passion in you, Audrey. I mean every time’s been incredible, but last night…wow. I hate to get up, but I have to go to work.”
“How about a shower?” I said.
“I’m sure I need one,” he laughed. “I just hope my legs are strong enough to walk into the bathroom. You really took it out of me, young lady.”
“I was planning on joining you.”
“Ah, well be gentle. If I had to run after a thief right now, I’d have to shoot him to catch him.”
After Jack left, I broke down. I didn’t know when I was leaving to join Harley, but I assumed it would be in the next day or two and I might have just seen the last of him. I dried my eyes and took a deep breath, got dressed, filled a travel mug with decaf, and headed down to Nelly. On the way to the post office, I patted my pocket to be sure I had the key. Though my heart was full of grief at the thought of leaving Jack, a feeling of excitement built within, as I wondered if the plane ticket had arrived; I wanted to know where I was going.
I fit the key into the lock and opened box #281. An envelope was there. In it was a one-way ticket to LAX, via Philly, for tomorrow. Tomorrow! Harley was in Los Angeles. Where would she take me from there? There was also a note, instructing me to use the layover in Philly to go to the airport salon and do something to my hair that would change my appearance. I felt like I was in a movie, or a play – that nothing was real – except now one thing was. I was leaving tomorrow.
Once back in Nelly, I re-read the ticket. The USAIR flight would leave here at 1:25 p.m. and land at 6:38 in Philly, where I would have the 90-minute hairdo layover. From there I would fly again with USAIR, and because of the change in time zones, I would arrive in Los Angeles at 7 p.m. I wondered how long it would take Jack to start looking for me.
I made a stop at the bank and cleared out what money I had left. I would take my own advice and buy what I needed when we reached whatever destination Harley had in mind. There was precious little I couldn’t leave; not one belonging I could think of. How sad was that? I headed back to my apartment to figure out what I could pack into just a duffle bag, and trying not to think about how much I would miss Jack and Lisa.
Chapter 28
Even with pills, I’d tossed and turned all night and finally got up and showered around seven. I sat by my window, knowing I’d never watch another parade through it, and sure that I would never be back in Camillus again. My stomach was upset and the beginnings of a headache had already started. Was I doing the right thing? I didn’t know. I dug my bottle of happy pills out of my purse and swallowed one, hoping that, if nothing else, it would keep my stomach and head from getting any worse. At least the brain zaps had stopped.
My duffle, packed and ready to go, waited by the front door. On top, was an envelope I would leave downstairs for my landlord, informing him that I was going out of town and that Lisa would be using my Jeep. I’d tossed all perishables into the dumpster outside, and cleaned the entire apartment.
Jack would expect to see me tonight, but not before. I thought about writing a note and leaving it for him, but what would I say? I certainly couldn’t tell him I was going away with Harley, but I didn’t want him to think I’d been kidnapped, or like characters on TV, had come down with amnesia and wandered away. He would be beside himself with worry and would no doubt organize an all-out search for me. Maybe I could think of something to say that would convince him I’d taken off of my own free will. But he’d never believe it; he would think my abductor had forced me to write the note. It was all too much.
At 11:30, with my taxi on the way, I hadn’t written a word to Jack, so I gave up and stuck the one I’d written to my landlord in the restaurant mailbox. Then I went back upstairs to take a last look at my apartment. Small as it was, it had been mine. I rounded the corner to where I’d carved my initials into the woodwork and ran my fingers over them. Enough! I picked up my duffle and checked to be sure I had the plane ticket, my phone, and my medicine. Mentally ready to go, I straightened my shoulders and opened the front door, to find Jack standing there.
“Hi,” he said. “What’s up?”
“I” – I stammered, “I was just going out.”
“Where to?”
“What are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you until tonight.”
“Obviously, now where are you going?” He walked toward me and I backed up into the living room.
“Jack – what are you doing?”
“Okay, look,” he said. “I know you’re on your way to the airport, and you’re going to meet up with Harley. Am I correct?”
Lisa! “Lisa promised she wouldn’t say anything!” I couldn’t believe she had betrayed me.
“She thought about what you were doing and couldn’t let you go through with it. She called me this morning.”
“She had no right to do that!”
“She was worried about you,” he said. “So you were going to leave me? Run off with Harley?”
“I can’t stay here!” I said. “I hated the thought of leaving you, but I cannot testify in that trial and I will not let Dr. Steele commit me! I won’t! And you can’t stop me!” Then I had an awful thought. “Please don’t tell me you have a warrant, or a subpoena, or something with you.”
“Of course I don’t.”
“Then I’m leaving, if you will kindly get out of my way.”
“I’m sure you have one minute to talk to me before you go.”
“So you won’t stop me?”
“No, in fact, I want you to go.”
I sat on the sofa, thoroughly confused. “What?”
“I want you to go meet Harley, so we can arrest her.”
“You want me to set a trap for her?”
“If that’s the way you want to put it, yes.”
“I can’t do that!”
“Think about it, Audrey, Harley is every bit as much a fugitive as Ferdy. She will be found. And if you’re with her, you will be charged with interfering with an investigation, aiding and abetting, and who knows what else? You can’t put yourself in that position.”
I covered my face with my hands. Jack made sense; I’d been about to put myself in the middle of yet another disaster. The booby hatch was looking better and better.
“One way or the other, Harley is going to be brought in,” he said. “Now you can be with her when that happens, as her accomplice, or you can work with law enforcement and keep yourself out of trouble.”
“I should have realized,” I said.
“So you’ll do it? You’ll work with us?”
I hated myself for agreeing to set a trap for Harley. No matter what, I had this soft spot in my heart for her, and sympathy for the life she’d led. But I agreed. “I’ll do it.”
He produced a cell phone from his belt. “You’ll take this along, because Harley will want you to give her yours. She’s not going to take any chances that you might be able to give her location away.”
“Just leave it on? How am I supposed to charge it?”
“It’ll stay charged for a few days. You’ll be back by then. Don’t call me unless you feel you have to; just text. It’s permanently set to vibrate – no beeps or rings will come out of this thing. Got it? Texts only. Don’t offer her your phone, but if she asks for it, give it willingly. It’ll convince her you’re on her side.”
“I feel like a spy.”
“All you have to do, is get on the plane and meet Harley in Los Angeles. Undercover officers will be watching for you at LAX. The moment you meet her, they’ll move in and arrest her. They’ll hand you a return ticket and you’ll fly right back here. I’ll be waiting for you at the gate.”
I threw my arms around him. “I’m sorry, Jack – I’m so glad I don’t have to leave you. I didn’t know how I was going to handle that. I think it would have ki
lled me.”
“When you get back,” he said, “I hope you’ll put this on.” He took a small velvet box out of his pocket and opened it. Inside was an engagement ring, with an exquisite, square-cut, solitaire diamond.
“Oh, my God, Jack! This is the last thing I expected!”
“After the other night, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Was that the only reason?”
“No, it’s you. Everything about you,” he smiled. “But I have to tell you, after that night you could have had my badge and all my credit cards.”
“How long have you had this ring?”
“Not long; when Lisa called me, I was in the jewelry store, buying it. Want to try it on?”
“No. If I put it on, I won’t want to take it off. It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen! But Jack, we’ve only known each other a little while. Don’t you think this is too fast? You might regret tying yourself to someone like me.”
“Audrey, you are the strongest person I know. For so many years you’ve managed your anxiety, and the problems you’re having now are external. Not internal. Once this crap you’ve had hurled at you goes away, you’ll be totally fine again. I know you will. I believe you will. Besides, I’ve wanted you with me since the first time I saw you.”
“Still…,”
“It’ll be here when you get back.” He closed the box and tucked it back in his pocket. “By the way,” he said, as he pulled some papers out of another pocket, “here’s the title and registration to your Jeep; Lisa wanted me to give them back to you. Now you’d better get going.”
“Will you drive me? I can cancel my cab.”
“No, you can’t be seen with me at the airport, but an officer will be watching in case Ferdy is in the vicinity keeping an eye on you for Harley.”
We kissed goodbye – a wonderful kiss that I wouldn’t forget. The last kiss before I wore his ring. The last kiss before I walked Harley into a trap. Probably the last kiss before lost my mind.
Chapter 29
When the cab arrived, I climbed in, pulled my duffle in after me, and headed to Hancock Airport. The plane was on time, and after I went through security, I settled in at the gate and waited to board.
Second thoughts plagued me, but Jack’s words played over and over in my head, and by the time my flight was called, I knew I had no choice but to go through with his plan. I focused on the flights to Philly and Los Angeles, and the return flight that would bring me back here, and not so much on what was going to take place in the hours between. It was going to be a long day.
In Philly, I went to the airport salon and had my hair stripped of all its color. Since it was already on the short side, there wasn’t a lot the stylist could do with it, but she moussed the curls into spikes and sprayed the hell out of it. I also subjected myself to a makeup session with a young lady who lined my eyes with black and smudged my lids with a shade of charcoal. The combination of hair and eyes left me looking like a punk raccoon, but it did the trick; I didn’t even recognize myself.
The plane ride to Los Angeles was long, but I managed to entertain myself with a couple of magazines I’d purchased in the airport gift shop, when I wasn’t envisioning all the ways this could go wrong. My feet had barely hit the ground at LAX, when my cell rang. “Change of plans,” said Harley.
“What do you mean?” The first thing that could go wrong just did. I glanced around in search of uniforms, but then remembered Jack had said the officers looking for me would be undercover. Shit.
“I’m not in the airport,” she said. “I’m outside. Leave through the USAir door so I can see you. Did you go to the salon in Philly?”
“I did,” I said, hoping I sounded normal. Where were the police? Then it hit me – they would be looking for me as I appeared in the photo they’d been given. And I’d forgotten to tell Jack that Harley had instructed me to change my appearance, let alone that she’d changed hers.
“What color?”
“Well, I guess you could say platinum, but they really just had time to strip the color out.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, and it’s all spiky.” Did I sound nervous? Could she hear distraction in my voice as I searched for people who looked like they were searching for me?
“Okay,” she said, as I exited the terminal, “I see you. Now take the shuttle to Parking Lot B. I’ll meet you there.”
“How will I find you?”
“I’ll find you,” she said.
Sure that she was still watching, I didn’t dare text Jack to tell him of Harley’s change of plans or of my new look. I followed the signs to the shuttles, where one was loading up. On the ride to Parking Lot B, heat built at the back of my neck and my muscles tensed, as I wondered if someone on the shuttle was watching me for Harley. Paranoia like mine allows no leeway, and I could easily believe she had hired the driver, the acne-riddled boy in front of me, or the old lady sitting next to me, as easily as not. I’d known I would screw this up and now I had. It looked like I would be leaving the area with Harley. I wanted to cry.
I got off the shuttle and waited until the vehicle rolled away. Five minutes passed with no sign of Harley and I began to get nervous. Was she watching me? Waiting to see if it looked like I’d brought police with me? I didn’t think so. She wouldn’t have asked me to come if she didn’t trust me.
A black Cadillac Escalade ESV, with tinted windows, pulled up to the curb; one of the back windows whirred down. A red-haired Harley waved me into the back. “Audrey!” She was fairly wiggling with excitement. “I’m so happy to see you! I’m so glad you came!”
I threw my duffle into the enormous vehicle and chose a seat directly across from her. I would be riding backwards, but that was okay. I wanted to see her eyes when she talked to me. I thought I would be able to tell if she lied, even though so far she’d managed to do just fine in that department.
“Oh my God,” she said, “you look so different!”
I put my hands on my head. “I know - can you believe this makeup?” While we talked, a totally different conversation played in my head, and I hoped that I wouldn’t confuse the two and blurt out the wrong thing. Soon we were on the road. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“For a long ride,” she smiled, “so settle in.”
“Seriously? You’re not going to tell me after I took this incredible leap of faith? I left Jack, my apartment, the one friend I had besides you, screwed up my entire appearance, and flew across the country!”
“You also left the possibility of being committed and the certainty of testifying against Danny. And you said you were losing your apartment.”
“That’s true, but I still want to know where we’re going.” I was no longer Harley’s boss, and not even on an equal footing with her now. Hippie Harley was holding all the cards.
“Okay,” she said. “We’re going to drive up the coast to the place I’ve been staying. It’s right on the beach, it’s secluded, and it’s so beautiful, Audrey. You won’t even believe the sunsets.”
“Good,” I said, “I was afraid we might be heading to Mexico and I really wasn’t keen on that. But you didn’t have to hire such a luxurious car just to pick me up!”
“I didn’t want to drive that far.”
“So what have you been up to?” I asked.
“Happily living without fear, especially now that Carl has been arrested – honestly, Audrey, that was the best news you could have given me, although I’m sorry it happened the way it did.”
“How did you stand him all those years?” I asked. “He’s so mean. Whatever made you fall for a guy like that?”
“He wasn’t like that until well into our relationship. It was like he was hiding that part of himself until he was sure I wouldn’t leave. I guess he saw a vulnerability in me that made him think he could dominate me, and that if he slowly put the fear of God into me, I’d put up with his abuse. And of course, he was right. I’m still afraid of him, even knowing h
e’s behind bars. People escape.”
“I doubt he could find you now.”
“I don’t ever take safety for granted,” she said.
All I could think of was Jack. He would have heard by now that no one matching my description had gotten off the plane. He’d be out of his mind with worry. As soon as I could, I’d text him. I was carrying two cell phones, and Harley hadn’t yet asked for mine, which comforted me. Being able to keep them both would be helpful, in case one of them lost its juice.
As if on cue, Harley put out her hand, “I’m gonna need your phone, Aud. Sorry.”
“My phone? Really?”
“Yeah, I can’t take any chances, you know? Pings and all that?”
I dug it out of my purse and handed it over. “Wow, Harley, this feels serious.”
“It is, believe me.”
As the night wore on, we talked ourselves out. Harley fell asleep and I quickly got bored, not being able to see much of anything out of the heavily tinted windows; I eventually dropped off too. Harley shook me awake around 4 a.m. and announced that we had reached our destination. “You were really out,” she said. “You slept right through a fuel stop.”
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but didn’t know how. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “What is it?”
“It’s…,” she said.
“What? Come on! You’re scaring me.”
“I don’t mean to,” she said. “But I’m going to need you to let me explain some things without interrupting me, okay?” The driver got out and shut his door.
“Yes, yes, okay! Out with it!”
Just then the car door opened and the driver reached for my hand to help me out. I slid to the end of the seat and looked up at him. It was Ferdy.
Chapter 30
“Ferdy!” I couldn’t take it in! “What the hell are you doing here? You were driving this car?”
Brainstorm Page 14