Death Benefits

by Hannah Alexander

  Brittany tapped Ginger’s arm. “Aunt Ginger, can we go hiking now? You said we could, and Lucy wants to hike that road behind this house. Can we go?”

  Ginger laughed. “Honey, you just got attacked by a monster wave, you’ve been injured, and your arm will be in a sling. Why don’t we take it easy and watch a movie tonight?”

  “I want to go hiking. Please? Lucy wants to see what’s up the mountain, and you said she saved my life. She should get to do what she wants tonight.”

  Ginger looked at Ray. “What do you think, Doctor Clyde? Should our patient be allowed to hike in the Kauai rain forest after her injury?”

  “I don’t see why not, if you can pack three umbrellas in case the rain gets here before you can make it back. They’ve been drenched in the ocean already, so I don’t see how a little more water could hurt them.”

  “At least Brittany can’t be attacked by another wave up on the mountainside,” Ginger said. “It should be perfectly safe.”

  Ginger felt Brittany’s hair, then her clothes. “We need to change first. We all got a good soaking. Then we need to find our backpacks. You shouldn’t carry one, Brittany, but Lucy and I will, and we’ll need flashlights, in case anything happens and we don’t get back before dark.”

  “Try to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Ray said.

  Brittany scrambled down from her chair and ran through the house, calling for Lucy.

  Ray looked at Ginger. Helen had fired up the grill outside, and smoke drifted past the window. Steve had gone back to the store for groceries for the week. It promised to be a laid-back, comfortable stay, safe from their stalker, and far enough from the water that they would have no worries in the storm.

  “You realize, don’t you, that when I say hike, I’m thinking of a short thirty-minute stroll up the hill and back,” he said.

  “Or less.”

  “Because in spite of all the reassurances I keep getting about this storm coming in, I can’t help remembering the last tropical storm here wiped out most of the signs to Poipu.”

  “The last weather report I heard had downgraded the storm even further, Ray, and it isn’t supposed to hit us for at least a couple of hours. We’ll be back before you know it.” She leaned forward and put a hand over his. “Lucy is such a little trouper, and she’s been tense this whole trip. If she wants to go on a hike, I want to take her. You could come with us, you know.”

  He looked down at their hands, then glanced outside at the track that she and the girls would be following up the mountain. Sometimes the responsibilities of his job weighed heavily. “May I take a rain check on that? We’ve had a situation at our clinic in Kobrin that I have to address immediately.”

  “Oh? Kobrin?” Her hand tightened on his. “Are Jacque and Marti okay?”

  “They’re fine, but Marti called a few minutes ago about a suspected flu epidemic, and he’s low on supplies. Minsk has an abundance, but our courier has the flu, as well, so I need to find an alternative, and I may need to call in medical help from Minsk, too.”

  He saw her lips press together. He knew she was checking the urge to comment on his lack of staffing.

  Those lips…he couldn’t get the kiss out of his mind.

  He leaned forward and touched her shoulder. “Ginger, this past year has been more difficult than I’d ever imagined possible.”

  She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I know.”

  “For you, too?”

  She nodded as her gaze caressed his face.

  “I hated that you felt I rejected you, when I wanted the opposite to be true.”

  She looked away. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about—”

  “Because I love you, Ginger.”

  She stared at him, and, for once, didn’t seem able to find a reply.

  “I have for a long time,” he said. “Probably years, though I was too bullheaded to admit it to myself. But then, you wouldn’t know anything about bullheadedness, would you?”

  She gave him a quick grin, then immediately sobered.

  He took her hand. “Is it possible you may have some of those same feelings for me?”

  Though she didn’t pull her hand from his, he could feel her withdrawing. It amazed him how much that hurt.

  “Obviously, I care for you, Ray,” she said, her voice softer, her eyes sad.

  “What is it that makes me think there’s a ‘but’ coming?”

  She took his hand in both of hers, raised it to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “Ray, you know my past. For too many years, I lived for myself and did what I wanted to do. I ignored God’s call on my life, and wasted so much time when I could have been serving Him.”

  “You don’t have to keep trying to earn your way to heaven, you know.”

  “I know that. Of course I do. But perhaps because I did turn my back on God for so much of my life, I can’t let anything, or anyone, come between us now.”

  “That’s the last thing I would do, and you know it.”

  “Ray, I’ve put out feelers at other mission boards for an overseas medical position.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me, but why does it have to be overseas?”

  “Because that’s where my mission lies. You should be able to understand that. Your mission is Columbia. I’ve been saving my money, in case I can’t find a paid position. I know I’ve been called to care for those less fortunate than I, and the huge majority of those people are in other countries and continents.”

  “But those aren’t the only—”

  “We’re ready!”

  Ginger released his hand, and she and Ray turned to see Helen coming through the kitchen between the children. Brittany’s arm was tied expertly in a sling, the girls’ clothing was dry, their hair pulled back in ponytails, and they each wore a ball cap.

  “Helen, you’re amazing,” Ginger said.

  “Let’s go hiking now,” Brittany said. “Okay? Lucy has Chuckles and umbrellas in her backpack.”

  Ginger stood up. “Let me change and get my boots on. I’ll only be a couple of minutes.” She gave Ray a final glance over her shoulder as she walked from the room, and he saw the regret in her eyes.

  Ginger had only to sink her hiking boots into the Kauai mud to fall in love. “So this is Kauai in the winter. A person could get used to this.”

  A person could get used to having Ray Clyde around, too, but neither option was possible for her. She’d had her marriages, she’d lived that part of her life. It was over.

  Why did it have to hurt so much?

  “I want to wear the backpack,” Brittany said. “I want to carry Chuckles.”

  “You can’t,” Lucy said. “You’ve been hurt, and you have to heal.”

  “Ray said I was fine.”

  “Ray said you had to wear a sling,” Ginger reminded her. “Let Lucy and me take turns, and you walk and enjoy this beauty.”

  For sure, it continued to take Ginger’s breath away. This mountainside resembled the luxuriant forests that surrounded Hideaway during the spring, summer and autumn months. Except, of course, for the palm trees, and the looming mountains, the sound of breakers hitting the rocky shoreline in the distance, and the smell of salt air.

  Missouri had hills, no tall mountains.

  The Napali Coastline was a rugged series of coastal mountains ending in sheer cliffs that dropped straight down into the sea. The area was uninhabited except for backpackers, and unreachable except by foot or by boat. She didn’t know if this trail would eventually take them there, but later, when she got a chance to hike alone, she would check it out.

  The children walked faster than Ginger had expected, and she paused at a turn in the trail to catch her breath. Unexpectedly, a view opened up before her, and she discovered an unobstructed vista of the ocean.

  She gasped appreciatively. “Look, girls! Isn’t it beautiful?”

  Breathtaking. She could stand here and watch the shifting clouds and the colorful glow of the sinking sun for the rest of the night.
r />   Ginger heard the catchy tune from her cell phone and dug it from her pocket. It was Taylor Jackson again.

  “What’s up this time,” she asked. And why hadn’t he called Larry instead? She was surprised the call had even come through.

  “Just updating you about what we’ve got here, and I’ve got some questions that you’d probably be more likely to answer than anyone else.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you spend the most time with the girls.”

  “And?”

  “You know of anything Sandi Jameson might’ve had that Rick Fenrow would want? Did you find anything in her apartment after her death? Photos, documents, something you would have saved or placed in storage for the children?”

  Ginger glanced at the girls and lowered her voice, stepping away a few feet. “Nothing that struck me as important. I’d say the police would have done a most thorough search the day…it happened. Want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Wish I knew all the details,” Taylor said. “I called the sheriff and deputy. With Blaze Farmer’s help we went through Graham’s house, because he knows the house better than the rest of us. Whoever broke in was thorough.”

  Ginger shook her head. “But what would he have been looking for? You said pictures or documents. Of what?”

  “That’s what I wanted to know, so on a hunch, I called the prison where Fenrow had been held, And I learned some interesting things. I was put in touch with a friend, a former park ranger who I worked with at the Grand Canyon. He’d moved to Kansas and got into a ministry at this prison.”

  He knew Rick Fenrow from there?”

  “That’s right. A couple of weeks ago Fenrow was in a so-called accident in which an institutional-size refrigerator fell over and nearly crushed him. He was frantic when he called my friend. He said his cell mate was trying to kill him.”

  “Why would that be?” Ginger glanced down at the girls, then turned away from them and lowered her voice. “That’s a serious accusation.”

  “It sounds legit,” Taylor said. “Other reports backed him up. Fenrow is apparently in search of some sensitive information that Sandi was supposed to have had. In fact, the two of them had gathered that information, and Sandi was to compile it and hold it as incriminating evidence that would do major damage to a certain high-profile CEO’s reputation, and possibly land him in prison. From what I understand of the situation, that information is at large, and this CEO is now aware of the evidence.”

  “So revenge might not be his only motive for following us,” she said. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would we have it here, of all places? We don’t have anything that even resembles what he was looking for.”

  “How do you know?” Taylor asked.

  “We packed essentials, not stray documents or pictures.”

  According to my friend, the last time Sandi talked to Fenrow, she told him that she was keeping the evidence for insurance to protect herself and her kids, and her kids would be helping her hide it.”

  Ginger gasped. “She involved…” Again, she glanced at the girls.

  “That’s right. She doesn’t sound like a very nice person.”

  “You got that right.” For Sandi to put Lucy and Brittany in danger by placing their names on Rick Fenrow’s internal radar? Unconscionable!

  “Let’s hope Fenrow’s found what he’s looking for and didn’t follow you there,” Taylor said.

  “I think he’s already here, being held by the police. Larry, Graham and Willow are on their way to identify him.”

  There was a pause, the Taylor said, “Good! He skipped out of prison because he was convinced his life was forfeit. Apparently, his main motivation wasn’t to inflict revenge on Willow again.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t satisfy my curiosity.”

  “You might have what he’s looking for, but it could be in a place you wouldn’t expect. Are there any books the girls like to read that their mother gave them? She might have hidden something in a cover. Any keepsakes?”

  “If she did have something, she could have left it in a safety deposit box at the bank,” Ginger suggested.

  “Tom’s checking that angle now,” Taylor said. “Let me know if you think of anything, and I’ll call if I find anything out.”

  “Thanks.” Ginger disconnected as she took a step closer to the edge, and without warning the moist earth crumbled beneath her feet. Her well-cushioned backside made intimate acquaintance with the thick undergrowth.

  “Ouch!”

  “Aunt Ginger, are you okay?” Lucy asked.

  “I’m fine, my dear. Plenty of protection for me here.” She patted a hip, then scrambled to her feet, making a pretense of allowing the children to help her, while trying not to trip over one of them.

  “This place is dangerous,” Lucy said. “Waves and crumbly trails.” She cast a cautious look toward the wildly surging waves on the shore.

  “But the forest is safe,” Ginger promised. “Remember, no snakes, ticks, chiggers, poisonous spiders, or even mosquitoes up here.”

  “Coyotes?” Lucy took Ginger’s left hand and tugged her on up the trail.

  “Nope. Not that I know of.”

  Brittany grabbed her right hand. “Bears?”

  “No bears,” Ginger said, “except for good ol’ Chuckles.”

  Ginger saw some delicious-looking blackberries growing on a vine less than a foot from the trail. Had her hands not been otherwise engaged, she’d have reached over and picked some.

  Lucy’s hand tightened on Ginger’s. “Bad guys?”

  “Sweetheart, remember Larry went to identify the man that—”

  Lucy tugged hard on her hand and pointed into the trees to their left. “Aunt Ginger!”

  Ginger looked. A man stood there, watching them from the trees.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Ray studied the mountainside from the living room window as he waited for another telephone connection to Kobrin, Belarus. Ginger and the children had disappeared from sight no more than five minutes ago—soon after the amusing vision of Ginger’s fall in the mud.

  He could barely think about anything except his last conversation with her. She must have been on target this morning when she suggested that he didn’t have the heart of a foreign missionary. He couldn’t understand why she felt such a strong urge to leave America, when there were so many in need within these borders.

  So many in need. And he was one of them. He needed her in his life. Selfish of him to think that way, but right now he could focus on nothing else.

  The call disconnected on him again, for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. Nothing seemed to work right today, least of all him. All he wanted was a good counterargument to convince Ginger to stay.

  He put the receiver down, then on a whim picked it up and dialed the police in Poipu to see if Larry had arrived to identify their suspect.

  The man he reached knew nothing about the capture. Once again, as Ray watched for a flash of color or movement on the mountainside, he waited until the operator could connect him to a supervisor who might know something.

  It didn’t happen. He gripped the receiver, controlling his frustration with difficulty. “Sir, are you telling me there was no suspect apprehended that matched the description of Rick Fenrow, a prison escapee that Larry Bager warned the force about earlier today?”

  “I’m sorry, but we’ve found no suspect.”

  “Then is Larry Bager there yet? He received a call about an hour ago with that information, and he left our place here in Haena to drive to Poipu to identify the man being held.”

  “I doubt he’s had time to get all the way to Poipu from Haena, so maybe that’s the problem. Must be some misunderstanding.”

  “I’m not willing to settle for that,” Ray snapped. “We’ve got an escaped prisoner who might well be on the island. We have women and children in our group, and we need protection.” He gave their address and asked for a patrol car to come out.

  The only misunder
standing Ray could see was that someone had called Larry about Rick Fenrow, and the information was false.

  So who’d called Larry? And where was Fenrow if he hadn’t, after all, been apprehended?

  Ray decided it was best to get everyone inside the house. Something was up. A madman was on the loose.

  Ginger didn’t like the stranger’s sunglasses. Who wore sunglasses when hiking in the forest shadows?

  She didn’t like the way he moved toward them, casual, yet watchful.

  He had short blond hair and blond eyebrows, was slender and had a nice tan—or it appeared so in the diffused light of the setting sun.

  “Fellow hikers, I see,” he called to them, stepping down the steep mountainside through a thicket of vines. He wasn’t on a trail. A pair of binoculars hung from a strap around his neck.

  Lucy tugged on Ginger’s hand. “Aunt Ginger, let’s go back now.”

  “No!” Brittany cried. “We haven’t reached the top of the mountain.”

  “We’ll come back later.” Ginger drew the girls away as the man stepped close, her grip firm on a hand of each child. “Right now, I think I smell dinner grilling.” She gave the man a nod, turned around and started back down the trail.

  “Did you say dinner?” He slid down the final few feet of the steep bank and landed in front of them, as if by accident.

  That was when she knew.

  “Would there be enough for one more person at the table?” He held out his arms. “I’m about starved, and so thirsty. There are a lot of little streams on this mountain, but you know how the forest service always warns you not to drink unpurified water, even here in beautiful Hawaii.”

  “I have a bottle of water in my pack,” Ginger said, though she didn’t make a move for the pack. She didn’t want to let go of either of the girls’ hands. “We aren’t far from the highway. Where did you leave your vehicle?”

  “Down at Ke’e Beach. I started walking the Napali Coastline Trail and got lost.” He shrugged and chuckled. “My wife always warns me not to go hiking unprepared.”

  She glanced at his ring finger. Sure enough, there was a band. But there was also a streak of more deeply tanned skin around the edges of his palm. As if he’d applied some of that artificial tan with that hand, and had failed to remove the stain completely. She wondered what else was artificial. The blond hair, perhaps? The eyebrows?