Courting Disaster

by Boeshaar, Andrea

  She allowed her gaze to wander around the rustic coffee and sandwich shop, admiring its old-time Western decor. From her vantage point, she could see through the front windows, and she noticed it had begun to rain again.

  “So what do you want to do about. . .things?” She looked back at Frank. He still wore his uniform—the tan shirt and green trousers. He’d mentioned that he knew his shift would end after his business at the courthouse was completed, so he’d driven his own vehicle from Wind Lake, but he hadn’t found time to change clothes.

  He rotated his broad shoulders in response to her question. “What’s there to do?” He wiped his mouth with a white paper napkin then set it on the table. “Would you like some dessert?”

  “Um, no. . .” Cadi felt so confused her head spun.

  “I talked to Adam Dremond last week. He told me there are folks still struggling with housing issues as well as other basic needs while they wait for their insurance to cover their losses. He said in some cases it can take up to three months—or longer—to get a claim paid.”

  Cadi marveled at the lengthy time frame and figured it depended on the insurance company. Her allotment from the car accident had been issued immediately, it seemed.

  “Anyway, donations are still coming in from the Web page. Adam is pleased.”

  “Excellent. I’m glad the site proved to be a helpful tool.”

  Their gazes met and, as always, Cadi felt like she could lose herself in Frank’s deep brown eyes. Next she watched as a smile worked its way up his face.

  He reached across the table and placed his palm over the top of her hand. “It’s good to see you, Cadi. I’m glad I gave in to my impulse and dropped in on you.”

  “I’m glad you did, too.”

  They lingered at the table a few more minutes then pushed back their wooden chairs. Frank had already paid for the meals, so they strode out of the restaurant and ran through the downpour to his fawn-colored SUV.

  Inside, they shook off the rain and buckled up; then Frank started the engine.

  “Thanks for dinner.”

  “You’re welcome, except you didn’t eat much.”

  “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  “Nothing to do with your verbal exchange with—what’s his name? Darrell?”

  Cadi laughed. “No. I actually hadn’t given him much thought at all.” The truth was she’d been working up her nerve to ask Frank where she stood with him.

  They rode in silence for several long minutes.

  “You sure everything’s okay?”

  “Yep.”

  She watched the rain stream down the windshield as the wipers kept time with the instrumental light jazz playing on the radio. They drove through one puddle and then another.

  “I hope the streets aren’t affected by all this rain.” She craned her neck, trying to view what lay ahead. This section of road had flooded in the past.

  “Roads are fine, Cadi. I know them as well as my own reflection.”

  “Then I’ll take your word for it.” She forced herself to sit back and relax.

  “We’ve had bad weather lately, but nothing like the other parts of the state.”

  “Don’t I know it! Some places looked like war zones.”

  “That’s what twisters can do.” Frank grew pensive.

  Regret filled Cadi. “I hope I didn’t trigger painful memories for you.”

  “You didn’t. It actually helps to talk to someone like you, someone objective, outside the family, and who can identify with my intense loss.” She saw him flash a smile as they passed under a streetlight.

  “I feel the same way.”

  “I can tell.”

  A little grin tugged at her mouth as she realized how bittersweet their connection was. A natural disaster.

  “Well, I must admit that responding to the flood situation in Cass County was frightening for me, but Disaster Busters was in charge of finding folks temporary lodging. Had I been part of the rescue efforts, I might have had serious issues.”

  “Did you ever learn to swim?”

  “Sure, but in chlorinated pools. You and I both know the best swimmers can be rendered defenseless in floodwaters.”

  “True enough.”

  “The currents alone can be deadly.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Swimming in pools, I can handle.” She repositioned herself in the leather seat. “But floods. . .” She didn’t finish her sentence, distracted once more by the weather outside. “I just wish it would stop raining.”

  “Cadi, don’t worry. We’re safe,” he said as if reading her troubled thoughts. “I’d know it if we weren’t. There aren’t any flash flood warnings in effect around here, and I’m familiar with the highways, even the side roads, prone to flooding in this county. This isn’t one of them.”

  She considered his words and felt somewhat reassured.

  She settled back in her seat and took a deep breath. “Thanks. I feel better.”

  “Good.” There was a smile in his voice. “Tell you what, I’ll drive you home now, and your aunt can take you over to church tomorrow to pick up your van. I’m sure it’ll be safe enough in the parking lot overnight.”

  Cadi shook her head. “I’m a big girl. I shouldn’t have burdened you with my childish insecurities.”

  “Listen, we all have them, childish or not. Let me help you out. It’s no trouble.”

  His offer put her at ease all the more. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

  “Of course I would.” He stretched his arm across the distance between the seats and took her hand. “I’d consider it an honor.”

  How gallant, Cadi thought. Suddenly her thoughts about the rain dissipated.

  Frank drove the rest of the distance to her home. He parked and they exited the vehicle then ran through the rain and up onto the front porch.

  She faced him. “Can I ask you something? I mean—I just want to make certain I heard you correctly at the coffeehouse.”

  “Sure.” He leaned against one of the round, vertical posts that adjoined the spindled railing.

  “What I think I heard you say,” she began again, trying to be as diplomatic as possible, “is that our relationship is moving too fast and that you want to back off.”

  “That was my mind-set initially.” He chuckled, perhaps at himself. “But the truth is I don’t want to back off. I’d like to see you every day if I could.”

  She smiled, feeling encouraged. “That would be fine with me. But am I to understand that you don’t want me to see Dustin or Emily because you’re afraid they’ll get hurt?”

  He looked down at his boots before returning his gaze to hers. “It’s almost too late for that, and it’s my fault. The reality is my kids will be hurt if they don’t get to see you.”

  “I’ll be a little hurt, too, but you’re their father, and I will, of course, abide by whatever you decide.”

  Frank regarded her in a kind of thoughtful awe. “You’d really be hurt? You’re that fond of my kids?”

  “Of course I am.” She laughed. “I mean, they really feed my self-esteem because they think I’m so wonderful. How could I not adore them right back?”

  Frank chuckled. “You’ve got a point there.”

  “All kidding aside, you’ve got a couple of wonderful, thoughtful, sensitive children, and that says a lot about you as their parent.”

  “I can’t take all the credit. I get a lot of help.”

  “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”

  He shrugged, and a faraway look entered his eyes as he stared off somewhere over her head. “I feel like I’ve been living life on autopilot until now.”

  “And God knew it, and He protected you by enabling you to raise your kids and maintain your jo
b.”

  Frank’s gaze returned to Cadi, and she glimpsed the intensity in his eyes. “And now God brought you into my life.”

  Cadi felt like cheering. Frank was coming back to life in more ways than one. His spiritual life seemed to be returning, too.

  Taking a step toward him, she stood on tiptoe and kissed his rough jaw. His arms enveloped her, and in that moment, she knew in heart her dreams would become reality.

  Eighteen

  The weekend arrived, and Frank took Cadi out for dinner—without his children. The kids would have kicked up more of a fuss if Frank hadn’t promised they’d attend Riverview with Cadi the next morning. After services and children’s church, they drove to his folks’ condo for lunch, Cadi and her aunt Lou in tow. The fact that Cadi was undaunted about meeting his folks impressed Frank, and everyone seemed to get along just fine. When they left, Mom hugged and kissed him good-bye before whispering, “It’s good to see my boy happy again.”

  Frank gently reminded her that he was hardly a “boy,” although Mom had the rest of the statement correct; he felt happy again.

  In the days following, Frank found himself lost in his thoughts of Cadi more often than not. His coworkers took note of his distractedness, and one guy asked why he suddenly volunteered for every trip to the courthouse in Waterloo that arose.

  “Gotta be a woman.”

  Frank didn’t deny it, which fueled the jibes and snickers, but he tried to act less obvious—and stay out on patrol a lot more.

  Good grief! He never remembered behaving so love struck in all his life!

  Then, almost a week later, on a rainy August morning, Bettyanne Binder paid Frank a visit. He had just finished a night shift, and he planned to get home, catch a few winks, then gather up the kids and visit Cadi this evening. He hoped whatever the elderly woman required wouldn’t take loads of his time.

  Frank stood as the secretary showed her to his cubicle.

  “Hi, Mrs. Binder. What can I do for you?”

  She held up his business card and waved it. “I have a crime to report.”

  “All right.” He helped her into a chair, wondering if the same teenagers he’d busted for underage drinking and disturbing the peace recently were wreaking more havoc in town.

  “What happened?”

  She removed her plastic rain bonnet and shook it out before smoothing down the skirt of her pale-blue-and-white-checked dress. “I was robbed—that’s what happened. Just look at this!”

  Frank sat on the edge of his desk and watched as the older woman pulled a folded piece of paper from her ivory canvas purse. She handed it to him.

  He took and examined it. “This is a copy of a canceled check.”

  “Exactly. Now look at the back of it. That hen scratch doesn’t belong to me!”

  He arched his brows. “You’re telling me this isn’t your signature?”

  “Precisely. Why, I have lovely penmanship, always did, and it certainly doesn’t resemble that—that scribble on the back of the check!”

  Frank studied the copy again before glancing up at Mrs. Binder. “Maybe you should start from the beginning. How did you obtain this copy?”

  “Well, when the insurance money from that dreadful explosion didn’t come and didn’t come, I finally called. The company told me the paperwork was initially misplaced but that they had found it and my claim finally got processed. I waited a while longer and called again. But the gal on the phone said the check was issued and that it had been cashed. Needless to say, I was astonished.” The woman’s vein-lined hand fluttered to the base of her slim neck. “I insisted I never received the money, and that’s when they sent me the copy you have in your hand.”

  “Looks like the check was cashed at the First Bank of Wind Lake.” He stood and walked around his desk. “Did you speak with the manager over there?”

  “No. I just picked that up at the post office this morning. I haven’t had a chance to speak with anyone.” Her hands trembled. “I’m just so very upset.”

  “I understand. Let me make a phone call or two.”

  Opening the drawer, he pulled out the phone book, found the number, and called the bank. Leslie Pensky, the manager, couldn’t recall who’d cashed the check over a month ago. When Frank asked about the cameras positioned in the lobby, she told him they were self-rewinding devices and only caught and retained a week’s worth of activity at a time.

  He thanked her for the info then ended the call.

  “Well. . .” He rubbed his jaw in contemplation. “This is going to take further investigation.”

  “Deputy, I already know who stole my money.” She shifted her slight frame in the chair. “It was that girl who helped me fill out the insurance forms. The blond from Waterloo.”

  “Cadi?” Frank shook his head. “No way.”

  But a moment later, the image of her aunt’s new sedan fluttered through his mind. He recalled that Cadi had purchased it for her, and when he’d first seen the sleek gray car, he remarked on the generous gift. He meant to inquire about it further because his curiosity got the better of him, but then he became distracted by the kids, along with his own emotions, and forgot all about it. The fact was, whenever he was with Cadi, all he could think about was her. What’s more, he thought about her even when they weren’t together.

  “She’s the thief, I tell you!”

  “Impossible. Cadi isn’t capable of committing a crime.” He tamped down his suspicion and inspected the canceled copy again. “Besides, how would she have gotten ahold of your check?”

  “Maybe she drove into Wind Lake and asked for it at the post office.”

  “Did you ask Stan about that?” The Wind Lake post office wasn’t large, and everyone knew Stan Smith, the postmaster.

  “I haven’t had a chance to ask him.” Tears formed in the older woman’s eyes. “But I often have other people collect my mail for me. Sometimes they are out-of-town friends whom Stan doesn’t know. They’re visiting me and want to go into town for some reason, and I ask them to pick up my mail. They give Stan my name, and he hands it over.”

  “Probably not a good practice.”

  “Apparently not.” Mrs. Binder’s chin quivered. “A body can’t trust anyone these days. Which brings me back to the reason I’m here. Cadi could have pretended like she was doing me a favor and gotten my check at the post office. I’m sure she stole it.”

  Frank shook his head. “Cadi wouldn’t steal your check.”

  “Well, I want to press charges!” She balled a fist and did her best to slam it into the palm of her other hand. “I heard from a reputable source that this kind of thing happened in this town once before.”

  Frank winced, knowing full well Mrs. Binder was correct.

  “I won’t stand for it. And if you won’t help me, I’ll take this matter to your superiors.”

  “Mrs. Binder, you have no proof.” Frank sensed her fear and frustration and made a special effort to soften his tone. “Now look, Cadi’s my—my friend. Let me talk to her and look into this matter further and I’ll get back to you, okay?”

  “But I’ve been waiting for my money.”

  “Pressing charges won’t get you your money any sooner. But I promise to speak with Cadi right away, and I’ll pursue any leads that might result from our conversation. In the meantime, you let me know if there are any new developments on your end. All right?” Frank helped her up from the chair. “Let’s be in contact on Monday morning. And I strongly suggest that from now on, you don’t let anyone collect your mail for you.”

  Mrs. Binder replied with an exasperated sigh but eventually agreed to Frank’s terms and left the office.

  Once she’d gone, he lowered himself into his desk chair and contemplated the situation. He was tired from working all night, and he hated how his fatigued mind conjured up a
ll kinds of questions and doubts about Cadi. He could rationalize almost everything except that new car she had purchased for her aunt. That suspicion was hard to shake.

  Then Mrs. Binder’s words echoed in his thoughts. “I heard from a reputable source that this kind of thing happened in this town once before.” Frank remembered, all too well, the cheating, the looting, and the devastated citizens who were left with nothing after the bogus charity group left town. He refused to believe Cadi was in the same category as those now-convicted thieves. She was the most honest, genuine woman he’d ever known.

  But had he been duped? The thought sent a chill through him.

  Dear God, not again!

  ❧

  Cadi finished her phone calls to Meg, Jeff, Bailey, and Will; Disaster Busters had been summoned across the state again. This time to Fort Dodge where heavy rains caused rivers to rise and neighborhoods to flood. Rescue efforts were under way.

  Cadi thought of the upcoming weekend and her plans with Frank. She hated to leave town. She’d been so looking forward to seeing him and his kids again. That, combined with the fact this emergency was flood related, tempted her to refuse the request for Disaster Busters’ assistance. The memory of what happened to her family in a flash flood caused a renewed sense of panic to surge through her.

  But, no. She couldn’t give in to fear and back out. People needed her help. She had to go—and time was of the essence.

  She punched in Frank’s office number. When she reached his voice mail at work, she tried his cell phone. Another recording picked up, and this time she left a message. She explained the details of Disaster Busters’ latest recruitment and cited its location. She knew she was babbling, but she hoped it kept the mounting trepidation out of her tone.

  At last she disconnected the call and glanced at her watch. She’d have just enough time to go home and pack up her things before she met the team back here at church.

  Locking up the office, she walked through the empty halls and out into the parking lot. The rain had slowed to a drizzle. She reached her van and felt both pleased and surprised when she spotted a squad car pulling into the lot. She knew it was Frank. With a smile she waved and watched as he pulled alongside her vehicle.