by Lori Woods
“I’m sure,” he said. “You’d have to be to be taken seriously.”
Roxie couldn’t tell if this was meant as a compliment, a warning, or an insult. “Yeah, that’s true,” she admitted. “But I roll with it.”
“Yes… roll with it…” he said as though the expression was quite foreign to him. He was still staring at her tattoos. “I hate that such a pretty thing like you would do that to yourself.”
Oh, boy, here we go, she thought unpleasantly. “Because I liked the tattoo design. So I got it.”
“You know,” he said, looking at her face for the first time. “You sure would be prettier if you smiled.”
I might kill him, she thought as the plane began to ascend.
Amaya was having no better luck with her seat partner. Unlike Roxie, though, Amaya was one who would grin and bear it. Amaya was seated by the window when a woman in a golden-colored pantsuit sat down next to her, nearly choking her with her overwhelming abundance of perfume and hairspray. The older woman looked irate the moment she sat down, snapping her fingers for one of the flight attendants to hurry up and get her “Something strong!”
“Hi,” Amaya said timidly to her, and the woman merely glanced her way before snapping her fingers again at the flight attendant to hurry up.
Once the woman had a drink in her hand, she seemed much calmer. She kept, however, peering around behind them and grimacing terribly. “Who is that?” she snorted.
“I’m sorry?” Amaya questioned, not sure if the woman was talking to herself or to her.
“That little biker-looking ho,” she said, Amaya’s jaw dropping in surprise at the woman’s choice of words.
Amaya glanced back for a moment to see that the woman was pointing right at Roxie. “Um…” was all Amaya could say in response.
“I can’t stand this airline,” the woman said, spinning back around in her seat. With one hand she held her drink, and with the other she used a compact mirror to spy on Roxie and her seat partner. “My husband and I can’t ever get seats next to each other. He always winds up next to some woman who doesn’t know how to put on proper clothes!”
“I’m… sorry…” Amaya said uncomfortably.
“What’s your name, dear?” the woman asked, slamming her compact mirror shut only to open it up again to spy on the fat man in the suit.
“Amaya,” she said.
“Hmm… pretty name,” she said, closing the mirror and at last putting it away, taking a moment to take a long swig of her drink. “I’m Patricia. Patricia Beard. That oaf back there is my husband, Ralph. Honestly, next time I’m telling him, we’re not flying if we can’t sit together. This is ridiculous. Four hours on a flight, and I can’t even sit next to my husband.”
“I bet the woman back there wouldn’t mind switching with you,” Amaya said.
“Oh, no, no,” Patricia said. “I’m not going to make that little homewrecker move.”
“Can you really call her a homewrecker for just… sitting there?” Amaya asked.
“Look at her… probably wrecked a few homes in her day,” Patricia snarled. “Honestly, if Ralph acts up today, I’m going to lose it. I’m going to absolutely lose it, Amelia.”
“It’s Amaya,” Amaya corrected.
“Oh, yes, sorry,” she said. “I could have sworn you said Amelia. Well, Amaya, let me tell you, I am not going to put up with it. Not one bit. Not today. I’m not in the mood for girls throwing themselves at my husband.”
Amaya again glanced back at the man in the suit. He was far from even remotely attractive, and Amaya suspected Roxie was going to be doing everything in her power to avoid making eye contact with a stranger on a plane. She didn’t exactly seem like the type to make small talk with her seat partner. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Besides, I know her. She’s got herself a boyfriend.” Amaya wasn’t sure if Roxie would call Kris her boyfriend or not, but she thought it would simmer Patricia down. Unfortunately, this did not seem to work.
“Like that matters,” Patricia said wrathfully – shaking her glass slightly to the point some of it spilled on the floor in front of them. “Women like that are all the same. Get a little whiff of his money, and they want to throw themselves at him. You watch, she’ll be drooling all over him by the end of this flight! I swear, if she thinks she’s going to lay one finger on my husband, she and I are going to have a serious problem. I am so tired of beating these women off with a bat, honestly! That’s what it feels like I’m doing constantly. Constantly!”
I seriously doubt it, Amaya thought, but she wouldn’t dare voice it. The flight took off at last, and Amaya was forced to sit and listen to Patricia as she moaned and groaned about her husband and all the women who evidently couldn’t resist him. Amaya didn’t usually order drinks when she was flying, but she was coming pretty close to it. Through Patricia’s compact mirror, which she kept whipping out to spy on her husband and Roxie, she could see that Roxie had already gotten herself some whiskey. Amaya ordered a water for the time being.
“And another thing,” Patricia was saying. “He is just so bold. I know he knows I’m keeping an eye on him, but I see him back there. He’s flirting with her, I just know it.”
Amaya had to disagree. It looked like Roxie and the man had hardly conversed with one another for more than thirty seconds since they first sat down. But Patricia was seeing what she wanted to see, Amaya supposed. She slumped down into her seat, trying hard to block out the woman whose paranoia was something to be rivaled. Amaya had never heard someone sound so crazy in her life.
Amaya closed her eyes, thinking that perhaps if she just pretended to be asleep, the woman would eventually stop talking and accusing her friend of being some sort of homewrecker. She had no such luck – Patricia Beard was one seriously paranoid, delusional individual, and evidently Amaya was going to have to listen to her talk about her paranoia for the next several hours. I would wind up next to a talker, Amaya thought contemptuously, nodding along occasionally so that Patricia would think she was still listening to her. This is going to be a long flight…
Chapter 5
Unable to stand listening to Charles Sears for even a second longer, Marionette had stuck headphones into her ears. She had them hooked up to her phone, and she was listening to music and trying to drown out the man’s grunting. He had something to comment on about anything and everything, and all of it was highly negative. She was thankful that the man was resting his eyes now that she had made it rather clear she wasn’t going to be his listening ear any longer.
Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down to see that Amaya was trying to video chat her. This amused Marionette. She answered the call, and she could hear several chattering voices through her headphones. “Oh, did you get her?” Molly’s voice rang.
“Looks like it,” Amaya said.
“Yeah, I see her,” Roxie said. “Nice. Can’t believe the paid Wi-Fi is this good up here.”
Looking at the screen on her phone, Marionette could see each woman’s face on split-screen. Evidently, Amaya had called each of them and added them to the video chat. “I need saving,” Amaya whispered – she too had headphones in so that her seat partner couldn’t hear their conversation. She turned her phone slightly so they could see the woman in the golden pantsuit with her headphones in, enjoying the in-flight movie. “This woman is a nightmare. She’s got me watching Roxie for her on her compact mirror.”
“Why is she watching Roxie?” Marionette questioned.
“I’m sitting next to her husband,” Roxie snarled and turned her phone slightly to see a man with his nose in a book, not currently paying her any mind. “If he tells me to smile one more time, I might kill him.”
“Easy there, Roxie,” Molly said.
“I’ve got a character next to me too,” Marionette said.
“I like my guy,” Molly said, and suddenly his face popped in on the screen and he grinned.
“Glad to know,” he said nosily, and Molly shoved him back wi
th a smirk.
“That’s Robyn. Nice guy,” Molly said. “Wait, hold on. He’s got to get around me. Bathroom break.” Molly’s screen shook wildly for a moment.
Looking up towards the front of the plane, Marionette could see the struggle as Robyn attempted to get around Molly and force his way into the aisle, apologizing profusely for having to step over her. He made his way towards the back of the plane and gave Marionette a friendly wink before disappearing to the lavatory.
“Seems like a nice guy,” Marionette said.
“Yeah, we’ve been chatting about books,” Molly said. “Guess I lucked out.”
“Bunch of business tycoon types on this plane,” Marionette said, glancing over at her seat partner, Charles, who let out a loud snore.
“Least your guy doesn’t keep telling you you’ll never get a real job thanks to your sleeve tattoos,” Roxie said.
“I do not have sleeve tattoos,” Marionette teased.
“Shut up,” Roxie warned. “He’s unbearable. Can’t believe Amaya’s seat partner is so jealous of him. He’s an oaf.”
“Easy, he’s going to hear you,” Marionette warned.
Roxie huffed. “Let him.”
A moment later, Robyn was making his way back from the bathroom. Charles snorted himself awake just as the man was passing. “Hey, Robyn!” Charles said, and Robyn jumped.
“Oh, Charles, yes, hello,” he said.
Charles huffed. “Didn’t realize you were on this flight,” Charles said.
“Yes, well,” Robyn said, looking uncomfortable. “I need to get back to my seat.”
Charles huffed again and crossed his arms, settling back down like he intended to continue his nap. “Old friends?” Marionette asked Charles curiously.
“Hardly,” was his response, but he didn’t offer her any more information.
There was once again some scuffling as Robyn had to step over Molly to get back to his seat. “Sorry, sorry,” he kept saying as he attempted to get back to the window seat.
Amaya laughed slightly as Molly’s screen went black for a moment from holding her phone lopsided against the seat. Another second later, Molly’s face appeared again on their screens. “Sorry, guys,” she said. Robyn smirked at them, his face coming into view for a moment.
“How do you know…” Marionette cocked her head to the side for a moment.
“I don’t,” Robyn said. “Not really. From the same area is all.”
“Gotcha,” Marionette said.
“Hey, man, are you good?” they could hear Roxie saying distantly on the phone. Roxie had put her phone down, so the corner of the screen where they had been watching her during the chat was now depicting only the ceiling of the plane.
Marionette glanced back and to her right where she could see Roxie now tapping her seat partner in the side. The older man in the suit, Ralph Beard, was swaying a bit in his seat. Marionette frowned, wondering if perhaps the man had had a bit too much drink. All of the business tycoons aboard the plane had been ordering scotch and brandy ever since they boarded nearly an hour ago. Suddenly, Ralph went tumbling straight out of his seat, and there was immediate chaos aboard the plane.
“Everyone, stay in your seats! Stay in your seats!” Lewis, one of the flight attendants, shouted as he helped Ralph all the way to the floorboard so that he was no longer hobbling halfway in his chair.
“Yo!” Roxie exclaimed, shutting her phone off to where a corner of Marionette’s screen went blank. Marionette too turned off her phone, and she imagined that Amaya and Molly were probably doing the same thing. Just about everyone in the plane was attempting to turn around in their seats to see what was going on. That, or craning their necks out into the aisle.
“Ralph!” Charles yelped in the man’s direction.
Patricia was now screeching, and she had gotten out of her seat despite Lewis’s demand for everyone to remain where they were. She pushed her way past flight attendants to try to get to her husband. “Is there a doctor on the plane?” Trinity, one of the other flight attendants, was calling. “A doctor? Anyone?”
A woman towards the front of the plane stood up. “I’m a pediatrician,” she said. “I can help.” She was rushed towards the back of the plane towards Ralph. Patricia was pushed past her husband further towards the back of the plane so as to make room for the doctor who was now kneeling down beside him.
“I don’t have a pulse,” the pediatrician said, and she began doing chest compressions.
Marionette felt sick to her stomach. She turned back around in her seat, staring up towards the front of the plane for a moment. Several minutes ticked by, and by now the flight marshal had made himself known and was currently forcing everyone back into their seats who had gotten up despite the flight attendants’ insistences that everyone remain seated. He made his way to Ralph as well, and after several more grueling minutes of uncertainty, the flight marshal and the pediatrician came to the same dire conclusion. Ralph Beard was dead.
Chapter 6
Ralph’s body was very quickly moved, and it wasn’t long after that before his wife, Patricia Beard, started causing a scene in the back of plane. Marionette obviously couldn’t blame the woman for being upset since her husband had just died on her, but her priorities seemed incredibly displaced. She was pointing at Roxie, shouting at her. “I saw you flirting with him earlier, you vile homewrecker!” Patricia was roaring while the flight attendants, Lewis and Trinity, were trying to get her to sit down somewhere. “I know you were trying to tease him with your nasty, revealing clothes! You look like a tramp!”
Marionette was staring back at them. Roxie seemed completely unfazed by it. She, in fact, had her nose in a magazine and was doing an incredible job at tuning Patricia out. However, this only seemed to irritate Patricia even more. She wound up slapping Lewis when he touched her arm, attempting to calm her. Then Patricia reached over and snatched a woman’s water bottle clear out of her hands before flinging it in Roxie’s direction.
Roxie was out of her seat faster than Marionette would have thought possible. Most of the water had splattered on the empty seat beside her, but Patricia’s attempt was enough to get Roxie’s blood boiling. She jumped clear over Ralph’s empty seat, her fists at the ready. She snagged Patricia by her hair and pulled her face down into her knee. “Enough! That’s enough!” the flight marshal had them separated in an instance.
“You saw what she did!” Roxie snarled.
“Assault! That’s assault!” Patricia was screaming, gripping her now bloody nose. “You need to arrest her!”
“First of all, you assaulted her first,” the flight marshal said. “Throwing water on someone – that’s assault. So who wants to press charges?”
Roxie glared at Patricia, her fists still raised. Slowly, Roxie lowered her hands. “I won’t if she doesn’t,” Roxie snarled.
Patricia glanced down. “You got blood on my suit jacket! This thing is worth more than your life!”
“Well?” Roxie questioned. “You pressing charges or what? I didn’t touch your husband – I wouldn’t have touched him, believe me. You’re nuts.”
Patricia screamed and stomped her foot, but she at last relented and elected not to press charges. The flight marshal then escorted Patricia out of the aisles, stating he was going to take her to speak to the captain directly and, hopefully, make sure she stayed in the cockpit. Everyone clapped when she was gone which Marionette found to be a bit cruel – she had just lost her husband, after all. A moment later, her phone was buzzing. She had just been brought into a four-way video chat, this time by Roxie.
“Nice going, Roxie,” Amaya said softly.
“Looks like you and I are down some seat partners,” Roxie said, amused.
“While I’m glad for the extra leg room, you didn’t have to smash her nose in,” Amaya said, though she seemed a little pleased as she said this.
“So here’s a question,” Molly said, looking slightly alarmed. “Do you think that we’re going to have t
o touch down somewhere? I can’t imagine we’re going to fly all the way out to Vegas with a body on the flight.”
“I’m not sure what the protocol for something like this is,” Marionette said.
“I do believe,” Robyn said, suddenly appearing on Molly’s screen. “That this is going to be up to the discretion of Patricia.”
“Great,” Roxie said. “So our plans are in the hands of that lunatic.”
“Roxie, don’t be so mean,” Marionette said. “The woman just lost her husband, and then you might have broken her nose and gotten away with it…”
“She threw water on me,” Roxie reminded them.
“Yeah, well, everyone on the plane saw that,” Molly said, and Monica could see that Robyn was starting to lean up against the window like he was planning on taking a nap now that the commotion had settled down.
“What do you think happened?” Marionette questioned.
“I was over by here when the pediatrician and the flight marshal were checking the guy out,” Roxie said. “They think someone poisoned him.”
“Seriously?” Marionette asked. “How do we always wind up in the middle of this sort of nonsense… not that I’m not sorry something terrible like this has happened, but I was really hoping this would be an enjoyable trip to Vegas. Now we’re probably going to lose our rooms if we wind up having to touch down somewhere before we get to Nevada.”
“That or having to turn around completely,” Molly said, shaking her head. “We need to find out what’s going on.”
“Here we go, Detective Molly on the case,” Amaya teased.
Molly was notorious for putting her nose in other people’s business – always with good intentions, of course. Her father had been an Atlanta detective, and her current boyfriend, Officer Jeffrey, was a detective back in their home in Savannah. It was no wonder Molly, a former investigative journalist, was the first of their pack to suggest getting involved. “What should we do?” Marionette questioned.
