Heavenly Stranger

by Tina Wainscott

  Allister laughed humorlessly. “She had it all figured out, I’m sure. I worked damned hard to get where I am. Many years sacrificing for you boys. I’ve earned my respect. I was cutting back at the factory, enjoying life more. I had recently realized how much money I had amassed. Enough to enjoy every day of my life to the fullest. I’d buried myself in work ever since your mother died, and now I had the chance to grab onto life again. I couldn’t face losing everything, including Patrick. He’d think I killed her, too. He’d leave, and I’d have nothing.”

  “Why the bodyguards?” Chase asked.

  “I didn’t know if Patrick was involved. In case he was, I had to protect myself. At least until I felt comfortable.”

  “So. you dumped her overboard,” Chase said.

  “Yes. My plan was to get rid of her body—no one knew I’d been seeing her, and I was sure she hadn’t told anyone. I brought the boat back with the running lights off, aiming for the abandoned marine yard. I set the autopilot to send the boat back out to sea and jumped off. I figured they’d find your boat, maybe find her body, but they wouldn’t be together. But it didn’t work that way. She got caught in that fancy keel of yours.”

  “And you let them think I had something to do with it,” Chase said.

  Allister’s face colored in shame. “My choices were, give up everything and go to jail for killing a woman or…let you take the blame. You were gone, or so I thought. And they couldn’t prove anything, so it was only a suspicion that you were involved. I hated doing it, believe me. All my life I’ve protected you, fixed things. For once you can help me. This was the right way. Preserve Patrick—if he didn’t know what she was up to—keep him in the family, and keep my own freedom and respect.”

  “Then I came back,” Chase said, his mouth a firm line.

  “And I’m glad. So very glad.”

  “So glad that you tried to get rid of me again.”

  “It’s the best way, don’t you see? For all of us. I can’t lose all I’ve worked so hard for. I’ll lose Patrick…I’ll lose everything. But if you disappear, you live free and so do I. Augustine Aerospace continue to flourish.”

  Maddie tried to read Chase’s expression, a maelstrom of betrayal, uncertainty, and confusion. Her voice was tight when she asked, “You still want him to run? For a crime he didn’t commit?”

  “It’s too late to tell the truth now.”

  Chase said, “What if we go to the police and tell them what happened?”

  Allister’s expression hardened. “You could do that. I’m not going to hold you hostage for the rest of your life. But think about this: the reason the police have a warrant out for your arrest on suspicion of murder is because your two friends placed you on Chase the Wind. They placed you at the scene of the crime. It’s enough to possibly convict you of murder. No one can place me on that boat, and Eduardo has already given me an alibi for that evening.”

  Maddie said, “Someone had to have seen you with Julie.”

  “We were very discreet. And we’d only been meeting for a month, not long enough for anyone to catch on. No one saw us together.” He paused for a moment, his expression freezing before quickly saying, “No one. So it becomes your word against mine. You who are a hothead and have a past of getting into trouble. Your being missing for months doesn’t help your case either. Your amnesia will be considered a ploy. They have enough proof to put you in jail without bond, and you’ll have plenty of time to think about the choice you made. I won’t be able to help you.”

  “You son of a bitch!”

  Maddie saw a firsthand display of the famous Chase temper when he lunged for Allister. He didn’t fight his son; all he did was try to defend himself against Chase’s fists.

  “Chase, stop!” Maddie screamed, pulling on his shoulder. “Killing him isn’t going to help.”

  When he saw the fear on her face, he jerked away from her and Allister. His face was plum red with rage, his breathing labored. “You can’t do this to me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Allister said, gingerly coming to his feet. “but it comes down to either saving you or saving myself, my company and my first son.” His breathing was heavy, too. “If you take my offer of a new identity, you can save yourself, too. We can even change your appearance with plastic surgery so you can resume racing. We can make it work out, Chase. You’ll have money, freedom and respect. We all will. I’ll make this all right. I promise.”

  She felt tangled up inside. Allister’s pause gave her reason to think that maybe someone had seen them together once. If she could find that person…

  Allister said, “Imagine a life free from responsibility, free from financial worries. A life free, just as you always wanted.”

  Chase had been weighing the options and the facts, and he wasn’t very optimistic by the look on his face. He’d made his decision. Taking his father’s deal was the only sane choice. Maddie could understand that. But to lose him forever…

  Chase didn’t look at either of them. He adjusted the sails and turned the boat back to shore. His face was set in stone, his eyes empty as he searched the horizon.

  She wanted to say hateful things to Allister, but none of that would make a difference. He too had made his decision and, in fact, he didn’t understand that what he was making Chase do was that much of a hardship. Chase would still have his freedom and sailing, the two things he valued most. And Daddy would make it financially feasible to assuage his guilt.

  “How long will it take?” she asked Allister. “Getting his identity and all?”

  He didn’t meet her eyes at first. “The paperwork is supposed to be delivered in a couple of days. The bank account is already set up. I’ve secured a sailboat he can use until he finds one that suits him. It’s for the best, don’t you see?”

  He wanted her to see. She only shook her head and looked away. The night air had chilled, or maybe that was her heart that had dropped several degrees. Chase climbed to the bow and straightened a kinked line. There was only one way to free him from this blackmail: find that someone who had seen Allister and Julie.

  “Maddie, I see that determined look on your face. After tomorrow, Chase will be gone. Forever. You need to be gone, too.”

  She turned to see an even more determined look on his face. “And if I’m not?”

  “Don’t mess with me, little girl,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I won’t let you ruin my plans.”

  With a shiver, she turned away from him and stared into the darkness. It was either that or pound on his chest and wail that this wasn’t fair, wasn’t any fairer than Wayne dying. But she wasn’t giving up. And that only left one option: proving Allister had been with Julie.

  Chase asked for a few minutes alone with Maddie when they returned to the marina and secured the boat. He took her hand and walked her toward one of the small metal buildings she figured for storage.

  Before she could say anything once they’d stopped in the shadows, he said, “I’m sorry I made love with you, Maddie.”

  It felt as though he’d punched her in the stomach. “Sorry? Why?”

  “Because it makes it harder to say…goodbye.” He touched her face. “I was being selfish, wanting one last time with you.” He looked into the darkness. “I didn’t want to run, but now running is my only choice.”

  “I’m not sorry we made love, Chase. And you don’t have to apologize for your decision. But you do have another choice. You could…take me with you.”

  “No, I couldn’t. You have a life and a family in Sugar Bay, and I’m not letting you give that up for me.”

  “Then move there with me,” she whispered, wishing she could see his face.

  “Eventually someone will recognize me. I can’t take that chance, not when you’ll be caught in the crossfire. I thought about it all the way back here, and there’s no way out. We’re going to say goodbye right here. Then I want you to go home.”

  “But you hate goodbyes.” She could hear the tears in her
voice, could feel his reaction to them.

  “I know.” He tightened his hold on her.

  “Let’s go to the police and take our chances.”

  “I’m afraid my father’s right about what those chances will be. I’m not willing to risk it. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”

  “Will you write? Call?”

  He was shaking his head. “Forget about me and go on with your life.”

  “Meet a man, fall in love, have kids,” she said for him.

  He held her face in his hands, running his thumbs across her cheeks. “Exactly.”

  “But what if we can find someone who saw your father with Julie?”

  “That was months ago. If someone saw them together, they would have come forward by now when her face was in the news. Maddie, don’t get yourself hurt by looking around for something you can’t find. Remember, my father did kill a woman. I’m afraid if you anger him enough, he might hurt you, too. Self-preservations is a powerful thing, especially when you have so much to lose.”

  She curled her arms around him, holding him as hard as she could. “Let me stay with you until you leave then.”

  He pushed her away. “We have to let this go now, understand? I’m going to think about you and that guy you’re going to fall in love with. You’re going to think about me going from port to port, taking love where I can. We’re going to go on because we have to. Because we have no choice.”

  “You’d say anything to get rid of me.”

  “Only because I love you.” At her shocked expression, he quickly added, “Not…that kind of love.”

  She felt her face flush at those words. “Then how do you love me?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  Like a friend. She released the breath she’d been holding. “You never did tell me what that Portuguese expression meant. The one you called me.”

  He smiled, or at least she thought he did. “Muidas giras. It means, you’re in between the busty broads and the ones who don’t rate a second glance. It means cute gal, the kind you want to snuggle up with and never let go. Go home and don’t make me worry that you’re into trouble.” His kiss was hard and quick, and then he stepped back.

  “Chase.”

  He’d started to turn around but stopped.

  “Will you really be happy never loving anyone? I mean that kind of loving someone.”

  “Yeah.” She would have believed the resolute darkness in his eyes if he hadn’t rubbed his nose. “Bye, Maddie. Have a good life.”

  He was gone before the panic could even set in, melting into the shadows behind the small building. Her first instinct was to run after him, but what else could she say? Her second instinct was to call her family. Then she imagined the chaos they’d contribute and how they’d insist on dragging her out of there. She needed some time alone to try to imagine her life without Chase, to imagine him with a woman in every port. She walked back to Shades of Heaven, climbed down into the cabin and curled up into a ball on the fore berth.

  “Isn’t it time to come home with us?” Mom asked when Maddie stopped in where they were having breakfast near the marina the next morning. “We can’t afford to stay around here much longer anyway. This town’s expensive.”

  Maddie watched Q pick the tiny pieces of potato out of his corned beef hash. “Look, you guys head on home. Chase needs my help for another day or two. I’ll be fine to drive back by myself. It’s only about five hours, and it’ll give me time to think. I’ll call you every hour if that’ll make you feel better.”

  Her mother surprised her. “Don’t stop every hour, it’ll just make the trip last longer. Take Bobby’s cell phone. He’s been calling Colleen every few hours, checking on things.”

  Colleen pulled out the phone and looked at it wistfully. “He says it’s weird us not being around.”

  “Do you think it’s just that he misses you?” Maddie asked.

  “Course he misses his son. Bobby comes over every night to tuck him in.”

  “Speak of the devil,” Mom said when the cell phone chirped.

  Colleen answered, listened for a few seconds. “I don’t know. I think we’re coming back today…yeah, we’ll be careful…no, you don’t have to come down here. Unless you want to.”

  Maddie could hear Bobby say, “Do you want me to?”

  “If you want to.”

  Maddie grabbed the phone. “Bobby, do you still love Colleen? Answer the question. It’s really simple.”

  She held it to Colleen’s ear but could hear him say, “Course I do.”

  “Colleen, do you still love Bobby?”

  “This is ridic—”

  “Just answer the question!” The few people in the restaurant turned around, but Maddie leaned forward donning her best imitation of Colleen’s vulture face.

  “Yes.”

  “Bobby, tell her what you need out of this marriage.”

  “Baby, this is…fine. I want to open my own business.”

  Colleen stiffened, and Maddie said, “What about the gnomes?”

  “Yeah, I hate ‘em. Maybe you could…you know, keep ‘em in one room or something.”

  “Colleen, what do you need? Remember, I’m buying you a pool.”

  “Maddie, you can’t…” Colleen frowned at her vulture look, then said into the phone, “I want you around more. And I want you to stop seeing Wendy.”

  “There, that wasn’t so hard. Bobby puts in his notice, ditches Wendy because now that he can pursue his own dreams, he feels like the man around the house again. He promises he won’t work late, and he’ll leave time for you and Q. Colleen, you ditch the gnomes, or at least find them their own space. Stop nagging Bobby like he’s a kid. Let him wear dirty underwear once in a while. Move back home, give this a try, stop pretending to remodel….” She rolled her eyes. “And if it doesn’t work, get a damned divorce and stop dragging it out.”

  Colleen grabbed the phone, pressing it to her ear. “I don’t want a divorce.”

  Bobby said, “Me neither.”

  “Then make it work. Real simple,” Maddie said as Colleen walked out of the restaurant, phone still to her ear. Full of piss and vinegar, she turned to her parents, pointing. “And you two…I never thought I’d say this to you, but if you’re not happy with each other anymore, get divorced. Same advice applies. Dad wants to open his own business too, he hates your coffee, and you never let him say anything. Dad, you never stick up for yourself. Either be happy together or split, but for God’s sake, don’t stay together for me.”

  Mom actually reached out and touched his hand. “We didn’t want to do the ugly D-word. It’s easier just to co-exist.”

  “But why? Believe me, now I know about stifling myself for someone else’s sake. I’ve been doing it for all of you my whole life. Letting you baby me, being the weakling. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted it that way. It was the only way I knew.”

  “Well, your dad called me an overbearing mother last night, and I guess…well, he’s right. A little.”

  “Go on,” Dad said.

  “When you and Colleen move back to your houses, we could…work on things. Starting with regular coffee.”

  Maddie smiled for the first time in what felt like years. “Kewl.”

  “How long are you going to stay here?” Mom asked Maddie. “I know you’re a grown-up and all, but Miami isn’t the safest place to be.”

  “And what about this guy murdering someone?” her dad asked. “We can’t just ignore that.”

  Sure, now they were going to stop ignoring things, just when she wanted them to ignore that one little thing. “Chase didn’t hurt anyone. He just told you that to get you here.”

  Mom asked, “So what’s going to happen with you and him?”

  “Nothing,” Maddie said with forced finality. She pushed away from the table. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you soon.”

  “We’d better get going before that storm hits,” Mom said, tossing her napkin on her plate.

  “St
orm?”

  “Haven’t you heard? There’s a tropical storm out there. Looks like it’s going to move in tonight, pretty nasty.”

  Maddie vaguely recalled Chase mentioning a storm the night before. Lila confirmed the storm’s threat a half-hour later when Maddie stopped at Salty’s. Walls of heavy plastic shielded the interior.

  Lila was pulling down bottle after bottle from the shelves above. “We’re closing early because of it. They expected it to stay on a northerly track, but something weatherly happened and nudged it closer to us. We’re actually under a hurricane watch right now, though they’re saying we’re only going to get winds of forty-five, gusting to sixty in places, and a lot of rain. I guess it’s moving in pretty fast now.”

  That explained the flurry of activity as boat owners tied down their boats and accessories.

  “Don’t worry, Maddie. We’re not going to get blown away.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about.” At Lila’s puzzled expression, Maddie said, “I’ll tell you later,” and that made her think of Chase, and that made her start to race out of Salty’s before she lost any more time. Her only consolation was that Chase probably wouldn’t leave until the storm blew over. Well, hopefully not.

  Lila called out, “Why don’t we do pizza tonight?”

  “All right. I’ll see you later.”

  When Maddie walked outside, a gust of wind blew sand into her eyes. She blinked, covering her face with her hand. Palm fronds sounded like rain as they shimmered and crackled. The sky was mostly blue, though banks of clouds skidded across the sky at an alarming pace.

  A little bit of wind wasn’t going to stop her. She’d gotten a picture of Julie from Lila and took advantage of the many boaters being around by asking them if they’d seen her around the marina any Tuesday night. Unfortunately, they were understandably rushed and distracted by their preparations to do more than take a cursory glance and shake their heads.

  Her next strategy was to talk to people who knew Allister. She thought about Eduardo, but knew he wouldn’t recant his alibi. Too loyal. What about Patrick? Shouldn’t he know the truth? And if he did know, maybe he’d be inclined to help. Maddie remembered his hostility toward her. She was going to have to deal with that porcupine carefully.