Rush to the Altar

by Jamie Carie

  Brandon and me. The phrase spiraled through her mind. Brandon and her? A tight sickness gripped her chest. “You have to give me more information to go on than that. I won’t believe some cryptic woman that’s calling me out of nowhere.”

  “Brandon had a birthmark on his right hip, down low. Now will you see me? I don’t want to have to come to your house. I’m trying to leave Max out of this.”

  A deep chill crept through her body at the mention of Max, and she saw that her hand was shaking. The phone at her ear shook. Her legs shook so that she had to sink down the bare wall of the closet onto the carpet. Finally, she managed to speak in a quivering voice. “Are you telling me that…you had an affair with my husband? My dead husband?” Her voice rose and Sasha came into the closet, eyes wide with horror.

  “That’s the least of it, sweetheart. Believe me, I wouldn’t call you to tell you that, not now. Not when he’s gone.”

  Maddie pushed the disconnect button on her phone and dropped it onto the carpet. Saying nothing, seeing nothing, she stood up and walked out of the closet, out of the model home, out of the office, ignoring the waving Rebecca, and got into her car.

  Once there, she just sat and stared. It couldn’t be true. Brandon wouldn’t have, couldn’t have had an affair. The woman must be a lunatic.

  A few moments later, Sasha rapped on the window. Maddie rolled it down. “Yes?” she asked as if nothing was wrong.

  “Maddie. She called back.” Sasha held out the phone.

  Maddie shook her head. “She’s crazy. I’m not talking to a crazy woman.”

  Sasha leaned into the window and whispered, the phone held tight against her chest. “She told me what she told you. Mad, how could she know about Max and the birthmark? She may be telling the truth.”

  Maddie shook her head, not bothering to whisper. “I don’t know, but she’s a kook. I’m not discussing my husband with an insane woman.” Her voice rose until Sasha leaned closer and said, “Shhh. Okay. Can I find out what she wants?”

  “Sure, you talk to her.”

  The wind had picked up since they’d been inside the model homes, the sky turning a leaden gray in the west. Sasha hurried around to the passenger side of Maddie’s car and got in.

  “I’m back,” Sasha said into the phone, turning it on speaker. “You’re going to have to tell me what you want. Maddie won’t talk to you.”

  “You tell her she’d better listen. I’m being generous here. Giving her a big warning that she will thank me for later. Now, I’m not saying anything else on the phone. You get Maddie to the restaurant LoLa’s on 86th Street in one hour. I’ll be the tall redhead. You can’t miss me.” The strange woman hung up the phone.

  Sasha turned to Maddie’s frozen form. “We have to meet her. One hour at LoLa’s.”

  Maddie started to shake her head.

  Sasha put a hand on her forearm and squeezed gently. “If she’s crazy, she’s crazy. If she’s not, then you need to know what she has to say. It’s more than just blowing the whistle on Brandon. I don’t know what it is, but Maddie, it’s more than some affair.”

  “More than an affair?” Maddie turned to Sasha with stricken eyes. “How could anything be worse? It can’t be true! I would have known. There would have been signs. Sasha, my husband did not cheat on me.”

  “Come on.” Sasha started to get out of the car. “I’m driving you. We’ll pick up your car later.”

  Maddie shook her head. “All right, we’ll go see the crazy woman, but I don’t want to leave my car. Just go and I’ll follow you over there. Is LoLa’s even open for lunch? I thought it was a bar.”

  Sasha shrugged. “If not, she said we won’t be able to miss her. Guess she’ll be in the parking lot.”

  “Did she say any more about what she looks like?” Maddie asked, as new horrid thoughts entered her mind. “Is she beautiful, do you think?”

  Sasha shrugged. “We’ll know soon enough. Stop torturing yourself.”

  Maddie shook her head. “You’re right. I don’t want to know. Just hand me a lip-gloss.” She might as well look her best when meeting her husband’s mistress. God help her, she didn’t know how to feel.

  Sasha dug in her bright Prada bag, then held out the gloss. “Here.” She held out another tube. “Add some eyeliner, you look like a ghost.”

  Maddie stared at herself in the visor mirror. She did look a fright; big, shocked eyes with shadows beneath them, pale cheeks and her trembling lips. So opposite from the excited face she’d seen in the bathroom mirror of the model home. Suddenly, she looked at Sasha. “You don’t think she’s crazy, do you?”

  Sasha took a deep breath and grasped Maddie’s arm. “I don’t know what she is, but I think you should find out and I won’t let you go through this alone. I’m sticking with you.”

  Maddie nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Sasha sped to LoLa’s at a hell-bent rate, Maddie trying hard to stay behind her and not think about anything.

  They pulled into the strip mall parking lot where the restaurant was located. Maddie took one more glance in the mirror, decided she couldn’t improve on her light makeup and windblown hair and got out of the car. She didn’t realize how nervous she was until her knees buckled and Sasha had to come around and help support her.

  The place was dimly lit and beautifully decorated in art deco style—metal stars glowing with multi-colored lights hanging against a gold stucco wall. Along the bar, amber and orange lights dropped from the ceiling in long, cone-shaped glass. Seating groups of low, overstuffed chairs in reds and purples were scattered around, making intimate settings for private parties.

  But neither Maddie nor Sasha saw a redhead.

  After walking around the place twice and deciding that Sabrina must not be there, they found a low, round table with no one around and settled in to wait.

  Maddie sipped her water, her palms sweating so much that she almost dropped the glass twice. Finally, after ten minutes of strained silence with Sasha, a tall, gorgeous woman walked in and stood blinking in the low light.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Maddie knew the second Sabrina found them in the corner. She paused, stared at Maddie intently and then, with a determined look on her face and narrowed eyes, strode over toward them.

  “How does she know who I am?” Maddie asked in stunned bewilderment. “Did you tell her what we look like?”

  Sasha shook her head. “No, do you think Brandon showed her a picture of you?”

  “Oh, Sasha. I think I’m going to throw up or faint or something.” She pressed her fingers against her forehead and tried to breathe.

  “Pull it together. Remember, no matter what, you were Brandon’s wife. He loved you. Be confident, condescending even.”

  “Condescending?” The woman stood before them as Maddie pasted on her best version of condescension and knew it wasn’t working. It just wasn’t in her.

  “Maddie?” the woman asked with crisp confidence. “Thank you for coming.”

  Maddie introduced Sasha in a surreal daze. How did one behave toward one’s husband’s mistress?

  “I’m glad you have a friend with you. You’re going to need the support.” With that proclamation she sat down and settled herself, waving to the waiter and ordering a drink.

  Maddie didn’t know what to say, just stared at the willowy beauty. She reminded her of a redhead she had seen on one of those reality dating shows.

  “How do you know Brandon?” Sasha asked, her own brand of condescension coming across more like hatred, her eyes narrowed, lips pressed together in a line of menace.

  The woman took a small breath. “You should be glad I called. It will give Maddie an important heads-up to what is going on. Listen, I’m not supposed to be talking about this to anyone. I may lose my job anyway, but if this got out…” She paused, thin, perfect eyebrows raised. “If they find out what I’m doing right now I will be fired immediately…but I figured I owed you that much.” She suddenly looked ready to tear up. �
�Before it all crashes down on top of you.”

  Maddie’s voice caught, but she managed, “What…what are you talking about?”

  The drink came and Sabrina took a long swallow, tossing back a long, auburn curl.

  “I worked with Brandon, was his boss’s boss, really. I am vice-president of loan servicing. Brandon, as you know, was a loan officer. About a month after Brandon started working for us, we…noticed each other. I’m sorry Maddie, but we began an affair and it lasted until he died.”

  Maddie just sat and stared. She was sorry? This woman and Brandon? Mental images of them together bombarded her mind. No, she couldn’t think of it. Couldn’t imagine the whys and wheres and hows. There would be time for the anguishing thoughts later.

  “But that’s not it, is it?” Sasha cut in. “You wouldn’t call the wife of a dead man just to torture her with this knowledge after he’s gone, would you?”

  Sabrina shook her head. “No. Of course I would not do that. I’m only telling you that so that you’ll understand the rest.” She took another long sip of her drink. “You will be getting a call from a private detective soon. Anytime now.”

  “A private detective?” Maddie gasped.

  “Over the last few months, the bank has had several customers default on their loans, very large loans that were recently procured. Last month the bank hired a forensic accountant and conducted a thorough investigation of our accounts. They found the loans were taken out by people who never existed.”

  “What does this have to do with me?”

  The woman held up her hand. “Let me explain. Upon further investigation and handwriting comparisons, we discovered that the loans were approved by your husband. He was taking out loans, either spending the money or wiring it to banks overseas, and then taking out other loans to make the payments. It worked undetected for eight months, but after he died…well, no one was paying off the loans and we slowly realized something was terribly wrong.”

  Maddie just sat and stared. They had to have the wrong person. Her husband would have never done such a thing. She actually felt relieved—for a minute.

  “I realize this comes as a shock, but Maddie, your husband embezzled over a half-million dollars.”

  “No.” Maddie shook her head, her hand a waving stop sign. “You need to go back to your investigation. Brandon would have never done such a thing.”

  Sabrina leaned forward. “And I bet you thought he would have never cheated on you either.”

  Maddie looked at the woman, thoughts catching up with themselves, unable to make sense of anything.

  “Don’t be stupid. I didn’t risk so much for you to ignore me. He did. He was leading a double life. I am under investigation too. They know I approved many of the larger loans and somehow they discovered we were having an affair. Brandon spent a lot of money on me, we had our own apartment, he…he bought me things. We took lots of trips together. He told me it was an inheritance and that you knew nothing about it. I regret that I let him convince me. But I was in love with him.”

  “You were in love with him.” Maddie voice sounded dead. Her whole being felt numbingly dead. “Why would he do this to me?”

  Sabrina shook her head. “I realize it will take some time for this to sink in, but I have plenty of proof and I’ll get it to you if you need it. The important thing is that the bank doesn’t decide to make a criminal case out of this. Brandon’s dead, they can’t get him. They are trying to track down and recover the money in accounts outside the US, but this bank is aggressive. They are now investigating you and me to see if we were accomplices, or at least ‘willfully blind’ as they say in a case like this.

  “Were you?” Sasha asked. “You said you approved many of the false loans.”

  Sabrina shook her head and looked straight into Sasha’s eyes. “I didn’t know anything about it. I find it hard to believe that I didn’t. I thought he told me everything.” Looking at Maddie, she gave her a small, sad smile. “I’m sure you didn’t know anything, but you’ll have to convince the private detectives. We don’t want them to prosecute either of us in a criminal case. We can’t have this going to court. You would probably lose your fancy job with the Racers.” A brief pause. “You could even lose Max.”

  Maddie just stared, terror-numb.

  Sasha growled, “Don’t you dare bring Max into this. She’s innocent and nothing will take Max away from her.”

  The woman shrugged one shoulder. “There’s one more thing.”

  “There’s more?” Sasha asked incredulously.

  Sabrina nodded. “I don’t think Brandon died of a car accident. I think he…committed suicide. I think he knew that he was in too deep, that he couldn’t keep it going much longer and panicked.”

  “How could you say that? He lost control. He drove off an overpass on the highway.” Maddie gritted her teeth. “His body was unrecognizable from the fire.”

  “Yes. Perfect wasn’t it?” Sabrina tapped her French-manicured fingernails on the table. “I’ve thought about this a lot. The guardrail on the bridge would have made it a very unlikely accident. He went over the side just before the rail began, angled right for the ravine. And I know something else. He had been researching explosives before the accident. I think he had a bomb in the car to make sure…to make sure he died.”

  The pretty lights in the room, lights she’d so admired when they had first walked into LoLa’s, started to blur. The room tilted to the right, then slid forward. Maddie closed her eyes tight. She found she couldn’t breathe very well and heard her breath coming in short gasps, but didn’t know they were coming from her. Sasha grasped her on the shoulder. “Maddie. Maddie, get a grip on yourself. Look at me, Maddie.”

  Maddie turned as if in slow motion to her friends familiar face and said in a little girl’s voice that sounded as if it were coming from a long way away, “It’s not true, is it, Sasha? It can’t be true.”

  Sabrina downed her drink and stood up. Looking at Maddie, she handed her a card. “If there’s anything…well. Goodbye.”

  They watched her go, both too stunned for words.

  ~~~~~~

  Maddie’s grip on the steering wheel left finger indentations on the leather cover she’d bought to conceal the paint-chipped original, weaving in and out of the traffic, trying to get home to Max, the only solid thing left in her life.

  “I can’t do this!” she yelled into the empty space of the car. Then she looked up and yelled at God. “I can’t do this. Do you hear me? It’s too much. I can’t…” Angry tears started to fill her eyes so that she couldn’t see. She dashed them away with the back of her hand, determined not to cry. “It’s not fair. What have I ever done to deserve this? I’ve always tried to be good, do the right thing.”

  Maddie turned onto the quiet, tree-lined side street that led to her parents’ house. It was growing dark and this street, curvy and dense with woods on either side, had always felt a little creepy at night. She pressed on the brake and just sat, staring. “What am I going to do?”

  A car came up behind her, slowing down, obviously wondering what she was doing stopped in the middle of the road. Stepping on the gas, she quickly gathered some speed. She turned the corner and saw her driveway. A black car was sitting in front of her parents’ house. It was her in-laws.

  “Oh, come on,” she groaned.

  Maddie pulled in behind the black car, remembering the first time she’d met Lydia and Robert Goode. Brandon had brought her home with him from college during Christmas break. She later learned that he had planned to ask her to marry him in front of his whole family on Christmas Eve but that the days with his parents had been so stiff and uncomfortable, had gone so badly, that he’d waited, angry at his parents for not thinking Maddie was a good match for him, angry at her for being so shy and insecure that she wouldn’t stand up to them, angry period. He’d proposed the following weekend, and Maddie had sensed a determination behind the proposal that had little to do with her. But she’d been young and inexper
ienced and very much in love with the most handsome boy on campus, so she’d happily agreed to become Mrs. Brandon Goode. Now, she had to wonder if she ever really knew him. How could he have lived two lives right in front of her? Why hadn’t she seen any signs? There must be something terribly wrong with her, with her judgment of people, to have had such a horrendous thing happen.

  His parents in the driveway might mean they knew of the investigation, she realized, getting out of her car. They would never drive all this way just to visit her and Max. Suddenly, she was intensely glad that she knew. Hearing it from Robert and Lydia would have been worse. They would have somehow blamed her. They were the kind of parents that if Brandon had gotten into trouble at school they would blindly take his side and blame the other party. Brandon could do no wrong.

  When she walked in she saw that her parents were sitting in the living room with the stiff-faced Goodes, who were sitting far apart, on either end of the couch. Lydia sat straight up, her back not touching the back of the green upholstery, her hands knotted together in her lap. Robert was red-faced and tense, clutching the iced tea her mother had apparently given him.

  “Oh, Maddie, you’re home.” Gloria rose and gave Maddie her seat, dragging in a dining room chair and saying, “I’ve been calling you for the last twenty minutes. Your cell phone must be dead.”

  Maddie frowned. She was quite sure the battery hadn’t died. Nodding to her in-laws, she found herself numb again, as if watching the scene from outside her body. “Robert, Lydia, what a nice surprise. It’s so good to see you. Have you seen Max?”

  Max ran into the room at the sound of his name being called. “Mommy, you’re home,” he cried out in delight, propelling himself into Maddie’s legs. Seeing his adorable face, the face that looked so much like Brandon’s, and thinking that someone could take him away from her made sudden tears spring to her eyes. She picked him up and gave him a big hug, hiding her face in his curly hair.

  “Max, did you say hello to Grandma and Grandpa?” She looked at her in-laws, her cheek pressed against Max’s. Max looked over to Maddie’s parents and said, “Hi, Grammy. Hi, Poppy.” Her dad waved at him and gave him a funny face, sticking out his tongue and making Max giggle.