Chapter 41

He walked around his new winged chariot and smiled the smile of a man proud of his new offspring. A Beechcraft G36 Bonanza, $750K, 600 mile range, seating for six, and fast enough, at 200 mph, to get ‘em to Douglas in comfort in well under an hour. Perfect, he thought. And Pete loved it. Of course there were other expenses he’d be incurring, hanger fees, taxes of multiple sorts, fuel, maintenance costs, but overall a good idea, thought Ronald Carter. Oh yes, she’d definitely had a good idea. He’d been thinking about it for a long time, but never had the immediate motivation to take the plunge. They’d be surprising his brother and the local barkeeps for Valentine’s Day! Yes!

“So Pete likes it,” said Stacey.

“Yes, well he should; he was the one who picked it out. Had to rent hanger space. He says he does not cotton to leaving a plane like that sitting out in the open and just tied down and exposed to the weather. Had to be in a hanger he said,” said Ronald.

“Yes, well good, I guess,” said Stacey, “now to plan.”

“Yes, I think that your idea of going down there for Valentine’s is a good one. He likely won’t expect us and so he’ll have a harder time escaping us,” said Ronald.

“Yes, and oh, Jane Driscoll’s gonna be in town. Her husband’s overseas so I’m inviting her to come with us down to Douglas. Whaddya think?” she said.

“That’s fine with me; the more the merrier. It’s your decision anyway,” he said.

I hadn’t even gotten an invitation for New Year’s. I think that they were getting the message. Not sure how I felt about that, but it was what I wanted, that is to not be some kind of human ornament for each and every holiday. Well, that’s the way I saw things as developing, and I didn’t much like it.

I did have questions though. I knew from talking with Stacey on the phone, on Christmas Day, night actually, that for the second time the Ellisons had not shown their faces. Stacey’d called to see if I was all right. She’d made a strenuous effort to convince me that I was wrong about their motivations. I had begun to think that in her case and my brother’s that she was telling it straight. She owned that Ronald would be tracking the Ellisons down to find out why they were no shows because for both occasions they’d promised to come. There was something going on and nobody seemed to know what it was.

“Here’s to you Juniper and to Barry,” I said, raising my glass in toast.

“Thanks, David. Back atcha my friend,” said Juniper. We touched glasses: her ice tea and my JD up. She knew I was still feeling down especially on a day like this one. She’d never met Rozelle, but she knew what it was like to lose someone. She’d lost her dad to war when she was little: that was twenty-six years gone. It was something that she’d never forget either even though she’d barely had a chance to even see his face: she’d been but five years old at the time.

It was late afternoon, and it was Sunday. They pulled up in a local cab and came inside the darkened bar. It was February and the weather was unseasonably cool, but not too bad. The newcomers, three of them, scanned the room for their quarry. The PI they’d retained to locate the man’s hangouts and likely whereabouts on any given day had done his homework. The target of their search was seated at the bar talking to the barkeep, a comely lass in her late twenties by the look of her.

“Okay, this is it,” said Ronald. The two females in tow nodded their anxious agreement.

They headed for the man and pretty much had him cornered. Ronald Carter tapped the man on the shoulder and stepped back a foot or two.

I felt the tap on my shoulder and turned to face the interruption of my perfectly melancholy afternoon. Juniper stared at the visitors.

“Ronald!” I said. “And you, Stacey? What...”

“Thought we’d drop by and say hello,” said Ronald. “Oh, and I don’t know if you remember, this is Jane Driscoll, a close friend. Her husband, Darnell, was a tight friend of mine back in the day” he said. “You’ve met but that was a long time ago.”

“Uh, okay,” I said. “But?”

“Yes, we flew down just now,” he said.

“How are you, David?” said Stacey, speaking for the first time.

“Okay,” I said. “Just dropped by—just flew down—huh?”

“Yes, we bought a plane, so we just flew down. Nice flight I might add,” he said, “made it in 43 minutes, lift off to touchdown.”

“But, listen can we get a table or something? You know get a little more comfortable,” said Ronald.

Uh, sure, I guess,” I said. “Over there.” I indicated a table across from where the newcomers were standing.

I turned to Juniper, “My brother,” I said. She nodded.

“I’ll come over and get the drink orders,” she said.

“Good, good,” I said.

Seated, Juniper arrived ten seconds after us with her pad. I was drinking JD, but the big man opted for a pitcher of Miller Lite. I nodded for her to bring me a glass so as to be part of the party. Two minutes, maybe three, into the surprise visit I already had questions: a plane for one. He had no plane; well, he hadn’t, but he apparently did now. And I knew for a fact, or thought I did that the man couldn’t fly one, so where was the pilot? Oh yeah, I did indeed have a few questions.

“I know you must have questions, brother mine, but let me take the lead here for a few moments,” said Ronald. I nodded.

“Okay,” I said, “and you’re right I do have a few questions.”

“Okay,” he said. “Darnell is an old friend of mine, and Jane, also our friend, is missing her husband, and she’s visiting us. So, Stacey thought it might be nice to have her come with us and kinda reup old times. You met her back in the day. She’s still happily married to Colonel Darnell Driscoll, second armored division. He’s overseas right now, Afghanistan.

“And yes, you heard right, we’ve bought a plane, and no I do not have a pilot’s license But Pete Grissom does. He’s an employee of mine and an army ex-chopper pilot; and oh, he can fly pretty much anything,” said Ronald.

“Yes, I think I do remember you, Jane,” I said, “and your husband too, but that had to be what thirty years ago?” I said.

“That’s about right,” said Stacey, “it was before you and I were even married. Jane and Darnell were at the Stover’s wedding where you and I met. She was Jane Whiting at the time, but she and Darnell married soon thereafter. We lost touch for a long time, but we all reconnected a few years ago at a do Ronald was hosting for some wounded vets.” I was nodding.

“Nice to meet you again, David, after so along a time,” said Jane.

“Thank you, Jane, and you too,” I said.