Chapter 1

Mike Gray listened to the almost hypnotic thrum of the powerful diesel engine in the F350 Ford truck. He would have never purchased such a vehicle for himself. It had belonged to his father, as did the camper and boat that he was going to inspect. They had set empty and idle at the campground his parents had loved for almost two years, since The Incident, as Mike called it in his mind. He hadn’t made up his mind, but he was probably going to sell them.

He had a job that he loved, as a trade negotiator for a Fortune 100 company, on the fast track to better things, until it happened.

The engineer had the train going seventy miles an hour in a thirty mile an hour zone. He had a blood alcohol level just under the legal limit of intoxication, with traces of marijuana and cocaine in his blood. He died with his cell phone in his hand, texting his girlfriend, trying to talk her into coming back to him. The train jumped the tracks in a hard curve, the cars tumbling over those waiting at the crossing. They were in his brothers’ minivan, six cars back, and they found it in reverse, so he had just enough time to try to get away, but the fully loaded coal car smashed everything in its’ path. His mother, father, younger brother, his wife, and their four year old daughter, killed instantly.

He took a leave of abscence, then had to turn in his resignation. It fell to him to arrange five funerals, handle all attendant paperwork, and keep the company his father founded running. He could have just walked away, but one hundred eighty-six people depended on the plant for their livelyhood. Many were friends of his family. They had babysat he and his brother, taught them how to play in various sports, and he owed them. If nothing else he owed it to his parents.

So he dug in, working horrific hours to get the company back on an even keel, sixty and eighty hour weeks for months, but it was finally done. Not only was it back to the point where it was before the death of his father, he’d used his connections he had made in his old line of work to bring in new business.

During the time the railroad made him an offer, a million dollars for his whole family. He was outraged they wanted to pay him off and avoid responsibility. He turned to his friend and old partner Myra for advice.

“Let me handle it. Not me personally, but I’ll head the team. And I don’t want a dime, understand? This is personal for me. I liked your parents. They not only killed your family, they took my friend and the best partner I ever had away from me.”

She was brutal, and in the end they settled for eleven million and a full apology to all the victims, placed in a full page ad in a prominent paper. They also handled all the claims for the other relatives and survivors. Myra said they made a bundle.

His father and mother both had insurance policies of a million each, double for accidental death. His brother and wife had policies for half a million, also doubling for accidental death.

So when everything was settled he had a little over sixteen million in cash, not counting the houses and the factory he’d inherited. He would rathered have had his family back.

He had successfully stabilized the company, even increasing business. Deciding to finally ease back, he had hired a man with an excellent resume to run it for him, working side by side with him for the last six months. It was time.

He was going to take two or three weeks of, a kind of test for the new manager. If things went well, Mike had a plan. He had worked with his lawyers, and was going to sell part of the company to the employees, even had the financing set up. His reasoning was that if they actually owned part of the company, they would work hard to keep it solvent, and he could return to his old life. He packed the big four wheell drive dually his father had used to pull the boat, and headed South.

Mike was careful, stopping for a few minutes every hour or so, to strech his legs and recharge. He was three hours into his trip when his phone rang. Glancing down, he knew this would be a long conversation, so he pulled into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.

“Kim.” He said it with a flat emotionless voice, and it surprised her.

“Baby, where are you?”

“You know damn well where I am, Kim. I’m where you’re supposed to be, except you didn’t show up when it was time to leave. I waited two hours.”

She expected him to be angry, his calm voice and flat tone made her nervous. “Now baby, I’m sorry, I got detained. Come on back, and we’ll jump on a plane, go somewhere with a lot of sun and very little in the way of clothing. I’ll make it a very enjoyable trip for you, honey.”

He laughed, which stunned her. “By detained, do you mean shacked up with the golf pro? Or Jimmy? Maybe it was Brandon, maybe it’s all three, if the pictures I have are accurate. Doesn’t matter anymore. It’s my fault for getting you the country club membership. Golf lessons, swimming lessons, tennis, horseback riding, sex lessons, you’ve become a well rounded girl.”

She started spluttering, wondering how much he knew. This could be very bad. He started talking again before she could recover.

Chapter 2 »