Chapter 2

“Charlie, I know her. We got to the resort about the same time. I got there the end of May and she came a couple of days later--the first of June. We hung out together. She’s a really neat girl. She and I decided together to stay and have some fun, make some money, and come back all the wiser for it. God, I hope she’s OK. We spent a lot of time together. I wish there was something we could do.”

“Think about anything you can remember about her. Who you all met, where you went, anyone that was cross with her, just anything out of the ordinary and consider going to the authorities with the information.”

“That might get a little testy when they start asking questions about who might have seen her or talked to her. One of the guys I saw her with, you see every Sunday up in the glass boxes in the stadiums. Not to mention that one couple that made that movie together. Melly told me they spent three days together and she’d had no idea anything could be that much fun. Oh, boy. What to do, what to do?”

“Think about it. I can take you down there if you want and you can think about things and check them out. We can leave on a Friday afternoon and come back Sunday or Monday night. One day of school won’t kill you will it?”

“Not at all. Can we plan on that, Charlie? Next Friday?”

“Yes, hon. We’ll go down then. In the meantime, think of everything you can. Anything out of the ordinary. Was she ever with that guy that drugged you? Things like that. Jot them down and if you have any ideas you can share them with the police down there.”

“OK. Man, I’m worried. I was so hoping nothing like this would happen to any of us.”

“How many of you?”

“Six that I know of. I left early, so there were five when I left.”

“Wow.”

“I know, I know. Stupid Jackie, Stupid Jackie.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, hon. It wasn’t the smartest thing you’ll ever do, but if that was the worst thing that happens to you in your life, you’re going to be a pretty happy woman. You seem to have adjusted pretty well afterwards, and obviously have the capacity to be happy, and to love.”

“I do, don’t I? Charlie, when are you going to make me Mrs. Cantrell?”

“Sort of up to you, but I was thinking right after you graduate. If you don’t want to wait, we could sneak off after Christmas and tie the proverbial knot.”

“Ooooh. Tie. Knot. That’s something else we ought to look at some day.” She giggled.

“You’re a never-ending source of enjoyment for me, Jackie. I hope you don’t kill me before I learn everything you want to teach me.”

“Me, too. We’re going to have so much fun together. Charlie, how hard is it to fly?”

“It’s not. It just takes time and smarts and money. Some say it’s easier than driving, but I disagree. It’s more intense, and much, much more enjoyable. You’re interested, I take it?”

“Yes. I think it would be fun.”

“I’ll give you some stuff to read and some things to play with on the computer and the game console. You can decide for yourself. It takes about two years full time to do what I do. You can be flying in six months if you work at it and spend the time it needs. Let me know. I’d love to give you wings.”

She reached up behind my head and pulled me down for a kiss. At that point I was sitting at the end of the couch with her head in my lap. It was comfortable. Like we’d been doing it forever. We’d been together over a month and a half at that point. I was doing something right.

She was anxious about the trip to Aruba and as soon as we were in the air, she let it out. “I’m a bit afraid of what I’ll find, Charlie, but I’m afraid of what I won’t find, too. It’s scary. I’m glad you’re with me, that’s for sure. Thank you for this. I know it’s quite an expense, but...” I interrupted her.

“I don’t want this to sound simplistic, since you know it’s not, but we’re in this together. It’s not that big of a deal. We have the money, we have the plane, we have the time. I want you to feel better about trying to help. It’s pretty easy for me to do this for you.”

“Thank you.” She reached over and put her hand on my leg. When her fingers and her thumb made a gentle squeezing motion, applying slight pressure in what could only be called a caressing, hugging act, I realized, again, that she was no child. This was a woman. A young woman, yes, but she was completely capable of and knowledgeable of exactly where she was and what she was doing. I was very happy for that, naturally, since I held no thoughts of her being anything other than a part of me now.

The flying thing would add to that. The act of pursuing a pilot’s license requires maturity and dedication. She had what it took if she wanted to achieve that goal. Time, intelligence, and money would make it possible, if she applied them.

We had to stop in Mobile for fuel before going on to Aruba. We were on the ground for a very short time and I was explaining the reasons for everything we were doing, as it happened. In Aruba, we landed late and got to a hotel she thought was close to where we wanted to start looking for Melinda. It was nice, but it wasn’t a five-star offering and didn’t even have a restaurant in house. That was not a problem, though, as there were a couple of them close, and they were pretty nice as well as friendly. There were familiar faces both ways. Many of the staff remembered the cute little redhead.

When one reads spy novels about taking weeks or months to track missing persons only to find a grave or trap and catch a murderer that provides a dead body or worse yet, a dead end, one finds their imagination running rampant. I could sense Jackie’s anxiety rising every minute. We had breakfast at one diner type of a restaurant where Jackie showed a picture of Melinda and had gotten head shakes in return. She had been there, yes, but it was when she and Jackie were there together a couple of months ago.

Our fears of not finding Melinda were quashed at lunch. At a different restaurant, a nicer one and more of an afternoon or evening place, as soon as we were taken to our table, while being seated for lunch, the waitress approached and hugged Jackie, welcomed her back, and whispered in her ear. Jackie squeaked and smiled, and held her fists up to her chest, shaking them, trying to hold her excitement back.

“Charlie, wait here for a second? Please? I’ll be right back. I promise.” I nodded. The waitress took her hand and pulled her back to the kitchen. I heard a squeal. It sounded happy and I didn’t hear anything dangerous, so I kept my distance and waited for my lovely Jackie to take care of whatever it was she was taking care of.

She came back out and asked me how long it would take to leave. “To go home. How long would it take if we wanted to just leave right now and not say anything to anyone?” She thought if we left the room open until we were in the air, there would be no indication that we were even leaving. She was pretty smart. My little astute barrel of knowledge was afraid and taking precautions to make sure we weren’t found with more information than people might want us to have.

“We can leave here and head straight to the airport, sweetie. We’ll need to clear customs, but I don’t have anything at the hotel I need that can’t be shipped back to us, and all that is possible. We have our passports and ID on us. Your purse, my wallet, we have those. All we have left there at the hotel are our clothes and shampoo and stuff. We have all that at home. You think they might...”

“Charlie, we need to leave. Now. I told you ... I alluded to some very powerful people being at the resort. Very powerful and very well known. Melinda saw something she shouldn’t have seen, and people want her quiet. Or gone. She’ll explain on the way home, but we need to get her out of here. She’s been holed up here, working in the kitchen and hiding out here with a friend we met a couple of months ago. They promised to keep it quiet, but money is money and who knows how long it would take for someone to offer up...”

“Enough said. Stay here.” I went out to the street and looked around. I saw a delivery van for a beverage company a few doors down on the same street. I approached him carefully, but I figured he wouldn’t have been questioned about Melinda like every bus and cab driver on the island might have been. “Sir, I need help. My girlfriend is afraid of cab drivers. She thinks they’re all yucky, and I need a ride. If I give you a hundred dollars, American, would you take us to the back gate at the airport really quickly?”

It worked like a charm. He pulled his van down to the café, and as the girls were hugging the waitress and Jackie was thanking her for helping Melinda, he was calling in to his dispatcher telling them he needed to make a quick run to the airport, and he’d be back on his route in a bit. Melinda ran upstairs, got her bag and came back to us, excited about Jackie finding her and getting her away from the madness.

The waitress ran to the kitchen and came back with a sack. Take out cartons. Jackie asked me for some money for her, and after I handed her a hundred-dollar bill and gave her a nod, in exchange for a kiss, Jackie handed it to their waitress friend, hugged her again, and we left. Melinda climbed into the van with her duffel, Jackie followed her, I climbed in front next to the driver, and off we went. I pulled out my wallet and took out a hundred-dollar bill, and a fiver.

The civil aviation side of the Aruba airport was evidently on his route. He showed an ID, then I did as an aircraft owner, and we were admitted. We got to the plane, I unlocked it and put the girls onboard. Handing the driver the hundred dollar bill, I asked him if I had his discretion. He smiled and nodded. I handed him the five and told him it was for the gas. We both laughed. I thanked him and sent him on his way.

I called customs from the plane, since we were already onboard, and told them we were leaving early due to a family emergency and started filing a new flight plan through the tower and on my satellite phone. They contacted us back asking if we were declaring anything upon arrival in the states, and on getting a negative response, told us to go ahead.

As I did the engine run up, Jackie called the hotel asking them to please accept our apologies on behalf of Mr. Cantrell, but he needed to depart the island immediately due to an emergency. If they could please ship his belongings back to his listed address, using UPS, they could charge any shipping and convenience fees to the card on file for the room, he would appreciate it and recommend their hotel to all of his friends for their Aruban travels. She said they were quite sympathetic and would comply. “Charlie, they said it’s way after checkout time, too, so they need to charge for the second night.” We laughed at that. “The absolute least of our problems, right?”

“Right. Now, will someone tell me why we’re going all Double Oh Seven all of a sudden.”

“Tell him everything, Melly. He already knows most of it except for the specific names. This is going to be a huge problem, but there’s no way to keep this quiet forever. Just tell him. By the way, Melinda Knowles, Melly, this is my fiancé, Charles, Charlie, Cantrell. He owns Cantrell Industries International.”

“Oh, my God, Jacks. You lucky girl, you.” They both giggled. “OK, here it is. I witnessed Linda Johnson’s nephew, Bradley Johnson, stab Darrell Williamson’s niece, Patricia George, when she called old lady Johnson a crooked, conniving bitch. He just went off and stuck a steak knife in her chest. It was gross. I don’t think anyone knows yet. Burnstead has been covering it up. I overheard Johnson tell Burnstead that I had to be taken care of. I grabbed as much of my stuff as I could get in that bag and I was gone.

“Bill George, the actor, Patricia’s husband, was basically told it was his fault and if he said anything, Johnson would make sure the entire world knew what he was doing down at the resort. He likes little boys. Really little boys. Yeah, they don’t want me around.”

“Holy shit! Jackie, did you know about any of this?”

“Mr. Cantrell...”

“Call me Charlie, Melly. Just Charlie, for now.”

“OK, Charlie. Jacks was gone already when their planes came in. Johnson had already been there for a day or two, spending most of his time with Veronica, one of our friends, when the Georges showed up. Veronica went to bed alone right after dinner. It was pretty late. I was up spending the evening with Patricia when it happened. We were the only five in the dining room when Brad Johnson went berserk. It was horror movie weird. No shit.”

“I don’t want to sound repetitive, but Holy shit! I need to call some people as soon as we get home, but first, we need to take a chance and put some people at ease. Melinda, do you get along with your parents?”

“Yes, Mr ... Yes, Charlie, I do.”

“Jackie, could you please give her the satellite phone.” Melinda was sitting behind us on the floor talking as we flew. We were still out over the middle of the gulf. Jackie handed her the satellite phone, which was on a long coiled cord. “Melly, call your parents. Tell them you are alive and safe but you can’t tell them where and you can’t tell them why you can’t tell them. Tell them it will make more sense, probably next weekend. Tell them not to talk to anyone about the call, and tell them you love them. Jackie’s won’t...”