Chapter 4

By the time darkness fell on December 30, we had no doubts that someone was looking for Abby and me. Danni had the cell phone with her and had taken individual pictures of seven different men searching the crowd with their eyes. Two of them were the college boys we spotted before.

The next morning, New Year’s Eve, I called Adele and asked her, “Are my father or Cheri acting strange?”

“What do you mean, Andy?”

“I bumped into the evil twins and mommy dearest a few days before Christmas, downtown, in front of one of the big department stores. Tuesday, Danni and I spotted two college boys eyeballing me, and when they started walking toward me, I took off. I stayed off the streets with Abby the next three days, and Sissy took my place, and Danni got pictures of seven different men that looked like they were searching the crowd for someone.”

“Shit! Can you send me the pictures?”

“Okay,” I said, and Adele hung up.

I handed the phone to Danni, and she sent the pictures. A couple of minutes later, the phone rang, and I answered; it was Adele.

“Oh my God, Andy, this is getting way too crazy. The two boys are going with Betty and Linda, and one of the men is a private investigator.”

“How do you know that he’s a PI?”

“Because he was in your dad’s office Tuesday afternoon, and Cheri gave me a bill to pay him.”

“Cheri’s trying to get rid of Abby and me, but why? If I’m not trying to contact my father, I’m not a danger to her. So, why...”

Danni blurted out, “You’re dad’s will; it probably leaves everything to you, but if it’s changed, she could be added, and you could be dropped.”

“Still, what difference does it make? My dad’s healthy and not planning to die anytime soon, so how...”

This time it was Adele cutting in, “She’s planning to murder him!”

That put a damper on this conversation, and we hung up after Adele promised to ask my dad about his will tonight at the New Year’s Gala in Omaha.

Happy New Year’s day, 2001, and the year began with a phone call from Adele.

“Andy, you won’t believe what your father told me last night.”

“Slow down, Adele, and tell me what happened.”

“Cheri went to the ladies’ room, and I cornered your father and asked him if he’d seen John Cartwright lately? He seemed drugged, and if I had the time to spare, I could’ve talked him into tripling my salary. So anyway, he nodded and told me that he and Cheri went to John’s office last week and signed some papers to change his will.”

“Michael looked me in the eye and said, and I am quoting him, word for word, ‘Cheri thinks I made a new will that leaves everything to her. John tricked her and only added a codicil that says she gets $100,000 for every year we’re married unless all of my stirpes, that means Andy and my granddaughter, are dead.’ Then he became depressed, wondering if he would ever see his granddaughter. I didn’t get a chance to ask him anything else because Cheri jumped right between us and demanded to know what we talked about. Your father snapped at her, ‘Business, Adele’s my secretary, not my friend,’ then turned around and walked away.”

“I could’ve kissed him for keeping what we said a secret.”

Did that mean Cheri wanted Abby and me dead before she killed my father?

Three days later, Adele called back and spoke for forty seconds on the telephone without breathing.

“Slow down, Adele.”

“Sorry. Today at work, our CPA and head accountant, Mr. Purdy, announced he was retiring in one more year. He said he highly endorsed his assistant, Justin Touch, who has fifteen years of experience and is a CPA. However, Justin’s position would need to be filled, and there was no one in the accounting department with enough experience to move into the position, so we would have to hire from the outside.”

“I’m confused, Adele. What does this have to do with my father and me?”

“Nothing, and everything. I remember Danni telling me she was an accountant and CPA, and I thought if she got the job, with the salary we were offering, all of you could rent an apartment or even a house.”

“Adele, when did Danni tell you about her job experiences?”

“That day you were at my house; Danni and I talked when you were in the bathroom by yourself. If she can impress Mr. Purdy, not only would you gain a place to live, but we would have another set of eyes and ears in the company.”

“Here, Danni, talk to Adele. I have a headache.”

Danni got an interview, and Adele loaned us money to dress Danni for success. She rode the bus to the interview on Friday, scheduled at 10 AM, and when she wasn’t home by two, I began to worry. I couldn’t call anyone because Danni needed the cell phone if she got hired, and I was afraid to walk to Walmart by myself to use the payphones.

4 o’clock passed by, and I was chewing on my nails. When I heard banging on the cellar door at 4:30, I almost broke my neck running down the stairs to the cellar doors. After Danni was inside and we secured the doors, I kissed her lips with so much passion she said one word in a whisper, “Wow.”

Upstairs in the kitchen, we gathered around, and I read her eyes, but before I could say anything, Danni was jumping up and down and screaming, “I got the job.” All of us started screaming and jumping up and down, and Abby woke up and started crying. We quieted down, and Sissy calmed our little girl down by feeding her while Danni gave us decals.

“They offered me the job contingent on me transferring my CPA license to Nebraska, a copy of my two-year degree in accounting and completing six months on probation. I start Monday working for Mr. Purdy with a $750 a week starting salary. After ninety days, I get a raise to $925 a week and begin working for Justin, and if everything is satisfactory after six months, my pay becomes $1200 a week, and I take over Justin’s job. Oh my God, I can hardly believe it. I’ve got a job that pays real money. I almost forgot that Adele is picking me up tomorrow morning at nine to go shopping for clothes, and Jason is scouring the real estate pages on the internet looking for a place to rent so we can all get out of this house.”

That night, Danni had trouble relaxing enough so she could sleep. So with my lips, tongue, and fingers, I soothed her nerves all over her body.

Friday evening, a week later, we celebrated Danni’s first week at work with a large pizza, an order of stuffed cheesy bread, and a gallon of milk. She was still stressed out with the speed that everything was happening, and every night I did my best to help her rest. That night she talked to me as we snuggled in our sleeping bag, “Andy, I’m so afraid I’ll let you down?”

“It’s not possible for you to let me down. It will take time, but you’ll remember all of the accounting stuff you did before...”

“The accounting part is no problem; that all came back five minutes after I started. What’s bothering me is getting dressed up in the morning, riding the bus to work early so I can put my makeup on and do my hair, eating what I want for lunch, and then having to come back home. I feel guilty because I’m not homeless all day, Monday through Friday.”

“Yea, but soon, we won’t be either.” I calmed her down, and we reconnected Saturday night several times.

Monday evening, Danni came home with news about a house we could move into Friday afternoon. It had four bedrooms and three baths and was fully furnished, with furniture, linens, and all the dishes and cookware we’d ever need. She was as happy as I had ever seen her.

Tuesday, a car pulled into the overgrown driveway, and we panicked when someone started banging on the cellar doors. It wasn’t until we heard her voice, “Hey you guys, it’s me, Danni. Open up.”

Now we had a ten-year-old Ford Taurus, and Danni was so proud to drive it.

Wednesday, I made a mistake that almost cost Abby and me our lives. I know I wasn’t supposed to go out, but Sissy had a head cold, and Mark needed help getting enough cardboard to last through Friday. After we took home one cart full of boxes, Mark returned the cart, and I went to buy Sissy some cold medicine. As I was on the way out, I thought I was being followed, so I cut behind the store, hid behind a dumpster, and watched for someone following me. After five minutes nothing had happened, so I went home. I didn’t try to hide by walking through the snow and weaving in and out by the trees; no, dumb old me just walked right down the center of the road so my feet wouldn’t get wet. I was daydreaming, and a herd of elephants could have been behind me, and I wouldn’t have noticed.

Friday evening, after Danni got home, we loaded the sleeping bags, Alex’s books and toys, Abby’s clothes, and a couple of trusty antique frying pans into the trunk of the Taurus. Then Danni drove Mark, Sissy, and Alex to our new home while Abby and I waited behind. I wandered around the house already dressed with my coat on, remembering the four and one-half months I lived in this room.

My reminiscing came to a screeching halt when I heard glass breaking in the living room. It must’ve been a windowpane, and now I could hear voices all around the house. Instantly, I knew who they were, and I was certain Abby and I were in grave danger.

“Hey, little girl, come out and play with us.”

A girl’s voice floated through the air, “Yea, bitch, bring that baby out, and we’ll light a campfire.”

OMG, that sounded like Betty. Another window pane shattered behind a sheet of cardboard, covering a kitchen window.

“You’d better hurry out of that old house, Miss New Year’s Eve slut, because I’m going to burn it down, and if you’re still in it, too fucking bad.”

“Do it, man.”

“Burn her out.”

“Kill the fucking bitch; she threatened to kill my sister and my beautiful mother.”

That girl’s voice was different; could that be Linda? More panes of glass broke, and a fire started in the living room. I backed up to the cellar door as something hit the cardboard over the kitchen window, and I could see something flickering on the other side of the cardboard. Smoke was beginning to build up in the kitchen, so I went into the cellar, closing the kitchen door behind me. As I approached the cellar doors, someone was on the other side screaming, “Burn it, burn this old house to the ground.”

That voice sounded like one of the football players in the hotel room a year ago. I couldn’t leave because there were at least four of them out there who wanted to hurt my baby and me. Smoke was beginning to seep down into the cellar, and I covered my baby’s face with a blanket and sat down, trying to get as close to the floor as I could. Smoke quickly descended toward me, and I closed my eyes and prayed for my baby’s life.

I thought I heard sirens in the distance, but I was coughing now and getting dizzy.

“Guy’s, we have to get out of here now because the fire department is on the way. If we get caught here, they could charge us with arson.”

Oh, God, make them leave.

I heard yelling and running feet getting fainter, and then car doors slammed, and tires burned rubber on the road. Now I had to move fast, so I struggled to pull the handle out and then pushed against the door with my shoulders until I could get out. I staggered out to the road, and Abby and I were alone in the cold, with the darkness lit up by the flames consuming my last home. I could hear sirens getting louder, Abby was crying, and I was coughing up a lung, so I sat down against a tree and waited to be saved.

“Miss, are you all right? Miss, were you in the house? How did the fire start?”

“I was in house ... some people,” and I coughed up part of my left lung before speaking again, “and there ... two men ... two women, throwing rocks ... glass breaking,” and this time I coughed so hard snot came out of my nose and hit the fireman’s boot, but I had to finish, “they ... the fire ... no one else ... house.”

The fireman moved away and began barking out commands and was replaced by paramedics, one man, and one woman.

The woman asked me, “I’m Molly. Can I look at your baby while Darren checks you out?”

I handed her my baby and said, “Her name ... Abby Bell ... I Andy Bell ... lived here with...”

Everything turned black, and I could barely hear voices swirling around me, and hands picking me up.

“ ... help over here.”

“What ... got ... Darren?”

“ ... female, 18 to 20, Bp ... pulse 103... 15 and labored.”

“Ollie ... backboard ... stretcher ... now. Where’s Molly?”

“ ... got ... baby in ... squad ... you need?”

“Lidocaine IM” was the last thing I heard before waking up in a hospital bed.

The room was shaded with the only lights visible outlining the walls. Something was between my lips, and when I tried to touch it, I discovered my hands were secured to the bed. I began panicking, making screeching noises in my throat, and I heard a voice I recognized, “Nurse, nurse, my daughters waking up, and she’s trying to get out of bed.”

I barely heard a crackle of an intercom and a woman’s voice because I was screaming in my head, “That’s my father.”

A flashlight was shined into both of my eyes, and then the room lights got a little brighter, and I could see a doctor standing over me with a smile. “Hello, Andy. Your breathing is almost normal now, so would you like to get this tube out of your throat? Don’t answer; squeeze my hand.”

I realized he was holding my hand, so I squeezed. I blacked out again, and when I awoke tube was gone. I made a sound, “WA WA,” and my father placed a sliver of ice on my lips. He was smiling at me, and I started to cry, whispering, “Daae. My Daae,” and I reached for him, but my hands still wouldn’t move.

“Mrs. Tucker, remove the restraints. I’m sorry we had to put them on you, Andy, but you were thrashing around when you came into the emergency room, so to help you, we had to restrain you. Okay?”

I nodded, and as soon as my hands were free, I reached for my father. “Daddeeee, you real,” and the tears were flooding out of my eyes and down my cheeks. “Da Da, You see, baby? My baby?”

Now he was crying, “Yes, Andy, I did, and Sissy let me hold her, and you named her Abigail, afftterr yure mmmaaather,” and now he was bawling as we hugged.

When we broke apart, he fed me ice for a couple of minutes, and after the last piece melted, I could speak clearly, although not very loud. “And the rest of my family that took care of me, are they okay? Where’s Danni?”

“They’re fine, and they’re all waiting in the hallway to see you.”

He didn’t leave my side as Alex came in and kissed me on the cheek, and then Mark and Sissy came in holding hands and blew me a kiss and whispered, “Come home soon.” Finally, Danni came in holding Abby, and that’s when I noticed my dad was in a hospital gown and had an IV attached to his right arm and I choked up again trying to speak, “Daddy. Why, what, no Daddy, you can’t be sick, I won’t let you...”

“Shush, my darling daughter, don’t get yourself all worked up. When Adele called me this morning and told me you were in the hospital, I ran out of the house so fast I knocked Cheri out of my way as she carried my morning pills to give me. I was driving way over the limit in my rush to reach you until a state trooper pulled me over. He was giving me the riot act before I finally made him understand that you needed me. He made a call to the hospital then led me to the emergency rooms’ parking lot at speeds over 100 mph, and I didn’t even get his name.”

He shook a little bit but kept his feet and continued talking to me.

“I started getting dizzy while sitting in the waiting room, and I must’ve passed out because I woke up in a room being asked questions about my symptoms. They did an MRI on my head, and I’ve got a baseball-sized tumor in the center of my brain. It might be cancer, or maybe it isn’t, but it doesn’t matter because it’s growing and it’s inoperable, and that’s what caused me to pass out. Oh, honey, don’t cry; before I die, I got to make up with my daughter and hold my granddaughter. They estimate I have less than a week to live, and I’ve already signed a DNR, so all I want to do is spend time with my babies and their new family.”

“He’s right, Andy. He let his doctor explain everything to me, and it’s just like he told you.” My sweet Danni kissed my palm before letting me say hi to my baby. Her timing was impeccable, and she gurgled, spit up on my arm, tooted, and dropped a big stinky in her diaper.

Half laughing and half crying, I asked my dad, “Hey grandpa, can you smell that? That’s your granddaughter stinking up the hospital.”

The doctor kicked all my visitors out to take another x-ray of my lungs. Afterward, they brought me some bullion to sip before they injected something into my IV to make me sleep.

I spent one more night in the hospital and was released Sunday at noon. Danni took me to our new home to clean up and put on some new clothes she bought for me. Then she made me eat something before taking Abby and me back to the hospital to spend as much time with my dad as I could.

I walked down the hallway toward his room and was almost run over by security, racing into a room. I stopped walking and hugged the wall 20 feet from the door and listened to the commotion inside. There was a lot of yelling, and I could only pick out a few words, like bitch and asshole. Suddenly the door flew open with a bang, and two security guards were dragging a handcuffed Cheri out of the room. When she saw me, she went berserk, thrashing around, screaming, and she appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

After they passed by, I went into that room with 100% certainty that it was my dad’s room and found him sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.

“Daddy, look who I brought to see her grandfather.”

He looked up with a big smile on his face and held his hands out, saying, “Andy, you look like you’ve recovered from the smoke you breathed in. Is that little Abby coming to see her grandpa?”

I handed her to him and asked the big question on my mind, “What kind of drugs was she giving you?”

“The police searched my house but couldn’t find anything. That’s why she isn’t in jail. From the way I described what I was feeling, they believe it was a combination of an animal tranquilizer and opiates. Unless she confesses, we’ll never know.”

Bouncing Abby on his knee, he began carrying on two different conversations at once.

“Now Andy, do you remember John Cartwright, who is my attorney? Well, that bitch that was dragged out of here made me put her in my will, but she’s in there after you and Abby.

Look at the pretty baby, cutchee-coo, my little lamb chop. I’m leaving you the house and the business, and with the support staff I’ve assembled, you should be up to speed in about six months. Bell Manufacturing makes electronics panels for the Navy and the Air Force and, hi Abby, hello my pretty baby, and Tom Bannister runs the manufacturing end of the business and is the best man in the country for this position, and all he’ll want from you is to let him do his job.”

And that’s how my afternoon went with my dad; he’d talked to me about a manager then talk to Abby and blow bubbles from his mouth.

He lasted nine days before dying in his sleep. Daddy sent me to the bank to be added to his personal checking account and the company’s checking account. I was also issued a personal Visa card and a corporate American Express card. With money available now, Danni took me to a woman’s clothing store, and five grand was spent to get me started on my wardrobe for the corporate world. Three days after my dad died, on a Saturday, I took Danni shopping for more clothes, and then we went to a beauty parlor for a cut, perm, and nails.