Death Benefits. Hannah Alexander
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Название: Death Benefits
Автор: Hannah Alexander
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
isbn: 9781472079381
isbn:
Helen Courtney had a camera, and she started taking pictures of everything and everybody, especially Graham and Willow, Lucy and Brittany, right there on the jet.
The Courtneys made Lucy nervous. Why did Helen Courtney have to take so many pictures?
“Honey, I’m going to be taking all the pictures you’ll ever want on this trip,” she explained, patting Willow’s hand. “I’ll even catch some shots you’ll want to erase, but not many! I know my stuff. I’m making memories for a lifetime, you know.”
Lucy studied the woman. She seemed to smile all the time. She had a lot of wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, and she wore more makeup than Aunt Ginger or Willow ever did.
“I love your hair,” Aunt Ginger told Helen. “It’s the perfect shade for you.”
Helen laughed. “Oopsie! You caught me there.” She patted her hair as if it might be out of place. “Fresh from the bottle.”
Lucy stared at the woman’s hair. Must be a big bottle. Was she bald under there?
Helen’s husband, Steve, had gray hair and lots of wrinkles around his eyes, too. He didn’t smile as much as Helen. Lucy was relieved that he didn’t look anything like the man at the window last night.
Larry Bager sat in the seat behind Helen. He didn’t say much, but he stared at every person who got on the airplane.
Brittany suddenly looked up from her unzipped backpack, eyes wide, mouth open with horror. “Oh no! Aunt Ginger, I forgot to pack Chuckles! You told me to be sure to pack him and I forgot! Did you pack him? You did, didn’t you Aunt Ginger? Huh?”
Ginger had realized last night that this wasn’t going to be an easy trip. With the lack of sleep and the fright the girls—and she and Graham—had endured, her mind hadn’t been as sharp as she’d have liked. But this? It was inexcusable.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry, but—”
“No!” Brittany wailed. “We can’t go without Chuckles! We’ve got to go back and get him, we’ve got to!”
It seemed the eye of every person in the aisles around them turned to see what Ginger was going to do about the panicky child. Some passengers were amused, some irritated.
Brittany started to cry.
Lucy tapped Ginger on the arm. “Aunt Ginger.” She held up her backpack, and slowly unzipped the largest compartment.
Two fuzzy golden ears popped up, and Lucy pulled the teddy bear out.
Brittany squealed with delight. Helen Courtney clapped, and several people around them laughed.
Ginger threw her arms around her little heroine and kissed her on the forehead. “Sweetheart, you’re the best big sister in the world.” She leaned back and enjoyed the glow of satisfaction she saw in Lucy’s dark eyes. “I’m so proud of you.”
A smile actually spread across Lucy’s face. Ginger wished she could see that smile more often. This quiet little girl had been through so much in the past nine months. The ordeal of her mother’s murder, living with strangers, and now being afraid of her mother’s killer, had matured her far beyond her years. Ginger grieved that tragic loss of innocence.
At least the incident with Chuckles had distracted Lucy from her morbid search for Rick Fenrow—for the moment. That was Larry’s job, and from the looks of it, he would do it well.
Brittany held her teddy bear up for Helen’s inspection. “His name is Chuckles, because he used to laugh when I squeezed his paw.”
Helen reached out and squeezed the bear’s paw. Nothing happened.
“He doesn’t laugh anymore,” Brittany explained. “Lucy says he’s grieving because Mama died.”
“I’m sure he is.” Helen’s voice caught, and her face suddenly lined with sorrow.
Brittany nodded. “He stopped laughing the day Mama died.”
Ginger glanced at Larry, then at the people coming on board. She, too, felt a compelling need to protect these children, at any cost.
Her gaze traveled down the queue, then stopped at a familiar face. She caught her breath as she studied the big man with black hair, dark blue eyes, and shoulders as broad as a linebacker’s.
“No,” she whispered. Ray Clyde. Of all people, what was her worst enemy on earth doing on this flight?
Ray grimaced when a teenager stepped backward onto his foot, but the pain wasn’t as sharp as the look in Ginger Carpenter’s eyes when she caught sight of him from her seat near the middle of the main cabin.
He hadn’t expected anything else. And how could he blame her? If he was in her position, he’d probably feel the same way.
He’d hoped for a meeting under better circumstances, however. Graham had warned him not to try to contact her in any way.
How had it come to this?
An elderly lady turned in the aisle to ask if someone could place her suitcase in the overhead compartment. Glad for the distraction, Ray hurried to her aid. This day had suddenly grown a lot more interesting…and a lot more volatile.
FOUR
Ginger steadied herself, sure she’d felt the jet shift, though the door remained open and people continued to enter.
She blinked and tried to refocus, but still he was there. No mistake about it. It was Dr. Ray Clyde. As usual, he stood taller than every other man by at least a couple of inches. His size, his voice, his rugged-but-attractive face and demeanor all drew attention to his commanding presence.
He’d been her director when she was on the mission field in Belarus. At one time, she’d believed they had a special relationship—not romantic, perhaps, but she’d thought they were the best of friends. He seemed to be such a caring man, and at one time she’d thought he’d cared deeply about her—at least as a friend.
Then came the betrayal.
The line of passengers entering the jet came to a standstill while an elderly woman asked for help placing her luggage in an overhead compartment. Ray helped her, of course. Ray was always jumping to someone’s aid. Everyone’s but Ginger’s.
After easily lifting the piece of luggage for the lady, he accepted her thanks with a silent nod, then looked up and caught Ginger’s gaze. Ginger could not look away. All the pain and fury of his betrayal surfaced, and her hands clenched at her sides.
She broke the connection at last, and unbuckled her seat belt. She stood and turned to glare at Graham across the aisle.
As if he’d been waiting for her to react, he looked up at her, then winced at the look on her face. Willow, seated beside him, saw her, СКАЧАТЬ