food in the hospital was what you’d expect.” He
frowned.
“Roast beef sound good?” Kate’s eyes shone with
love and affection.
Before Josh could answer, Abby interrupted. She
raced up, clutching a picture in her hands, with Wiener close behind.
“I drew this for you.” She held out the drawing for Josh to take.
Josh put his bag down and took it. He was at a loss for words.
Kate, who had already seen it, stifled a laugh and put a hand to her mouth to contain a giggle. “Tell him what it’s called, sweetie.”
“I call it Daddy’s Accident,” Abby said proudly.
Daddy’s Accident was a crayon effort that depicted a bridge and Josh at the wheel of his car at the bottom of the river. The crudely drawn picture stunned him into silence. Only a child deciphering an adult’s world could produce the picture’s shocking honesty. After several moments, he smiled at the artwork.
“What do you think?”
“It’s pretty much how it was,” he said stiltedly.
“You like it then?” Abby said expectantly.
“Oh, I love it,” he said, a little uncomfortable with the image in his hands. He bent down and kissed his daughter.
“Cool. It’s just like Mommy told it to me.”
“Is it now?” he said suspiciously.
“I’ll get that sandwich for you.” Kate left his side for the kitchen.
Josh heard a tinkle of laughter from the kitchen. His wife had left him to deal with the praise of the picture.
He searched for a compliment.
The following morning, Josh had the house to himself.
He packed off Kate and Abby to cruise the malls and fight it out with the other families with kids on spring break. The prospect of thrashing through the hordes of impatient people concentrated on the same outlet stores hadn’t appealed to him. He wanted time to himself.
Kate and Abby’s affections had been suffocating. They didn’t allow him a moment’s peace without inquiring into his well-being. He told his employers he would be taking some time off and Kate had done the same with her job. He hoped his family would relax with time, otherwise his vacation would feel longer than two weeks.
He went into his home office down the hallway from the lounge. His office was his sanctuary from family life, an indulgence that focused entirely on Josh, the single man. Bookcases had the kind of books he liked and the shelves were filled with mementos of places visited and dearly held gifts. He only made one concession to family life—Abby’s picture gallery.
He took Abby’s picture off his desk and pinned it to the wall, which was a portfolio of significant events in her life. Daddy’s Accident nestled neatly next to a portrait of Wiener and the killer whale from Marine
World. He smiled at the latest addition. It was ridiculous but true and he loved the picture.
The phone rang and Josh reached across his desk to answer it.
“Josh Michaels,” he said, still looking at his daughter’s pictures.
“Hi, Josh,” the female voice said.
Josh immediately recognized the voice, a voice he hadn’t heard in nearly two years. His smile slid from his face. He looked away from the crayon gallery and sat down on his desk before his legs failed him. The river water he thought was gone lapped uncomfortably inside his stomach, its sour taste back in his mouth.
“Hello, Bell,” he said. A stammer crept into his
voice.
“How are you?” she said in a mocking tone.
Thank God Kate didn’t answer. He counted his
blessings that he’d answered the phone. “You shouldn’t have called.”
Ignoring him, she said, “I saw your adventure on TV
the other night. Road rage is such a terrible reflection of society these days. You must have been very lucky. I thought you couldn’t swim.”
“I can’t,” he said sharply.
“So what saved you?”
“Fear,” he said flatly.
“Very impressive. Just shows you what an incentive fear is. I was surprised not to see you interviewed with that lovely wife and daughter of yours, but you never were a fan of publicity. How are they?”
“What do you want, Bell?” he said, changing the
subject.
“Straight to business, eh, Josh? No, ‘How you are, Bell?’ ‘Long time no hear, Bell?’ ‘What have you been up to, Bell?’” she snorted. “How you’ve changed, Josh.
I remember you talking to me for hours. You loved to talk. Sometimes you’d talk too much and we know
where that got you.”
“I haven’t got all day. What is it you want?” Josh chose anger to disguise his fear.
“It’s not what I want, but what I can do for you.”
“And what can you do for me?”
“I can protect that life you hold so dear. For five thousand dollars, I can guarantee that your dirty little secrets don’t reach the ears of your family—or Dateline for that matter.”
“I paid you.”
“Yes, I know, but the cost of living is always increasing and money doesn’t go as far as it once did.”
“We had an arrangement.”
“We did, but you thought it required a one-time payment and so did I. Alas, we were both wrong,” she said with a sigh. “Now, all I need is another payment, which I might add is substantially smaller than the original sum. So you should consider you’re getting a bargain.”
Josh definitely didn’t think Bell’s sales pitch was a bargain. It was another shakedown and he hoped this wasn’t the start of many such requests. “And will this be the last payment?”
“Honestly, Josh, I don’t know.”
“What if I don’t pay?”
“Well, something unfortunate could happen. I’m
sure you can guess what that would be. But you don’t have to decide now. I’ll let you think about it and I’ll call you in two days. It’s so good to hear your voice again and it’s been wonderful to speak to you. I would say give my regards to Kate, but I can’t see you doing that. Ciao, Josh. It’s been real,” she said in an overly peppy, grating manner.
Josh said nothing and held the phone to his ear until he heard the dial tone. Bitch! He couldn’t believe it was starting all over again. He thought he had paid for his stupid mistakes. He’d fucked up once, then again, only to prove that two wrongs didn’t make a right. The sour taste in his mouth from the river became stronger and he thought he was drowning again.
Josh’s crimes had been significant. He never thought it would come to prison, but it would if the truth ever came out. He thought he’d done everything necessary to cover his tracks, but it hadn’t been enough. He stretched across his desk and brought the replica model of his Cessna CI52 closer to examine its detail. Will they let me keep this in my cell? He dropped his head into his hands.
The phone rang again. Startled, Josh’s head shot up.
He stared at the phone like it was a hand grenade with the pin missing. On the fourth ring, cautiously, he picked it up.
“Hello,” Josh said.
“Mr. Michaels?”
“Yes.”
