liquid. Cancer was one of his greatest fears, and he tried to hide it deep within himself and do his best to forget. His father had died of prostate cancer at forty nine when Josh was twenty-one, and his paternal uncle had died of the same thing three years younger. His grandfather had died at a similar age of lung cancer, but he’d been a lifelong smoker. He didn’t know what had happened to his great-grandfather. He didn’t dare to find out.
“They took you because you were a high-risk candidate and worth a flutter in their opinion,” Bob added.
Their Southern waitress took the plates away. Both men rejected the offer to see the menu again, but accepted coffee. She refilled their mugs and promised to
return with the bill later.
“Okay. They say good management made them survive, but what do you say?” Josh said.
“Considering what has been happening to you, I
think they’re killing their clients, and the figures bear it out. The average Pinnacle Investments viatical client lives two point four years, but their closest competitor’s rate is five years and getting longer. They don’t care who their clients are, because they’ll decide when it is time to collect.” Bob paused. “And you, my friend, are on their endangered list.”
“Bob, if it hadn’t been for that guy Jenks, I would tell you that you are talking out of your ass, but he said I was worth money when I was dead. I’m only of value to three people—Kate, Abby and Pinnacle Investments.
And I don’t believe Kate and Abby are trying
to kill me.”
Bob took a swig from his coffee. “I contacted my
buddies in the insurance trade to see if they’d done any business with Pinnacle Investments. They had, and several of them had clients die in unusual, but explicable accidents.
One of them crashed into a river and drowned.”
In the parking lot of the diner, Josh leaned against Bob’s Toyota and placed his folded arms on the roof of the car. Bob was about to get into the car and asked, “What’s up?”
“We may know who’s doing this, but how do we
stop it? How do we call them off? We’ve got nothing concrete to give the cops.”
“What do you suggest?” Bob asked.
“You buy my policy back.”
Bob frowned and shook his head. “I don’t think
they’d go for it. It wouldn’t be in their interests.”
“We’ll compensate them. I have insurance coming on the Cessna that would cover their losses.”
“I don’t know, Josh.”
“You’re going to have to try. It’s my only option.”
It seemed everyone in Sacramento had converged on the mall this Saturday morning. The parking lot were a roadblock. Parking had been a bitch, but Kate had found a space for the minivan after fifteen minutes.
Once out of the car, the sidewalks were a wave of people and she always seemed to be swimming against the
tide. She clutched Abby’s hand and at the first opportunity darted inside the mall.
In a lot of ways, Kate wanted the hustle and bustle of the mall. The crowds and piped classical music were a welcome distraction from her unwanted thoughts.
Abby aided this desire. The girl’s demands and blindness to the problems at home diverted Kate’s attention.
Without a distraction, Josh preoccupied her mind 247.
It had become increasingly difficult to live with him.
She loved him, but she couldn’t cope with the curveballs his life kept throwing at them. The two murder attempts, Mark Keegan’s death, police, mystery men, a
television expose and the lies were too much—the lies more than anything. Josh had betrayed her, he’d said what he’d done was for the better good, but it didn’t make it easier to swallow. If he’d lied about the bribe, then what else was he keeping to himself? The prospect of living on a knife edge didn’t appeal—there were always lacerations.
Abby bounced up and down threatening to take off, restrained only by the hold of her mother’s hand.
“Where can we go?”
Kate looked down at her daughter’s beaming face and painfully smiled back. “Anywhere you want, honey.”
Abby led Kate through a merry dance of stores. Kate indulged Abby’s every whim, letting her play with toys and try on clothes. Her daughter’s energy warmed her.
She found it easier to smile, to laugh, and be happy with every passing minute.
In the food court, they sat surrounded by their purchases, the result of the day’s indulgences. Although
most of the bags were for Abby, she egged Kate on to splurge on herself. Armed with a hotdog and milkshake, Abby munched and slurped happily. Kate, with
only a muffin and a latte, looked on in disbelief at her blissful daughter. She wouldn’t normally let her daughter eat junk food, but today she let it slide.
“Don’t think you can live like this every day,” Kate said. “Today is a special day, okay?”
“Special? How?” Abby asked through hotdog-packed
chipmunk cheeks.
“Don’t speak with your mouth full. And I hope
you’re not going to tell Wiener what you’re eating.”
Abby shook her head and made an especially large
swallow.
Kate smiled. “It’s a special day because we haven’t had one in a while, so I thought we should have one.
So, are you enjoying it?”
Abby beamed. “You bet, Mom.”
“I thought we could catch a movie, but you can go to one more store before we go. So, where’s it to be?”
Kate cocked her head to one side.
“The Disney Store,” she said without a moment’s
hesitation.
Kate nodded at the food. “Are you finished with
that?”
Abby made an extraordinarily large suck on the
milkshake straw. “I am now.”
Kate couldn’t help herself and laughed out loud and Abby joined in. “Let’s go then,” Kate said.
Kate dumped Abby’s half-eaten food and milkshake
in the trash, but kept hold of her latte. Abby set off ahead at a half-running, half-walking pace toward the escalators for the Disney Store on the upper level. Kate told her daughter to slow down, which Abby did reluctantly.
Mother and daughter hopped onto the empty
moving staircase.
Halfway up the escalator, Kate’s good mood evaporated at the sight of a head emerging on the upper
level. Resting on the top stair of the escalator, looking disembodied, the head smiled. The higher the escalator climbed the more Kate could see of the person
waiting for them. Belinda Wong appeared to grow out of the ground. Kate twisted around to move against the moving staircase, but people had climbed on behind her. The last thing she wanted was to speak to
this woman, but invisible hands pushed her forward against her will. Inexorably, the escalator drew Kate closer to the woman who was blackmailing her husband.
Belinda
