“It’s not your fault. Remember that. Get in. We’ll meet your husband at the airport.”
Trisha hurried to the passenger side and hopped in while David started the car and drove away from the curb.
Chapter 28
Disguised
McCarthy’s chauffeur parked a distance from the airport concourse to avoid the watchful eyes of the airport security. My kidnapper turned and motioned for me to exit the car. He waited until I could scoot across the leather cushions while the driver stood outside the door near the driver’s seat. When Vernon offered his hand to me, I refused and struggled to a standing position. By this time, his chauffeur moved to open the trunk and remove my luggage. We paused until the driver slid into his front seat and steer the car to the cell-waiting lot.
“Now, we have a long walk, so let’s take our time,” he said, reaching for my arm.
I jerked my arm away but he caught it.
“If we are going to look happily married, you’d better let me act the part,” he growled into my ear, “or sweet Trisha could accidently fall down the escalator.”
I returned my arm to let him fold his left arm around mine. We crossed the busy road and stepped onto the sidewalk. After walking about thirty feet on the sidewalk, we entered the building. He strode over to the check-in counter and presented my purse and my suitcase to the airline desk clerk.
She gave him two baggage tickets to wrap through the handles.
“Darling, do you have your credit card with you?”
“Yes, I do Honey Bunch,” I said, “Why?”
“Oh, we may need to pay for a few things here,” he said.
“Your airline tickets?” the agent asked.
He handed his printed ticket over and I fished mine out and handed it to the airline clerk.
“May I see your IDs please?” she asked.
He showed her his fake card and after fiddling with my group of cards, I dropped them onto the floor.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Just a minute,” I said while I proceeded to gather up my collection of business cards and credit cards. I pushed Lorilee Dawn’s card underneath of the overhang of the counter. “Maybe this will help someone know I’m here,” she thought.
“Ahem, do you need any help, my dear?” I heard Vernon’s irritated voice speak above me.
“No, I got them all. Here’s my ID. Sorry, I’m just nervous about this flight,” I said.
“Why is that ma’am?” the ticket clerk asked, looking at me and again at McCarthy.
“Oh, it’s her first time back into the mainland. She hasn’t been there in years,” he told the ticket agent.
The airline clerk smiled and handed back our boarding passes along with our IDs.
“You have a good flight ma’am, sir,” she said.
“Thank you. Come, Love. Let’s locate our gate,” he said, removing my purse from my shoulder. “Don’t ever try something like that again,” he hissed, pocketing my boarding pass with his.
“Sorry, they just slipped.”
He jerked on my arm and we continued walking for several yards through the concourse until we came to the Customs Border Protection Center.
“They just want to check your bags for plants,” he said.
He threw my purse and my suitcase into the chute and we picked them up on the backside of the machine.
Our next stop was Security. I wanted to slow this process down. Noticing that I still wore my decorated blouse from last night, I remembered what René said to me.
“Don’t wear a blouse with rhinestones. The security at the airport got me one year. She made such a fuss until I took off my sweater to show her.”
We removed our shoes and placed them into the plastic container. I buttoned my sweater to cover up the embellishments on my blouse. Mr. Smarty pants loaded my bags onto the conveyor belt and went through the full-body scanner ahead of me. I pulled out my keys and lipstick from my pockets. Upon the security guard’s signal, I walked through the arch of the body imager. A loud pulsating alarm started beeping. Another female guard ran over to me and waved a wand up and down my person.
“We have metal here,” she kept shouting while another uniformed man stopped my bag and began searching it. Mr. McCarthy was not looking happy.
The wand lady beeped over my credit cards and excluded them but couldn’t locate the source of the ‘metal.’ After a moment, I took off my sweater, and that’s when she realized I had metallic beads on the front of my blouse.
One of the security men wiped around the inside of my bag, I guess for drugs and released it back onto the conveyor belt where Vernon grabbed it and my shoes from the basket.
I hurried after him in my stocking feet until we stopped at a row of benches where everyone was putting their shoes on. Vernon handed me my shoes while he slipped into his. Just as I just got my laces tied, he gestured me to hurry.
“Now, let’s go locate our gate and find some food.”
He held my arm, raising me off of the bench.
“You’re more bother than you are worth,” he muttered.
“Then let me go,” I said.
“We’re not at home plate yet, Susan.”
We stopped at one of the terminal directories where he located the schedule of my plane’s departure time. At a quarter to ten o’clock, we entered the food court where he made his choice. Pulling me along, we stood in line waiting our turn to order a packaged meal. He handed me two water bottles to buy and picked up a couple of turkey sandwiches.
“Turkey okay?”
“I guess,” I replied. I didn’t want him to get mad and not get me lunch. I wasn’t hungry, but this could stall him for a few moments.
“Ah, Susan my dear,” he said in a loud voice when we moved up to the sales clerk. “We need your credit card.”
Placing the water bottles on the counter, I pulled my card out of my pocket and handed it over
