Chapter 14

 

I found out that Garrett Smith, the guy I’d thought had kidnapped Cora, gave plane tours of Miami along the coast. That thought terrified me. I’d never liked airplanes. They were too small or they were too big. They were too loud. Mostly they were too far up in the sky. I could plummet to my death so much faster than any other form of transportation. Sure, I could be smashed in a car crash, but at least I’d be on the ground. I didn’t like the idea of falling from the sky. It was an irrational thought, but I digressed.

None of that mattered right now. Needless to say, I was going to have to talk to this guy. Jake had let Garrett’s name slip. Dorothy was trying to convince me that the best way to talk to Garrett was to be enclosed in a tiny little space, ie the tiny little airplane. Dorothy told me to stop being a baby and suck it up. Just get on the plane. I felt like pouting for a bit, but nonetheless now we were at the airstrip where we would get on the plane.

“Look at it this way,” Dorothy said. “It’s only a thirty-minute plane crash, er, I mean ride.”

My eyes widened. “Why did you say ‘plane crash?’”

“It was a slip of the tongue,” she said.

“I think I can’t breathe. I’m hyperventilating.” I pulled at the neck of my t-shirt.

She grabbed me by the arms and shook me. “Get a hold of yourself, woman.”

I assumed the man standing by the plane was the one we wanted to talk to, but as we approached I realized it wasn’t the man I’d seen with Cora. He smiled and waved us over.

“Well, he seems friendly enough,” Dorothy said.

“Yes, I suppose that is something,” I said sarcastically. “That’s not the guy we want to talk to though.”

“Maybe he’s filling in for him,” she said.

“What will be even worse is if he knows the guy and discovers why we’re on the plane was because we wanted to question him about a murder.”

“Then don’t start questioning him right away. Don’t let him realize what you’re doing.”

“I have to hurry up and ask him questions.”

“Well, try to be discreet about it,” Dorothy said.

She was one to talk about being discreet. She was always blurting out things. We walked up to the man. He had dark hair and was tall and slender. I peered up at the sky and thought about how within a few minutes I would be up there among the clouds. My stomach turned again. The man kept his eyes focused on me as if his stare would keep me from running away. That wasn’t necessarily true. Once I got on the plane though I would be trapped. I wondered if he had parachutes in case we needed them.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” I whispered to Dorothy. She waved off my comment.

“Hello, ladies. Are you here for the tour?” He grinned from ear to ear. .

“Yes, we are,” I said through a fake smile. “Is Garrett Smith here?”

“I’m Garrett Smith.” He stuck out his hand.

Oh, great. I’d gotten the wrong Garrett Smith. I should have guessed there could have been more than one. There was no need to go on the trip now. I turned to walk away and Dorothy grabbed me.

“First time flying?” he asked.

I shook my head. “First time on a small plane. How could you tell?”

“You’re shaking a little and your face is a bit green.”

Great, and I hadn’t even gotten on the plane yet.

“You’ll be fine.” Dorothy patted me on the back.

“Dorothy, we don’t have to go now,” I whispered.

“We can’t leave him now,” she said under her breath. “That would be rude.”

I’d rather be considered rude than go up there.

“When you get up there and see all the beautiful sights you all won’t have a worry in the world,” Garrett said.

He didn’t know me very well, did he?

“Is this your grandmother?” He looked at Dorothy.

“No, we’re sisters,” she said with a smile.

He quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t mind her. Yes, this is my grandmother,” I said, looping my arm through hers.

We got into the plane and buckled the seat belts. It was even smaller than I’d anticipated. Dorothy had forced me to sit in the front. She said I would be able to cope better up there. I wasn’t sure if I believed her. Anyway, Garrett started the plane and before I knew it we were taking off. I was holding on for my life. I wasn’t sure this was a good idea because I couldn’t speak at the moment.

Though I must admit once we were up there it was stunningly beautiful. The coastline stretched out endlessly. Beautiful blue water and white sandy beaches stretched below us. Tall condos lined the space until we moved on to a more sparse area. Garrett pointed out things like Star Island, Coconut Grove, the art deco district, and South Beach. Plus, he was giving us history and facts.

Did this guy ever stop talking? He was making me even more nervous with his constant chatter. It looked as if this was truly be a pointless trip.

All of a sudden the plane sputtered. My body froze. I looked over at Garrett. He didn’t look at me.

“What just happened?” I asked.

Garrett didn’t look at me and he didn’t answer. I glanced back at Dorothy. She shrugged a little bit. Okay, maybe it was just a little blip, nothing to panic about. He didn’t seem to be worried and neither did Dorothy, although she never worried about much anyway.

I had just settled down when the plane did it again. It wasn’t stopping. I was completely panicked now. How could I get out of here? Could I jump? Would I land in the water? No, that was a bad idea.

“Don’t worry, ladies, everything will be just fine. We’re just going to make an emergency landing.” He adjusted various knobs that I hoped still worked.

“An emergency landing?” I looked back at Dorothy. “See, I told you this was a bad idea. This is all your fault.”

“Don’t you talk to me that way,” she said, waving her finger. “I didn’t make this plane go down.”

“Yes, but you told me to get on here.”

“Calm down, ladies, everything will be just fine.” Tension filled the pilot’s words.

“Don’t make him upset. He’s trying to land a plane before we crash and die.”

“Dorothy, you’re not helping,” I yelled.

The tiny little plane swayed back and forth as I held on to the seat. My life flashed before my eyes. I thought of all the things that I would miss out on if we died now. The plane chugged along. I wasn’t sure if it was running out of gas. Why hadn’t he checked that before we left? I tried to remember to breathe in and out so that I wouldn’t faint. Maybe it would be better if I had fainted, then I wouldn’t know when we crashed.

Garrett held onto the plane’s yoke as it shook, with the plane still swaying back and forth, although we were coming closer to the water now.

“Is the landing gear in place? This is a seaplane, right?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, which wasn’t a good sign.

If there was no landing gear and this wasn’t a seaplane we could hit the water and the plane could fall apart. We’d be floating at sea like Tom Hanks in Castaway. I’d be lucky if I had a soccer ball to talk to.

Then, with a sudden blast, the plane hit the water. I wasn’t sure if I passed out for a moment or what. It was all a blur. I glanced back at Dorothy. She was just looking out the window, as if this was no big deal. I was surprised she wasn’t knitting. Garrett was still trying to maneuver the plane, but we were on water now. I guessed that was better than the sky. The plane floated and I tried to calm my speeding heart rate.

“Are we in the clear now?” I asked.

Garrett looked over at me. “We’re fine.”

Finally, I released the breath that I’d been holding.

Dorothy patted the pilot on the shoulder. “Good job, man, good job.”

“Yeah, great job,” I said.

I was still in a daze. I just wanted off this thing.

When we got back to the shore the police were waiting. It was no big surprise, but I saw Jake standing there. Trouble seemed to follow me everywhere I went, and I hadn’t even gotten to ask the guy a question. Jake would know why we were on this plane. That was what I got for letting Dorothy talk me into these things. Sweat beaded on my forehead. My body shook from the adrenaline. I was just glad we hadn’t landed far away in the middle of the ocean and became stranded or even worse. I couldn’t even act casual this time. I just shrugged and tossed my hands up. I surrendered this time. I had no excuse of how I’d gotten into this mess this time. He’d have to accept whatever reason I told him.