Chapter 15
Gloria guzzled the bottled water, thanking God she hadn’t passed out, hadn’t broken a bone and that she and Tom had reached the ground without incident. Well, without too much of an incident.
She hadn’t meant to scream bloody murder, causing Tom’s temporary hearing loss and forcing him to swing by the small medical center located inside the airport to have it checked out. Although Gloria apologized profusely, she was certain she wouldn’t have to worry about skydiving with Tom again.
Margaret, on the other hand, had embraced her experience and said she would consider going again—not with Vlad, but with Lucy.
“You can have it.” Gloria shivered involuntarily, flashing back to the moment she and Tom had jumped, the sensation of being weightless followed by sheer panic at losing control and hurtling toward the earth at breakneck speed.
The parachutes deployed, and the hurtling became more of a gliding—not any less terrifying considering it had taken years off her life, years she wasn’t keen on giving up.
“We need to track down Vlad, to glean a few clues from him about his buddy, Tristan,” Margaret reminded her.
“I’ve already thought about it.” Gloria finished drying her hands and smoothed her hair in the bathroom mirror. “Let me take the lead.”
“Before we track them down, we need to stop by the gift shop.”
“Why?” Gloria eyed her friend suspiciously.
“I want to buy the videos.”
“I would rather put what just happened behind me.”
“You’ll thank me later.” Margaret grasped her hand and practically dragged Gloria into the gift shop. The clerk helped them track down the videos and rang up the purchases.
Despite her protests, Margaret insisted on buying both and paid for the purchases.
“You can have them.”
“Like I said, you’ll thank me later. I bet the others would love to see us in action. Maybe we can cast it to the television.”
“Watch me cause Tom’s hearing loss? Hopefully, he doesn’t sue me.”
Margaret laughed out loud. “You were freaked out.”
“You have no idea. Seriously, today’s escapade took years off my life.”
“You’ve been through worse. Let’s go find Vlad.”
It took a few minutes to track the instructor down. They finally found him in the coffee shop seated at a center table along with Tom and what appeared to be several other instructors.
Vlad’s face lit when he noticed the women, and he motioned them over.
“We wanted to thank you for being patient with Margaret and me.” Gloria turned to Tom. “Again, I am so sorry for screaming in your ear.”
“It’s all right.” Tom playfully patted the side of his head. “The doc said the ringing will go away in a couple of hours.”
“You will skydive with us again?” Vlad asked, his question directed at Margaret.
“I’m not sure,” she hedged. “Having my life flash before my eyes is one of those things you don’t want happening too often. You know, like tempting fate.”
“It is perfectly safe.” Vlad rattled off some statistics.
Margaret had given Gloria the perfect opening to start a conversation. “We heard about a recent plane crash.” She pressed a light hand to her chest. “That poor pilot. Someone shot his plane right out of the sky.”
“Who knows if they wouldn’t do the same for skydivers?” Margaret asked.
“The authorities are investigating.” Tom elbowed Vlad. “The pilot…he was a friend of yours.”
“Tristan Keller,” Vlad said. “We’ve been friends for many years.”
“I heard he was going to be all right, but still.” Gloria mustered up a concerned expression. “Do they have any idea who may have pulled the trigger?”
“It was a local farmer,” Vlad said. “A man Tristan knew.”
Margaret blinked rapidly. “And the farmer shot his plane down?”
“It involved some sort of property dispute. I believe Tristan was in the process of purchasing it when the other man swooped in and stole it from him.”
“It must have been a valuable property to be fighting over it,” Gloria said. “Hopefully, the investigators can get to the bottom of what happened.”
“In the meantime.” Margaret made a slicing motion across her neck. “I might consider another skydiving adventure, but until this whole plane-being-shot-down incident gets resolved, I’m not sure I’m willing to take that risk.”
“Tristan, he has a broken leg and some other injuries, but he will be all right. As far as worrying about an active shooter, he believes the authorities plan to make an arrest soon,” Vlad said. “They are waiting for federal agents who will also be involved in the investigation.”
Gloria and Margaret exchanged a quick glance. “They have someone in mind?”
“I—I’m glad to hear it,” Margaret stammered. “It’s scary to think gunmen are out there randomly shooting at innocent people.”
“As I said, I believe Tristan knew the shooter. Hopefully, the person will soon be apprehended.” Vlad changed the subject. “Were you interested in purchasing a video of your skydiving adventure?”
“We already stopped by the gift shop and bought copies.” Margaret patted her purse. “We’re going to watch them later today.”
“I can think of better things to do,” Gloria muttered.
“You will look back on it with fond memories,” Tom promised.
“We’ll see.”
The women made small talk with Vlad, Tom, and the other instructors before leaving.
Gloria waited until they were outside to talk. “It sounds as if the authorities might be after Floyd. What if he was the one who shot Tristan’s plane?” She fumbled inside her pocket for her phone and promptly dialed Liz’s number.
“Hey, Gloria. Where are you?”
“Standing outside the airport. Where are you?”
“Still parked on the side of the road with your surprise and the others. How was the jump?”
“It scared the daylights out of me. I may have caused permanent damage to my instructor’s eardrum. Other than hurtling toward earth at breakneck speed, it was great,” she said sarcastically. “You owe me one. Not a small favor, but something major.”
“I already told you I owed you one. Did you find anything out?”
“Tristan Keller broke his leg, and he has some other injuries, but should recover. Vlad said he told him the police are close to making an arrest. They’re waiting on the FAA to arrive first.”
“Sweet,” Liz whooped. “This is a reason to celebrate.”
“I wouldn’t start breaking out the champagne and party hats,” Gloria warned. “Reading between the lines, they might be coming for Floyd.”
“My Floyd?”
“Yes, your Floyd. Where did you say he was the morning of the shooting?”
“Outside. He was outdoors feeding the pigs.”
“Did he take a gun with him?”
“I don’t know. I mean, he doesn’t normally, but I have to say, we were pretty sleep deprived with Keller waking us up that morning. Throw in the rotten tomatoes being tossed at us and we were both pretty ticked off.”
“Do you think it’s possible Floyd took a shot at him to scare him off?” Gloria asked.
Liz grew quiet. “I’ve never seen him angry enough to shoot at someone. I suppose anything is possible. Now what do we do?”
“Let’s meet up and talk about it while it’s still fresh in our minds.”
“We’re around the corner,” Liz said. “I noticed a small coffee shop about a mile up the road. Let’s meet there. Dot and I have a surprise for you.”
“Does it involve jumping out of planes, hurtling to the earth and shattering an innocent man’s eardrum?” Gloria asked.
“You’re so dramatic,” Liz laughed.
“You weren’t the one who had their life flash before their eyes.”
“It’s a great surprise. You’ll see.”
With a plan in place, Margaret and Gloria hopped in the car and made the short drive to the coffee shop. The friends were already inside when they arrived, all of them beaming. Even Paul.
“What?” Gloria patted her hair. “Why are you looking at me?”
“Looking at us ,” Margaret corrected.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Dot hopped out of her chair and ran toward the bathroom.
Gloria turned to Paul. “What is going on?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said. “I’ve learned one thing today. Your sister is good at keeping secrets.”
“Dot too,” Lucy said. “She was in on it.”
Dot reappeared. She wasn’t alone.
Gloria let out a shriek of excitement and clutched Margaret’s arm. “No way.”