With great hope, Andi picked up the phone and dialed her head security guard. After ordering the tapes of the activities recorded so far today, she sat back and looked at the screens again. “If he went back out this morning,” she said thoughtfully, “I think we’ve got our man.”
“Had to,” Justin said. “There’s no other way out.”
The hunch proved to be right. When they ran the tapes of that morning, they finally saw the building inspector hurrying out in the midst of a crew leaving the grounds for lunch. The first thing they did was report the man—Charles Butler of Shreveport—to the arson squad. The second thing was to call a press conference for the following day to clear the public’s mind once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Three
With the Press Preview Day still three weeks away, Andi invited the families of all of the Promised Land employees to have their run of the park, to test the rides and sleep in the hotels and sample the food, as a practice run for the employees and to offer any suggestions for last-minute improvements.
Andi and Justin tried to experience things as spectators rather than creators. They followed Wes and Laney around as Laney pushed the stroller with the new baby, and Justin rode some of the rides with Amy, listening to her squeal with laughter and beg for more turns. After a while, Madeline joined them, and Andi began to realize that the woman was someone she would like to have as a friend.
When Sherry Grayson, Wes’s sister, showed up, she had more important things than the amusement park on her mind. She wore no make-up, as she usually did, and looked as though she’d been crying. “Wes, I’ve been trying to call you all night,” she said.
“We stayed in one of the hotels on the grounds last night,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone,” she said. “Clint … he’s disappeared. I couldn’t get in touch with him the night before last, or all day yesterday, and he just didn’t show up at work, and no one knows where he is. The police won’t consider him a missing person yet, but I’ve been in his house and he didn’t take anything with him. Something’s happened. People don’t just disappear.”
Andi couldn’t help remembering that week that Justin had disappeared so long ago. That week when she had been lied to by her father; that week when she had reacted in a way that drove Justin away when he returned. And she couldn’t forget the man who had stood next to her at the hospital nursery window, talking about the family he and Sherry would share. He was a man who believed in commitment, not one who would run from fear of responsibility. “Sherry, did he say anything about leaving? Does he have relatives who might have gotten sick? Was he upset?”
“No!” she cried. “Our wedding’s in two weeks. He was helping me pack my stuff. I’m giving up my apartment at the end of the month, and we were starting to move some of my stuff over. He was as excited as I was. We were talking about children, how many we would have …” She broke into a sob and covered her face with both hands. “Wes, something’s happened to him. I don’t know what to do!”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Laney said. “Try not to overreact.”
“How can I not overreact?”
“You’re not overreacting,” Madeline said. “I’d be screaming if I were you.” She hugged the girl, so easily, so naturally, that Andi envied it.
Andi didn’t give hugs that easily—not to people she barely knew. But she had experience to give. “Sherry, about eight years ago, when Justin and I were seeing each other, he disappeared for a week. I believed that he had taken money to leave me. It turned out later that he just had to think for a few days, but he came back. By the time he did, I was worked into a rage, and I accused him of leaving me for money. It broke us up, and I’ve regretted it ever since.”
Justin looked at her, and she knew that he was surprised that she would share so openly with them, when her privacy had been so important to her before.
“You can’t overreact,” she continued. “You have to trust. Trust God to be taking care of him. Trust Clint to do the right thing.”
“I do trust him! But what if he’s dead somewhere? What if he’s had an accident, and he can’t get help?”
“Was his car there?”
“No. It was gone, but other things were left. Clothes, shoes, his shaving kit … like he left in a big hurry, or intended to come back. Wes, will you please come to the police station with me? Convince them to take this seriously? They think it was cold feet, that he made a quick escape before he had to tie the knot. Please, Wes. They’ll listen to you!”
“All right, Sis,” he said. “Laney, will you be all right?”
“With a little help,” Laney said, grinning around at those with her.
“I’ll help!” Madeline offered. “In fact, if the baby gets too hot, I can take him up to my office and let him sleep for a while. I’d love to.”
“I would, too,” Andi said. “Between Madeline, Justin, and me, we can help you out.”
“Fine, then. Go,” Laney said to Wes. “Sherry, I know things are going to be all right. Clint’s not the kind of man to disappear without a reason.”
“Not unless he didn’t have a choice,” Sherry said.
But a week later, he still wasn’t back, and Sherry had gotten no more satisfaction. The police department did consider him a missing person now, but they had no leads on where he may have gone, how he would have gotten there, why he wouldn’t have taken clothes … She reported it to the television station, and they put his picture on the evening news and asked for information concerning his whereabouts.
Days went by, however, and there was no word. The police attributed his disappearance to cold feet, and stopped looking. Their attitude devastated Sherry—but soon she began to wonder, herself. Finally, when the day came to move out of her apartment, Madeline saved the day. “Sherry, I just bought that big house, and I would love for you to come stay with me, and then when Clint gets back, you won’t be tied down with a lease and stuff. It’s no Taj Mahal, but it’s a nice house. And we’ll have fun, just us girls. Come on, what do you say?”
Reluctantly, Sherry agreed, and the whole group helped her move. Andi began to feel a part of this circle of friends, something she hadn’t felt since college, and she felt as if she contributed something. Even though the preview day was nearing, this personal crisis seemed to be even more immediate, more important.
Speculation grew about Clint’s disappearance, and those who loved him worried themselves sick. But Andi had a feeling that they would hear from him again. It was a lesson she had learned the hard way. She just hoped that Sherry would handle it better than she had when he finally did return.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Louisiana sun was on stage the day of the preview, glowing hot and magnificent in a cobalt sky. Though Hands Across the Sea had not yet been rebuilt, most of the rides were operative after grueling weeks of around-the-clock work, and more than two hundred fifty press people had been flown in for a firsthand impression of the phenomenon that was Promised Land. From the lifelike performances of ancient Bible characters in the Hall of Faith to the whale rides that took people to the underwater city, the magic followed the visitors, enchanting and delighting them more with each step. Even the unfinished rides were toured so that the media could get some idea of the fantasies yet to be tapped. And Downtown, Planet Earth, the main strip of shops through the rides, captivated everyone with souvenirs and toys of the soon-to-be-famous cartoon characters who romped the park in costume, stopping to pose for snapshots between shenanigans especially choreographed and rehearsed to look spontaneous. Live music provided the transitions from one theme area to the next, and every three hours a parade with all the Promised Land characters and the special uniformed praise band danced down the winding maze of sidewalks.
Andi seemed to be everywhere at once, making certain that her trained employees had no problems and ironing out last-minute mini-catastrophes as they presented themselves. It was working, she thought with a slight shiver, th
ough the midafternoon sun blazed onto her tanned skin. The press people were enthralled, and by tomorrow the whole world would be buzzing with talk about this special kingdom.
Leaning on the rail of the bridge that arched over the “ocean,” Andi watched the robotic whales disappear beneath her. A feeling of bursting delight rose within her as she anticipated that group’s reaction when they saw the aqua magic. There were few things more gratifying than taking an idea and turning it into something that other people could see. She would have given anything to have her father beside her to experience it. She thanked God she had Justin.
“Excuse me,” a deep voice said in her ear as two strong arms slipped around her waist. “Are you one of the clones of Andi Sherman that have been running around here, or the real thing?” Andi smiled and caught her breath as Justin dipped his head and nuzzled her neck. “Mmmm. Has to be the real thing,” he murmured in a lazy voice.
Andi leaned back against his chest. “Sounds like a good idea, though,” she sighed. “Maybe we could have a few robots made up of me to take care of some of the minor problems around here.”
Justin’s deep laughter vibrated through her. “You’d be bored stiff. Besides, there’s no way they could capture that spirit of yours in a bundle of machinery.”
It was Andi’s turn to laugh. “I don’t know how to take that.”
Justin stepped to her side and braced himself on the rail as he grinned wryly. “I wouldn’t take orders from a robot.”
Andi gave a dry laugh. “You don’t take orders from me.”
Justin shrugged. “But it’s a lot more fun saying no to you than it would be to a robot.” Tipping her chin up, he grinned down at her.
Andi reached up to trace his bottom lip with her fingertip.
Taking her hand in both of his, he fondled it, running his thumb along the palm, creating a stirring sensation that heated her blood. “I’ve always known you were something special,” he said in a husky voice as a gust of wind swept back her long curls. “But today, I’ve decided you’re a genius.”
Andi smiled and gave a slight shrug. “No genius,” she said. “I just have a lot of faith.”
Justin took in the view around him as he continued holding her hand. “But that kind of faith isn’t always easy.”
Andi was uncomfortable with such bold praise and shrugged it off again. “I had a lot of help.”
“But they were your dreams. God gave them to you, and you had the boldness to carry them out.”
“Mine and Dad’s.” Her limpid green eyes sparkled as they swept over the jutting, colorful buildings and listened to the delightful laughter of overworked journalists who were clearly enjoying themselves. A bell rang in the distance, warning that the FanTran was about to make its first test run of the day, though no passengers were aboard due to the unfinished tunnels it threaded through.
“I never understood that about you when we were together in college,” Justin went on softly, setting her hand on the rail and leaning next to her on his elbows. His voice drew her into a different dimension. “I used to think that your dreams and your striving to make them come true was just a characteristic of someone who’d always gotten everything she wanted. But it isn’t so.”
Andi dropped her eyes to her hands smoothing over the finely sanded wood. “No, it isn’t.”
“It took me all this time to realize that your dream is a measure of your potential. That sparkle in your eye means that big things are going to happen. That God has a special plan.”
Andi breathed out a long sigh and smiled over at him. “Is this a brand-new observation?”
“No,” he said softly. “It’s an exaltation. I’m going to marry a woman with dreams as big as I have.”
Andi touched his face and, looking up into eyes that could always embrace her heart, she smiled.
Justin slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer as the FanTran picked up speed on the curve over the Jonah ride. “So, when are you gonna marry me? I’ve waited patiently while we got ready for Press Day. But we should really make an announcement today. Just to top things off.”
Excitement filled her eyes. “All right. Why don’t we tell them we’re getting married on Opening Day? We’ll have the ceremony right here in the park.”
“I love it,” he said. “I love you …”
A deafening crash cut off his words, vibrating thunder with all the sound and fury of an earthquake, tearing their attention to the unfinished side of the park.
“The FanTran!” someone shouted, and Andi began to run blindly, like a mother running to move her child from the path of a speeding car, but when she reached the accident, she saw that it was too late. The train had jumped the track and crashed headfirst into one of the unfinished buildings below it, but its caboose and long center cars still inched along the rails, slowly promising a second crash that would destroy at least two other buildings.
“Get back!” Andi shouted as the spectators around her froze for a soundless eternity, bracing themselves for the second fall as if their very breath could be the catalyst that sent it hurling to the ground. When the caboose at last let go, it seemed to fall in a slow-motion dance, mocking the helplessness of those who cared, as the train crashed into crumbling roofs in ruinous defiance of the dreams beneath them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Andi sat curled on the corner of her bedroom windowsill, watching the progress of two robins constructing a nest with fluttering diligence in a tree below her window. From the doorway, Justin watched her, wondering why they absorbed her attention so completely. Did they provide a sort of mental anesthesia that prevented her from glancing beyond the tree to the sight of the cranes struggling to pull the FanTran from the wreckage? The press was having a field day, reporting “on-the-scene” coverage of the disaster that could have taken hundreds of lives had the park been open to the public. There was speculation that the problems with the FanTran had been the reason that Andi had not let the visitors ride it, but that her “gambling” nature had caused her to take the chance and let it run anyway.
But she wasn’t watching the wreckage. She was concentrating on watching the birds, as if seeing some other creature building something worthwhile would enable her to hold herself together for a while longer.
Justin went into her bedroom, a glass of water in one hand and two aspirin in the other. “Take these,” he ordered, dropping them into her hand. “It’ll help your headache.” She took the aspirin gratefully and drank by rote.
“Are you okay?” Justin asked, his deep, probing voice piercing her cocoon of irrelevant thoughts.
“Fine,” she said, slipping away before he could touch her. Guardedly, she folded her arms across her stomach as her psyche threatened to crumble.
Justin watched Andi bring the glass to her lips again, the water sloshing dangerously with the movement of her trembling hands. Her hair, though rumpled from her fingers pushing absently through it, was still curled and shining over her shoulders, and the light overhead gave it the dazzling effect of burnished golden threads that had never seen dark days. But her jade eyes were haunted and hiding, and her face was pale, reflecting the turmoil within her that he had no idea how to calm.
“It’ll be all right,” he said softly, helplessly. “It might delay the opening a couple of months, but—”
“There isn’t going to be an opening,” Andi said in a hopeless monotone. “Promised Land is going to be an enormous white elephant. Even if I had the money to rebuild, which I don’t, no one in his right mind would risk coming here now.”
Rolling up his cuffs to busy his hands, Justin tried again. “I know it seems bad right now. But you’ve got to fight back. You can’t let a thing like this get you down.”
His unconvincing pep talk struck her as funny, but her laughter did not hide the gravity beneath it. “A thing like this?” She leaned toward him as if the stance would help to make her point. “Justin, the earth might as well have crumbled underneath us and swallowed th
e whole park. It’s over. I should have seen it a long time ago. It’s not genius you’ve been seeing in me—it’s stupidity! None of this was God’s plan. I misread him. It was my plan.” Her eyes filled with angry tears and she struggled against them, covering her face with her hands.
Swallowing back his own emotion at her pain, Justin took her by the arms and forced her to look at him. Her face was raging red as she dropped her hands and clutched his forearms as if they could anchor her. “It was not stupid,” he said. “You saw those people out there today. They loved Promised Land, and you know it.”
“Sure,” Andi cried, glaring up at him, desperately in need of someone to bear the daggers of her anger. “They loved it! They’re still loving it! Look at them out there with their camera crews and microphones. Everybody loves a good horror! Too bad you can only give the show once!”
“No one was hurt, Andi!”
“But what about next time?” she railed. “How many people will be killed in the next disaster? Even if the public could forget about all this, I never will!” She slammed the glass down and turned around, trying to find the words she needed. “I tried to watch everything. Make sure that nothing went wrong. I inspected everything over and over. But I can’t know everything, and I can’t be everywhere!”
Justin tucked her against him, though she struggled to pull away, and held her still until her racking, furious sobs calmed a few degrees. There were no answers. He had no great morsel of wisdom to offer, no burst of inspiration that would see her through this. The realization of his inadequacies left him furious at himself.
“You’ve been through a lot,” he whispered, rocking her back and forth as her body relaxed into him.
Andi nodded. “I should have given up when Dad had his accident. Everyone warned me to. I could have gotten out and no one would have blamed me. I should have known I couldn’t be him. This would never have happened if he’d been running things. But I just wanted him to be proud of me when he came to! So I hung on, faking my way through all of it, pretending, even to myself, that I could do anything.”