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Chapter 41 Chase and Shanna rode long and hard and they were in Orlando before Chase felt it safe to stop. They pulled into a biker-style bar and ordered onion cheeseburgers and fries with beer, both of them famished, stiff and windblown from the long ride. The place was almost empty and Chase had chosen a booth in the corner away from the other customers. He played something loud on the jukebox and as they ate they discussed their next move. Shanna had been horrified to hear of Kenny’s death, but as she had never met him, she was spared the grief process and her analytical mind could fully function in trying to figure out what was going on. Chase wolfed down his hamburger and as Shanna ate he outlined what they knew so far. Frowning in concentration he shook his head with frustration. "The only thing I know for sure is that Sophie was murdered." Chase started to write on his napkin, item by item. "Sophie was with Joe until midnight. She would never have left Joe and gone to a golf course in a storm and certainly not at that time of night. Her body was moved there. She didn’t die there. That much we know." Chase was able to be somewhat dispassionate in discussing Sophie now that so many other things had happened. "When she and Joe were camping, Sophie saw something that caused her to be shot at. From what Joe told me, it was some kind of weird equipment he couldn’t identify. Next thing you know, she’s dead and my house is tossed. Sophie worked for Myles Hickman. I think she talked to Hickman about it and I think Hickman is dirty as hell. I don’t know how but that prick is up to his neck in this. The whole thing is somehow tied up with lightning. Hickman studied lightning. That storm that supposedly killed Sophie was some kind of freak weather aberration." Shanna almost choked on her hamburger. Spluttering she reached for her beer. "You mean you think Myles Hickman deliberately killed Sophie with a thunderstorm?" she asked incredulously. Chase looked a little sheepish. "I feel like one of those people who saw a UFO and doesn’t want to own up. But yeah." He stuck his chin out stubbornly. "Why not? When Joe and I were in Starke we saw for ourselves that lightning can now be controlled and called up at will." "Called up with a flick of your fingers. Good grief. Next you’ll be telling me some guy in a white beard and a fancy cloak stuck a sword in a stone for you to pull out. That’s insane. Tell me you're joking." Shanna had been so surprised she had gotten a little loud. "Keep it down." Chase looked around to make sure no one was listening and growled at her while he rolled his eyes at the other diners, hoping they would think he had a girlfriend with a hysterical jealous fit on his hands. Lowering her voice Shanna asked, "What about Dominick, Chase? Do you think he’s mixed up in this too? He had that formula belonging to Myles Hickman and he has been very secretive about Myles being a client. The formula mentioned lightning too, and graphite." "Yeah." Chase nodded. "And Sophie’s notes mentioned graphite and industrial diamonds." Perhaps we are getting somewhere." "Where?" Shanna was shaking her head vigorously. "You surely can’t believe there is some fantastic plot connecting diamonds and lightning? This is getting ridiculous. It’s like something out of a James Bond movie. You can’t be serious?" "Why not?" Chase was thinking furiously. "Annie said that piece of equipment I took her belonged to De Brandt Company, that’s a subsidiary of South African Diamonds, Inc. and Joe and I found it at the campsite where Sophie was shot at. And what’s more, why couldn’t that storm that sunk our canoe have been deliberate? Someone’s been tailing us around. Someone broke into your place and you and I had only just met. You had a nice dull life till you met me didn’t you?" Chase grinned at her devilishly. Shanna made a face but she had to concede the point. "Dull and normal." She straightened up suddenly. "That fight at the campground..?" "Yes." Chase nodded. As many years as I have been going to Daytona, I rarely saw a fight. There was some ginger-haired dude wandering around there in a black leather duster like some caricature from a bad western. He stirred up Baldy and tried to stir up the others. I saw him in Boot Hill too and what about the guy with the black Explorer who’s been following you." "And then there’s Kenny." Chase’s face darkened with anger. "I don’t know who killed him but the guy in the leather duster is the only suspect we’ve got right now and he was in the area, so that makes him a lot more dangerous than I thought." " But why?" Shanna was appalled at the casual way in which Kenny’s life had been taken. "What had Kenny got to do with all this?" Chase pulled out Kenny’s little black book from his jacket pocket. He put it down on the table, tapping it with his finger. "I don’t know, but maybe the answer is in here. Maybe Kenny had put some of the puzzle together. He was quite an egghead you know and that’s not all. Joe had trouble too. He told me when we first met that he had been having problems with vandals and the like, only after he and Sophie were at that campsite. He didn’t connect it at first, thought it was just racial stuff." Shanna waited a moment while the waitress brought two more beers. "So what do we do now? I can’t make any sense of this at all except that someone’s trying to kill us all and it seems to be connected with Dominick, Myles and some redheaded guy with an image psychosis." "Oh my God." The full import of their discussion hit her. "Chase, I work for Dominick. I have to go back to work. All this has been like being in another dimension but tomorrow I have to go back to the real world and work. How can I do that?" "Carefully." Chase said shortly. "You will have to go. You may be our only chance of finding out anything. We don’t know if Dominick knows about your involvement in this or not. You’re going to have to be a hell of an actress, can you do it?" Shanna stared at him silently and then suddenly grinned. "Chase Larsen, have you ever met a woman who wasn’t a hell of an actress when she had to be?" Chase loved the spirit in this woman. He grinned in return. "Ouch." He said. "I guess I deserved that."
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