This was my life now. There was still time. I could get out of this wet shirt. I could keep my suit looking nice.
It was just too perfect. I felt like my grandmother was smiling down on me again. I wondered if she’d arranged this somehow too. Nan always made sure she looked good even if she didn’t have much money.
I found a sign with a map of the airport. The baggage claims office was on the main floor. I had plenty of time before I had to be at the gate.
I was fine until I got to the escalator. More than fine. I was happy. Then, out of the blue, I started getting nervous again. I kept thinking, “id must be shown.” That zit on my chin was really big now. I guess it was nerves. Ashbury didn’t look like the type to get acne. What twenty-five-year-old even gets pimples? A cop was coming up the escalator as I was going down. He looked right at me when we passed. I was sweating again, bad.
I almost turned around. Then I realized how stupid I was being. The lady who sold me the ticket had looked at my ID. Think how careful she had to be! She had to make sure she didn’t let terrorists or criminals on the plane. She really looked at the picture on my license—and she didn’t notice anything. She still sold me my ticket. This time, I was only going to pick up a duffel bag. Who was going to care about ID for something like that?
The office was easy to find. There was a bit of a lineup but that was okay. I had lots of time, and anyway, the guy at the counter was moving people through pretty fast. He sure wasn’t studying anyone’s ID to see whether the guy in the picture had a zit on his chin or not.
I was being a jerk. Zits come and go anyway.
Then I remembered the earring. Why didn’t I get my ear pierced like Ashbury’s? There were plenty of places that would have done it in the mall. It would only have cost me about five bucks! It seemed like such a stupid way to get caught.
I couldn’t think about that right then. There was nothing I could do about it.
There was only one more person ahead of me. The baggage claims guy was joking with her. That made me relax a bit. The guy didn’t look like he was too hard-ass. If he noticed I didn’t have an earring, I’d just say I wasn’t wearing it that day.
How come I didn’t have a hole in my ear then?
This was stupid. I had to be disciplined, act natural. The woman took her red suitcase and left.
“Next!” the guy said. “Yes, that would be you, sir. May I see your baggage claim?”
I handed it to him. He looked at it. “
Well, you got here just in the nick of time.” He keyed the number of my claim into the computer.
“Hmm,” he said. “I wonder why this is taking so long.” I felt like puking again. He stared at the screen for a while, typed a few more things in.
“I’m going to need to see your ID, Mr. Ashbury.”
I took out my driver’s license. The guy looked at it, looked at me and nodded.
“Yup. That’s you all right.”
I had to relax. I couldn’t take this roller coaster anymore. The guy knew it was me. I was okay. It was just a duffel bag.
The guy said, “Wait right there. I’ll be back in one sec.”
It wasn’t one sec. The guy was gone for like five minutes. He came out carrying a small brown duffel bag. It looked heavy. I hoped I could take it on the plane.
“Is this yours?” he said.
“It looks like mine,” I said. It had a little lock on the zipper. I was pretty sure the key would open it.
He handed me the bag. I said, “Thanks,” and turned around to leave.
The cop I’d seen on the escalator was right in front of me. He was pointing his gun at my head.
He didn’t need to say anything. I was pretty sure I knew what had happened. I’d been waiting for it all along. Ashbury must have reported his cards missing. The bank must have got my picture from that ATM. The cabdriver and the lady at the ticket counter must have called me in too. I figured they all knew I wasn’t Andrew Ashbury. I bet even the waitress knew it. I was just some kid from the crap side of town trying to act like the big man. They must have all been laughing their asses off.
But I was wrong.
Chapter Seventeen
The cop went, “Andrew Kirk Ashbury. You are under arrest for two counts of murder, forcible confinement, procurement of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of a firearm. You have the right to counsel. If you cannot afford counsel, it will be...”
I didn’t understand him. He called me Andrew Kirk Ashbury. It didn’t make sense. Two other cops had me cuffed and on my knees before it sank in.
I tried to tell them that I was Christopher Earl Bent. That I just found the wallet on the street. That they had the wrong guy. That I didn’t know anything about murder or drugs or firearms.
But they just said, “Yeah, sure,” and threw me in the back of their cruiser.
I looked out the back window. I could still see the airport.
I couldn’t help it. I smiled. I’d almost made it.
Vicki Grant is the author of another Orca Soundings novel, Dead-End Job, and the recently released Pigboy, an Orca Currents novel. Her comic legal thriller, Quid Pro Quo, won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Fiction and was shortlisted for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Vicki lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Titles in the
Orca Soundings series
Bang
Norah McClintock
Battle of the Bands
Blue Moon
Marilyn Halvorson
Breathless
Pam Withers
Bull Rider
Marilyn Halvorson
Charmed
Carrie Mac
Chill
Colin Frizzell
Crush
Carrie Mac
Dead-End Job
Vicki Grant
Death Wind
William Bell
Exit Point
Laura Langston
Exposure
Patricia Murdoch
Fastback Beach
Shirlee Smith Matheson
Grind
Eric Walters
The Hemingway Tradition
Kristin Butcher
Hit Squad
James Heneghan
Home Invasion
Monique Polak
I.D.
Vicki Grant
Juice
Eric Walters
Kicked Out
Beth Goobie
My Time as Caz Hazard
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
No More Pranks
Monique Polak
Dayle Campbell Gaetz
One More Step
Sheree Fitch
Overdrive
Eric Walters
Refuge Cove
Lesley Choyce
Saving Grace
Darlene Ryan
Snitch
Norah McClintock
Something Girl
Beth Goobie
Sticks and Stones
Beth Goobie
Stuffed
Eric Walters
Tell
Norah McClintock
Thunderbowl
Lesley Choyce
Tough Trails
Irene Morck
The Darwin Expedition
Diane Tullson
The Trouble with Liberty
Kristin Butcher
Truth
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Wave Warrior
Lesley Choyce
Who Owns Kelly Paddik?
Beth Goobie
Yellow Line
Sylvia Olsen
Zee’s Way
Kristin Butcher
Visit www.orcabook.com for more information.
Titles in the Orca Currents series
Camp Wild
Chat Room
Kristin Butcher
Cracked
Michele Martin Bossley
Daredevil Club
Pam Withers
Dog Walker
Karen Spafford-Fitz
Finding Elmo
Monique Polak
Flower Power
Ann Walsh
Hypnotized
Don Trembath
Laggan Lard Butts
Eric Walters
Mirror Image
K.L. Denman
Pigboy
Vicki Grant
Queen of the Toilet Bowl
Frieda Wishinsky
See No Evil
Diane Young
Sewer Rats
Sigmund Brouwer
Spoiled Rotten
Dayle Campbell Gaetz
Sudden Impact
Lesley Choyce
Swiped
Michele Martin Bossley
Wired
Sigmund Brouwer