I tuned out Scott’s campaign promises and again thought about what Blake Crosby, the mechanic from El Paso, had just told me on the phone about the plane crash thirty-five years ago. It looked more like a bomb exploded than an engine falling apart. I wondered if that was possible. Could someone have put a bomb on the plane? But how did Joe escape it? Did he know not to get on the plane?
It seemed like Scott was beginning to wrap up his talk. My eyes shifted from the stage over to Greta again. I stiffened. She was staring right at me. Or she at least appeared to be. Did she somehow recognize me? I kind of raised my hand, a very casual wave, but she quickly looked away. Maybe she wasn’t looking at me. But it sure as hell seemed like it. My eyes went back to the stage, as Scott concluded his speech with “God bless Virginia. And God bless the USA.” The crowd erupted, and the music began blaring again.
When I looked back over toward Greta, she was no longer standing there. I took a few steps to my right, peering around a crowd that was suddenly moving, trying to put eyes on her. That’s when I spotted her. She was not staying at the campaign event. She was hurriedly retreating down the mall corridor all by herself.
I stepped forward, began weaving through the fifty or so people who separated me from the other side of the event. I had to get to Greta before I lost sight of her. Moving more quickly, I ducked in and around several people until I found a clearing into the rest of the mall. The crowd behind me was still cheering. I noticed that Scott had not yet left the stage. Why would Greta stay for the whole speech and then bolt right before it ended? Had I spooked her? She was up ahead of me about a hundred feet, swiftly walking down a corridor lined with retail stores. I would need to move even faster to catch up with her. I thought about yelling out her name but decided that would be a bit awkward. Instead, I began to do a light jog.
When I was within forty feet, I called out, “Greta!”
She turned, gave a quick glance behind her. I put my hand up, letting her know it came from me, but she didn’t acknowledge it. Spinning back around, she turned right at the next mall corridor and disappeared from my view for a moment. I kept hustling forward and turned down the same corridor a few seconds later. Then I paused. I couldn’t spot her anywhere. Where did she go? To my direct right was a women’s clothing store. I hurried up to the entrance, peered inside, but didn’t see her among the shoppers and racks of clothes. I moved to the next store—a high-end women’s shoe shop. Again, I searched everywhere but couldn’t find Greta. I twisted back around and stared across the corridor to the stores on the opposite side. But there was no sign of her. I’d only lost sight of her for a couple of seconds. Where the hell did she go?
For the next five minutes, I kept going store to store up the corridor but didn’t find her inside any of them. Frustrated, I decided to return to the campaign event. Although I doubted it, I wondered if I’d missed that she’d circled back and returned to her husband. When I got back to the courtyard, the crowd had mostly dispersed. There was no sign of Scott or Greta Malone anywhere. But I did see the woman with silver hair in the black pantsuit. She was walking away in the opposite direction from the stage.
I hurried up to her. “Excuse me, are you with the campaign?”
She turned. “Yes.”
“I’m trying to get in touch with Greta Malone. Do you think you can help me out? I really need to speak with her today.”
“And you are?”
I wondered how to answer that. “A friend of a friend.”
She kind of pitched her head slightly, as if she’d already dismissed me as someone irrelevant. “We appreciate your support, sir. But Ms. Malone is a very busy woman.”
“Look, I’m not some kind of stalker or anything. But I have to talk to her.”
The woman kind of rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you give me your name and number? I’ll be sure to pass the message along.”
I knew that was a lie. She was just getting rid of me. Just the same, I told her my name and phone number, and she at least pretended to type it into her phone. Then we parted ways. Sighing, I stood there wondering what the hell had just happened. I’d been only a few steps behind Greta. I’d only lost sight of her for maybe three seconds. I was certain she saw me. We had connected eyes. Greta knew it was me who had called out her name. So why did she flee? And how could she have just vanished like that?
THIRTY
My plane ride back to Austin was a serious mental and emotional balancing act. On one hand, I was trying to process what all I’d discovered while in DC and what had just taken place with Greta Malone’s disappearing act; on the other hand, I had to somehow focus enough to finish the video presentation for Joe’s service tomorrow. No matter how crazy everything felt right now, I had to be faithful to Taylor, Carol, and both of my girls, and make sure I presented Joe in the best way possible.