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about how the accidents had happened.
    â€œPlease be careful. You really are a little accident-prone,” she began.
    Coreen shivered. “Not really,” she said. “Not anymore. Anyway, the people I skydive with watch out for me. I’ll get better. I’m not suicidal, you know,” she chided gently, and watched her friend blush. “I wouldn’t kill myself over Ted’s bad opinion of me. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.”
    â€œTed wouldn’t want to see you hurt,” Sandy said gently.
    â€œOf course not,” she said placatingly. “Now, go home. You’ve got a life of your own, although I really appreciate having you here. I needed you.”
    â€œTed came voluntarily,” she said pointedly. “I didn’t ask him to.”
    Coreen’s blue eyes darkened with pain. “He came to make me pay for hurting Barry,” she said. “He’s always found ways to make me pay, even for trying to care about him.”
    â€œYou know why Ted won’t let anyone close,” Sandy said quietly. “Our mother was much younger than Dad.She ran away with another man when I was just a kid. Dad took it real hard. He gave Ted a vicious distrust of women, and I was the scapegoat until he died. Ted’s kind to me, and he likes pretty women, but he wants no part of marriage.”
    â€œI noticed.”
    Sandy watched her closely. “He changed when you married. For the past two years, he’s been a stranger. After he came back from that visit with you and Barry, he took off for Canada and stayed up there for a month and then he moved us to Victoria. He couldn’t bear to talk about you.”
    â€œGod knows why, I never did anything to him,” Coreen said. “He knew Barry wanted to marry me and he thought I was after Barry’s money, but he never tried to stop us.”
    Sandy let it drop, but not willingly. “Send me a postcard from wherever you move. I’ll phone you then,” she suggested. “We could meet somewhere for lunch.”
    Coreen’s eyes were distracted. “Of course.” She glanced at Sandy. “The birthday card…”
    â€œSurprised, were you?” Sandy asked. “So was I. Ted had just talked to Barry. A day or two later, he saw a photograph of you and Barry in the Jacobsville paper he got in Victoria. He became very quiet when he saw it. You weren’t smiling and you looked…fragile.”
    Coreen remembered the photograph. She and Barry had been at a charity banquet and he’d been drinking heavily—much more so than usual. She’d been at the end of her rope when the photographer caught them.
    â€œThen Ted remembered that your birthday was upcoming,” Sandy continued, “and he picked out a cardto send you. For a man who hates you, he’s amazingly contradictory, isn’t he?”
    She wondered at Ted’s motives. Had he known how jealous Barry was of him? Had he done it to cause trouble? She couldn’t bear to believe that he had. It was the card that had provoked Barry to threaten her that last night. Had it only been a week ago? She shivered mentally. She hugged Sandy and watched the other woman leave. When the car was out of sight, she picked up the telephone receiver and dialed.
    â€œHello, Randy?” she asked with a bright laugh. “When’s the next jump? Tomorrow? Well, count me in. No, I’m not afraid of storms. It probably won’t even be cloudy, you know how often they miss the forecast. Besides, I need a diversion. I’ll see you out at the airfield at eight.”
    â€œSure thing, lovely” came the teasing reply. She put the phone down and went to make sure her borrowed skydiving outfit was clean. She wouldn’t think about getting out of the house right now. Tomorrow afternoon would be soon enough to start searching for an apartment and a job.
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    It was overcast, but not enough to deter the