Customs was excruciating. They wanted to account for everything we’d purchased in Cuba. I think they were looking for an excuse to confiscate the cigars I bought, but I had receipts for them. Thankfully, Caryn had organized it all before she left.
Once we finally got through customs, we hurried to catch our flight to Orlando. Cassidy and Paul had to rush to make their connection to Chicago, so we didn’t get a chance to talk before we split up.
I was in such a daze that I didn’t even notice when we had to sit in coach. That was before some ten-year-old decided he needed to kick my seat for the entire flight. I’d forgotten that Orlando was the destination for the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’—Disney World. That explained the number of children on the plane.
◊◊◊
When we landed, we grabbed a taxi to Orlando Regional Medical Center. I’d done a Google Earth search for the nearest hospital to the nightclub. When we arrived, we found chaos. The cab had to drop us off a block away. Friends and family were milling around, waiting for information.
Being six-four and determined, I put on my best Adrienne persona and just cut through the crowd. Fritz fell in behind me, and we worked our way to the entrance. When we got to the door, police officers were there to stop us.
“Sorry, only family is allowed in at this time,” one of them announced.
I just walked past him into the lobby and got in line at the front desk. Fritz had been stopped, leaving me on my own. It took me several minutes to get to the front of the line. The woman who waited on me was clearly on her last nerve.
“Has it been a rough morning?” I asked.
That seemed to startle her. I think people had been upset and taken it out on her, up to this point.
“The worst part is we don’t have any information for anyone yet,” she said.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“We haven’t been able to identify many of the dead.”
I closed my eyes and let that statement sink in. I didn’t even want to think about what that meant. It had been nearly twelve hours since the shooting had started. You would think by now they’d be able to figure out who was who … unless … I didn’t want to think about what that meant.
“Do you know who made it?” I asked.
“Are you a family member?” she asked.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“I’m David A. Dawson. You might be aware of a movie I was in,
“Yes, the actress. I’ve liked most of her movies.”
“Her son, Trip James, was shot last night, along with his bodyguard. Technically, the bodyguard is one of my employees. I also want to check on Craig Wild, who was my co-star in
She gave me a frown but looked at her list. I gave her Kent and Andy’s names so she could check. When she looked up, her expression told me she didn’t have good news.
“Trip James was brought in at 5:15 this morning. From what I can tell, they were able to stabilize him, and he’s now in surgery. I have no word on Craig or his manager, but I am sorry to tell you that Andy didn’t make it.
“Leave me your number, and I’ll call you when I find out anything,” she said.
I wasn’t allowed to wait for Trip to get out of surgery. They had too many actual family members here to tolerate that. I thanked her and left to find Fritz. He was on the phone with Rita.
“He just came out. Let me put you on speakerphone so you can hear what he has to say,” Fritz said.
“David? David, are you there?” Rita asked.
“Yes.”
“Hang on. Let me put you on speaker so Halle can hear too,” she said.
When she had me on speaker, Halle almost shouted at me.
“How’s Trip? Did you find out anything?”
“He’s alive,” I said.
“How bad is he? What do you know?” Rita asked.
“They didn’t want to tell me anything, but I was able to get some information. Trip was brought to the hospital early this morning. They were able to stabilize him, and he’s in surgery. I have no idea about the extent of his wounds or anything else.”
“Oh my God, I’d hoped he hadn’t been shot. I’d hoped this was just a nightmare,” Rita admitted.
“What about Craig, Kent, and Andy?” Fritz asked.
I looked him in the eyes, and I think he knew.
“Andy didn’t make it.”
Fritz looked like I’d just punched him in the stomach. He handed me the phone and walked away to collect himself.
“What do you mean, he didn’t make it?” Halle asked.
“Honey, he means Andy died protecting your brother,” Rita said.
I’d never met Andy before, but Fritz had known him for years. When my career took off, Fritz hired Andy to manage the LA group so that Fritz could focus on us. Fritz told me that Andy was more of a manager, but with Halle’s recent exposure, they’d had to shuffle some people to give her more protection. He admitted that Trip hadn’t been the highest of security concerns, and that was why Andy had volunteered to come to Orlando with him.
