The words MURDER and SUICIDE were certainly in Charlie Dayne’s vocabulary, but never before on his list of “things to do” except for today. After eighty plus years of a reasonably good life, Charlie was now working on implementing a plan that incorporated those two appalling words. The word suicide, however, Charlie knew all too well, starting when he was just out of college about sixty years ago.

“Isn’t this unfair, after all these years, to have to come down to this?” Charlie asked himself. He had this plan on his mind numerous times, only to place it on the back burner at least a dozen times in the past two months. Now it was back on track, foremost on his mind but tormenting him—every thought of the way.

He also realized that his plan had to be implemented within the next four months which was a very close timeframe and possibly taking it “down the wire.” This was the only way he could salvage two of his four children’s lives, livelihood and happiness—so he thought—but the cost of which was no less than his and his wife Dorothy’s lives. “Our lives will soon be over anyway,” said Charlie, once again to himself. In addition to being the creator of this plan, Charlie had assigned himself as the judge, jury and executioner. This was indeed not like him at all.

Yes, Charlie’s mind was rebelliously slipping. He was losing his ability to distinguish between right and wrong—between good and evil—between love of one entity and love of another. It certainly appeared that Charlie Dayne had become mentally troubled. The question now revolved around his ability to carry out such a heinous crime. He seemed to think he could, but more importantly, to him, believed it was the right thing to do—one might even say his duty as a father and husband.

Dorothy, Charlie’s very dear wife of more than sixty years, meant everything in the world to Charlie. The two knew the true meaning of love. Unfortunately, the end seemed to be “just around the corner.” She was off to Philadelphia attending a needlepoint seminar for several days, and this was Charlie’s best opportunity to finalize his thoughts.

The Dayne’s lived mostly in active adult communities, where extra curricular activities were abundant. They tried to participate in many of those activities available to them, however, as the years ticked away and medical conditions crept up on them, scaling back a little had become more normal than ever before.

And then it hit! Charlie was given some news, some very bad news from his doctor. “Get your affairs in order,” said the good doctor. Charlie also believed that Dorothy as well as he was targeted because he heard the doctor say the words “cancer” and “kidney” when referring to her. Charlie’s mind and thoughts were far from where they should have been. His two sons-in-law also gave him very bad news relating to their joint business which was very financially troubled after many years of successful accomplishments. How did this happen when they were doing so well? Was this finally going to be the day Charlie would get serious about his plan?

Charlie considered all his options and came up with what he thought was the solution, but was it really a viable or practical solution? Indeed, Charlie’s plan included MURDER and SUICIDE to be carried out simultaneously by none other than Charlie Dayne himself. Was Charlie capable of such a task? He was certainly capable of planning such an act but could he ultimately carry it out? He most certainly believed that he could. He spent much time and money to implement this plan, but he could afford both.

What he did not know was that other people independently came up with the same concept, which was simply to do away with both Charlie and Dorothy—for their money. These people actually hired a hit man to do this dirty work. The hit man hired other hit men. With so many individuals working at the same task, could the Dayne’s survive this diabolical plot on their lives?

It ultimately came down to the demise of the Dayne’s was just a matter of time, one way or the other, which could not be stopped—or could it? So, there was motive, there was opportunity, and there were unscrupulous people, not to mention Charlie himself, with the expertise needed to implement this plan. It certainly appeared easy enough to accomplish.

Charlie’s conversation with Doctor Golden two months earlier was most devastating. The doctor laid it on the line and Charlie could not accept that report. Who could? But what did the doctor say about Dorothy? He could not quite remember. He searched his brain but could not come up with any of the doctor’s exact words other than cancer and kidney. Why couldn’t he? It was tearing him apart. He thought the doctor was telling him that she had cancer of the kidneys and then he thought that he never knew anyone having that problem. “Why did I never hear of that before? Why my Dorothy? What if Dorothy goes before me?” he asked himself over and over again. “I can’t live without her, even if it should be for a short period of time,” he said as if some other person was there in the room beside him.

This set the stage for Charlie’s actions. His plan would solve the problem, so he thought. But what Charlie did not know was that there were other unknown evil forces soon to be released and set in motion to do exactly the same thing—to kill him and Dorothy. And then something unimaginable and astonishing encounters occur, some of which Charlie will never even know about.

Who and why will soon surface, but not to Charlie and Dorothy and a host of others. Some will just never know the answer to these questions.