Plain Target

TWO

Seth’s teeth snapped together with a loud click. He knew his jaw would ache later. Turning away from Jess, he began to pace as he battled to keep the anger and fear simmering beneath the surface from exploding out of him. The temper he had learned to keep under wraps for so long threatened to overwhelm him. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to lose it now.

When he had himself under control, he faced Jess again. She eyed him warily.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Unbelievable. He rolled his eyes.

“Am I okay? I’m not the one whose stable was set on fire and I haven’t been the victim of any strange accidents. I’m amazed you’re not a basket case right now.”

Jess shrugged. Her attempt at nonchalance didn’t fool him. She was scared. He had to admire her determination to tough it out on her own.

But enough was enough.

“Jess.” He took a step closer. Close enough to smell her perfume. Her eyes widened. He needed to make sure he was completely understood. “Come with me to my sister’s house. My brother-in-law is off today so we should be able to talk with him in private.”

He braced himself to argue with her. Turned out, he didn’t need to. She met his eyes, and slowly nodded her head. Reluctant surrender was written all over her face.

“Will you stay? Just in case I need an interpreter?”

Why did he think she actually wanted him there for moral support? She didn’t say it, but the plea was in her shadow-filled eyes.

“I won’t leave your side,” he promised.

Some of the tension drained from her shoulders, and the corners of her lips tilted in a slight smile. The urge to comfort her with a hug crept up, but he resisted. The last thing she would want would be to be touched by him. He was well aware of the fact that he had a long way to go to make up for the jerk he’d been eleven years ago.

Leading her out to his truck, he held the door while she pulled herself up into the cab. Good thing he hadn’t parked next to a puddle. As he shut the door behind her and jogged around to his side, he ignored the anticipation dancing through him at the thought of spending more time in her presence. It wasn’t as if they were going on a picnic. It started to rain again once they were underway. The overcast sky and the loud patter of raindrops on the roofs made the space inside the cab seem close. The fragrance of her light perfume added to the impression. Perfume? Since when did he pay attention to perfume unless it was too strong? Weird. Just weird.

He glanced into the rearview window, frowning at a car riding right on his tail. “Back up, buddy,” he muttered. Seth slowed the car, then made a right turn. The dark green sedan continued to keep pace with him. The tinted glass made it difficult to see who was driving the vehicle. Someone was in a hurry.

“What?”

He shot a reassuring grin at Jess. “Sorry. Talking to myself. We have a tailgater.”

Jess looked back over her shoulder, and froze. Seth stopped grinning as he saw the look of fear on her face. Her hands were fisted on her lap, the knuckles white.

“Jess? Jessica! What’s wrong?”

“I have seen that car almost everywhere I have gone in the past couple of weeks. I can never tell who’s driving it.”

The thought of someone shadowing her, stalking her, set his teeth on edge. “Are you sure it’s the same car?” He used one hand to sign the question so there would be no mistake.

Jess shook her head. “Sure? No, I have never gotten close enough to see a license plate. And there are hundreds of cars that look like that one. Except for the dark windows.”

Without considering his actions, Seth spun the wheel and started to pull off onto the berm. The green car slowed down. Then it suddenly shot forward. Its tires hit a large puddle, and water splashed Seth’s windshield. His left hand shot out to activate the wipers, hoping to clear his view in time to get a glimpse of the license plate, but it was too late. The car whipped around the corner. And another car was coming far too fast for Seth to get back on the road and follow him.

Frustrated, he waited for the other car to pass and then resumed driving toward Maggie and Dan’s house. His mind was full of questions. And doubts. Was it possible Jess was being stalked, or was she letting her anxiety rule her thoughts? After all, even she had admitted the car wasn’t an uncommon model. Except for the windows. He rejected the idea that she was imagining things almost as soon as it entered his mind. She had always been very down to earth, never one to exaggerate or jump to conclusions. “Okay, we need to remember to tell Dan about the car.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her nodding, but her expression remained troubled. It was time to see if they could make some sense of the current situation, while they were alone. And the quiet of the truck meant she would be able to hear him. And if she couldn’t, it was light enough that she could see him sign, or read his lips if necessary.

“Why don’t we try and get our ducks in a row before talking to Dan. He’s going to want to know about the people you work with at the barn. Because chances are good that one of them might be the person responsible for the fire.”

A shake of her head denied any such possibility, but shadows crept into her expression. As much as she might want to believe none of her coworkers would hurt her, the doubt had taken root in her mind.

“So who worked for you yesterday?” Man, he hated doing this to her. But it was necessary for her protection, he argued with himself.

For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she would answer. Finally she sighed. “Kim and Eric. They’re both fairly young. Kim just started working for us about seven months ago, but Eric has been coming for years, first as a student, and later as a worker and part-time trainer. I would trust him without hesitation.”

“And Kim?”

He knew the answer the moment she bit her lower lip. As painful as it was, Kim was a possible suspect.

“Okay, how about Rebecca—”

The words weren’t even out of his mouth before she interrupted him.

“Don’t even go there. I would trust her and Levi with my life. We went to the same deaf and hard-of-hearing program for years. In fact, we rode the same bus. She was two years behind me, but we stayed friends even after I returned to my home district for high school.”

He nodded. “Okay. And she was Amish?”

“Yeah. Until she was seventeen. She made the choice to leave instead of being baptized, which means she can still visit her family.”

“But still, there would have been years when you didn’t see her because you left...” His voice petered out as he realized what he was saying. The last thing he wanted to do was bring up why she had left high school, and his role in all of it, but it was too late now. If he could, he would have swallowed those words back. But he couldn’t. Maybe she would let it go. He glanced at her. Her lips tightened, her shoulders grew stiff. Nope.

“Yeah, I left to go back to my district’s school so I could be closer to home and take advantage of the clubs and sports programs. Things most high school students take for granted. I just didn’t expect that to include you telling your bully friends that the weird deaf girl you tutored had an annoying crush on you. And I definitely didn’t expect them to decide to teach me a lesson to show me how unworthy I was.”

“I never meant—”

“They ganged up on me, drew the word IDIOT on my forehead with a permanent marker and shoved me into a dark janitor’s closet. It was small, no lights and no windows, and I missed my bus. I was stuck in that small, smelly place for five hours until my parents and the principal found me. I was terrified to go back there. And Rebecca had left the deaf program. Amish students only go to school through eighth grade. I convinced my parents to send me to the Western PA School for the Deaf so I wouldn’t have to face any of my attackers again.”

So that’s where she had gone.

He could hear her ragged breathing. Remorse choked him. What a moron he had been.

“I would do anything to take that back. I only said something to get my girlfriend, Trish, off my back. She was jealous of the time we spent together.”

She grimaced. “She was cruel. All your friends were. Except that dark haired girl you sat with in bio.”

Melanie. His best friend. He’d messed that up, too.

He sighed, wishing he could go back in time and shake some sense into the stupid, arrogant kid he used to be. “I couldn’t believe Trish would do something like that. We had a huge fight over it and finally broke up. I wanted to track you down and apologize...but no one knew where you’d gone.”

“How hard did you look?” she asked, her voice cold and accusatory.

“Not very,” he admitted. “I figured you wanted to leave me and everything I’d done in the past. It didn’t seem right to force you to have to sit through my sad excuses if you’d moved on with your life.”

“And yet here you are.”

“To help,” he insisted. “I know it doesn’t change the past, but you’re in trouble now and you shouldn’t be forced to deal with it alone. I’d like to help you, the way I should have back then.”

Silence settled between them, tense and awkward. After a few minutes, he felt her hand touch his arm. Brow rising in surprise, he turned to face her.

“Can I ask you a question?” Jess’s voice was hesitant. It was an olive branch, and he knew it and gladly seized it.

“Yeah, sure.” His voice was thick. He cleared his throat. He spared her a glance to be sure she heard him. Her face was turned toward him, eyes intent.

“I don’t remember ever seeing you sign before. But yesterday you were signing like you’d been doing it for years. How did you learn? Why?”

He shrugged. “I had a roommate in college who was deaf. Ernie. He taught me some sign. And I went home with him several times. His whole family was deaf, so it was sink or swim. After I decided that I had zero interest in following my dad into law and politics, I took other classes to find what interested me. Including ASL.”

“Ernie Mitchell?”

His eyebrows rose. “You know him?”

“He attends Deaf church with me.”

The mention of church was unsettling. He and Ernie had stayed in touch since college but they didn’t talk religion much. Seth blew out a relieved breath as his sister’s house came in view. Soon, he would be able to tell Dan everything. Then the police could take control of the situation. Jess would be safe and would no longer need him. That last thought made him frown. The idea of walking away from her now when she was in danger didn’t sit well with him at all. But sticking around held the risk of his becoming attached to her. He realized that he liked and admired her. The last thing he wanted was to see her hurt again. And he would hurt her. How could he not? He was his father’s son, after all.

Pulling into his sister’s driveway, he frowned, feeling uneasy. Dan’s truck was there, but the minivan was nowhere in sight. And the blinds were closed. Maggie always opened the blinds. Getting out of his truck, he walked over to the garage and peered in. The motorcycle was there, but no van.

Whipping out his cell, he sent his sister a text. Hey sis. Where r u?

A minute later he received an answer. And groaned. Pittsburgh. Visiting Ty. Back 2morrow. Everything OK?

Ty was Dan’s foster brother. What now? He would just have to keep an eye on Jess until Dan returned. He sent back a text to tell his sister he needed to see Dan as soon as they returned. Then he climbed back in his truck. Jess was watching him, those gorgeous hazel eyes wide and curious. How would she react to the news that she’d have to wait to talk with Dan? Would she give up on speaking to the police altogether?

“Okay. Change of plans. Maggie and Dan are in Pittsburgh for the day.”

A soft sigh came from the woman beside him. Relief or resignation? Hmm. Not sure he knew.

“Do you want to go back to your place?” he offered. Man, he hated the thought of bringing her back to that ranch house alone. The stables were far too secluded. Her face paled.

Taking a deep breath, Jess squared her shoulders and lifted her jaw. Probably trying to look brave. To his sympathetic eye, she looked vulnerable. And scared. As she glanced up, her posture shifted. Eyes narrowing, she looked closer at the fancy invitation trapped behind the sun visor. Her slender fingers reached out and touched the fine paper, hesitant, almost awed.

“May I?” she asked. Unsure what she was thinking, he nodded.

Jess plucked the card from its spot and brushed her hands across the return address on the engraved invitation. A stallion was prominently embossed on the front.

“Ted Taylor,” she breathed. “You know Ted Taylor.”

Huh? Her voice was almost reverent.

“Yeah, that’s my uncle.” Seth gently pulled the invite from her fingers to glance at it. “I had forgotten this. He’s throwing a big blowout tonight.”

“You could help me!”

Seth found himself on the receiving end of a stunning smile. Jess leaned toward him, and he could practically smell her eagerness. For some reason his stomach tightened. He had the feeling he wasn’t going to like what she suggested.

* * *

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

Jess grinned and rolled her eyes. That was the third time Seth had complained. He was smiling and shaking his head as he said it, though, so she decided he wasn’t too upset with her. Plus, he was driving toward his uncle’s house.

She couldn’t get over the fact that she had never connected him with Ted Taylor. Ted Taylor owned the most renowned stable for breeding racehorses in this part of the country. He was an influential man who sat on various committees dealing with equine care and treatment. His passion was abused horses. Just as Cody’s had been. His endorsement could sway public opinion in her favor.

She shivered. On the other hand, a cold shoulder from him would convince many she and her brother were guilty. But she had to try.

And he was also well known for throwing lavish parties. Like this one. Parties where everyone brought an overnight bag because one day wasn’t long enough to celebrate. Not to mention the fact that he lived almost an hour away from LaMar Pond on the outskirts of Spartansburg. Ted always opened the spring season up with a bang. Anyone who was anyone in the equestrian circle in northwestern Pennsylvania would be there. Breeders, coaches, trainers. All people who she and her brother had met in one capacity or another. It was possible that someone there might be able to provide some answers about what had really happened in the last few months of Cody’s life.

“Are you sure you can spare this much time away from the stables?”

Seth was precious when he was concerned. No way. Not going there. Even if it was true, it would do no good for her to become attached. The butterflies currently fluttering in her stomach would go away if she ignored them. She cut a quick glance toward him and met melting brown eyes. Instead of going away the butterflies intensified.

What was the question? Oh, yeah.

“The stables will be fine. I texted my staff so they’ll know to come in and take care of the morning chores. Even if I don’t show up for a few days, the workers keep things moving. We keep charts on which animals need what to be done, so someone will be able to pick up the slack.”

As the truck sloshed through the back roads toward Ted Taylor’s party, she watched as the puddles on the road became progressively deeper. Rain continued to pound on the truck. The rhythmic swipe of the wipers could barely keep up. Her teeth tugged at her lower lip. Maybe convincing Seth to bring her to the party with him as his “plus one” hadn’t been a great idea. With weather like this, they wouldn’t be able to leave the party quickly or easily if she was treated badly by the other guests—which was a definite possibility. Many of them had treated her as if she had leprosy since Cody’s death. Or as if she were a criminal. Which certainly accounted for the fact that she had not received an invite to this weekend’s event for the first time in two years. Willa Taylor was a social snob.

Of course, it was also possible that one of them was responsible for the accidents. She shuddered and promised herself that if she saw a dark green sedan parked outside the ranch house, she’d have Seth take her home again. She cautioned herself against relying on him too heavily. She had struggled hard to prove herself to be a strong, independent woman. It wouldn’t do to allow her former crush to gain too much leverage over her.

“This water is getting really deep,” Seth stated, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth. Outside, everything was gray. Gray clouds, gray sky, gray pools of liquid surrounding them as they drove. They went over the bridge. Jess looked down and felt a niggle of dread. The water was higher than she had ever seen it.

“There it is.” Seth raised one hand to indicate the sprawling ranch ahead of them. His blinker flashed as he steered the truck into the long winding lane that served as the Taylor residence’s driveway. The driveway was like the rest of Pennsylvania. It rose and dipped. It wasn’t the smoothest ride, but Jess still released a sigh of relief that they’d finally arrived. It was followed by a shriek as Seth’s tires hydroplaned. The back end of the pickup swerved to the right. Seth managed to get the vehicle back on track just in time to drive it through the next puddle. Only the puddle was more like a small pond. The motor sputtered and stalled. Stopped.

They were stuck at the ranch.

Seth tossed her a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we can find someone to help us get the truck started again. Or a lift back to town. It’ll be fine.”

She wasn’t fooled. His grin was strained, and his jaw was tight.

Seth opened the door and splashed over to Jess’s side to help her down. Grabbing her overnight bag with her fancy dress and toiletries safely tucked inside, she let Seth take her empty hand and jumped out. She landed with a muddy splash and grimaced. She was almost knee-deep in freezing water. Her cowboy boots would be trashed. Good thing she hadn’t decided to wear the dress and heels in the truck. Seth shrugged out of his jacket and slung it over her shoulders. And shushed her when she started to protest. Giving in gracefully, she allowed Seth to grab her hand again and pull her up to the lane to the house. Standing beside Seth, she tensed as he raised his hand and jabbed the doorbell with his finger. Within seconds, the door swung open and their host came out to grab Seth in a bear hug.

Ted Taylor was an impressive-looking man in his mid-fifties. Now that she saw him and Seth side by side, she could see the resemblance in the shape of their faces and in the way they held themselves.

“Seth! So glad you could make it, son!” His booming voice made the voices inside the house grow silent. “So many people canceled because of the weather. You and your girlfriend will make an even dozen.”

Jess forced herself to stand still and smile as he turned kind eyes to her. “It’s good to see you again, Jess. I was very sorry to hear about your brother. Cody was a fine young man, and I for one have never doubted his integrity.”

Blinking to clear her suddenly blurred vision, Jess cleared her throat. Even so, she knew her voice sounded more like a croak when she spoke. “Thank you, sir. It means a lot to hear that.”

She stiffened her knees to cease their sudden trembling. If Ted believed in Cody’s innocence, and hers, there was hope.

“What’s she doing here?” an angry voice said.

Heat crawled up her face as Jess found herself the target of hostile stares. Apparently, Ted’s faith in her wasn’t universal. Well, she hadn’t expected it would be. Yet. Resigned, she turned to face Ted’s snobbish, socially conscious wife.

“Aunt Willa, this is my friend, Jess. My good friend.” Her bruised heart warmed when Seth squeezed her hand.

Hardly a good friend. But she appreciated the show of support when those gathered glared.

“I’m surprised you would bring the likes of her into your family’s house,” his aunt said with a scornful sniff. “Or perhaps you saw a pretty face and didn’t realize what kind of girl she was.”

What kind of girl she was? Seriously?

“Actually, Jess and I go way back. Since high school.”

Jess could just barely make out the sound of voices tumbling over each other. Yet even without hearing the words, she could tell by the frowns on their faces that the other guests were not pleased to have her in their midst. But none of that seemed to affect Seth. She read his lips and saw that he was basically telling his family that he believed in her and trusted her. Suspicion was nudged out of the way by shame and gratitude. Gratitude that God hadn’t completely abandoned her. And shame that she was still harboring a grudge against Seth. Mortified, she remembered her bitter words in the truck. Was that really just a couple of hours ago?