Broken Vows (Domestic Discipline Romance) (36 page)

"Didn't it piss you off when he finally did tell you?" Mila asked.

"Yes," Jenny said honestly. "He had valid reasons though. When I thought about it and was honest with myself, I had to admit they were valid. We had both decided to reinstate our original marriage agreements, so I had to trust him. After all I had done, I couldn't blame him for not trusting me."

"It was Mom's doing," Mila hissed.

Jenny shook her head. "She was behind a lot of it, but I allowed her to use me. She pitted me against my husband. Although I didn't catch onto her at first, I let her continue even after I knew what she was doing. I knew it was wrong. I have to take the blame for allowing it. Josh was right to withhold the information about his inheritance until he knew I could be trusted with so much money at our disposal.

"Well, anyway, I'm going over to pack the remaining books. It was hard to sell off our furniture at the old house, but both of us loved our library so much, we simply could not bear to give away our books. Even as we packed them though, neither one of us thought we would ever have the room for them again."

"Now you have a grand library three times as big and beautiful. You won't have enough books to fill it," Mila teased.

Jenny laughed. "We will manage, believe me. Josh and I both love to read and love books. Did you know we met in the college library?"

"No, you never told me. How did you know he was the one?"

"I don't think I did, at least I didn't consider it in those terms. We met, instantly connected, and became inseparable. I had more doubts than he did, but he was so
there
for me from the very beginning. Almost overnight, he knew my schedule, he knew my budget, and he knew what I liked to eat and what I did not. He is a detail person who pays attention. He cared. I had never experienced caring before.

"I had someone hold my hand, someone to tell me he was proud of me when I aced an exam. It was all a new experience. I was comfortable and we fit together. It is very hard to describe, but it worked."

"It's still working," Mila agreed.

"I know," Jenny exclaimed. "Heck, if I keep running my mouth, I'll never get anything done. I'm out of here."

Jenny waved to Bubba as she went through the house. He had returned from his errands, it seemed. She asked if he would help carry out more boxes of books. She had not figured out yet when the man slept. He was there when they went into the house in the morning and he was there at night. When she had asked him, he said, ‘I catch an hour here and there around your schedules.' He would come and go during the day if Kevin and Josh were both on-site.

Jenny assembled the boxes she would need, taped the bottoms together, and carried them to the bottom of the stairs. She had not been up to the second tier of the library before this. As she navigated the spiral stairway she bounced on every couple of steps to test them, but they held solid. The second tier was nine bookcases long with a six-foot-deep balcony overhang. A rolling ladder traversed from right to left. She was sure it would be a nightmare keeping Adam off the ladder when he got a little bigger.

With no sorting needed anymore, the job went simply and quickly. Empty a row at a time into a box, tape it, carry it downstairs for Bubba to take out to the foyer. She would climb the ladder for two rows above her head, but that was as far as she would go. She was not afraid of heights, but she was a little afraid of the rolling ladder. Josh or Kevin would have to do the higher climbing. As she looked at the heights of the tall shelves, she wondered if even Bubba would be able to reach the top without the ladder.

The job was going quickly. She would fill boxes for a while and then carry some down to the main level. If nothing else, it was a good cardio workout. Each time, she grabbed empty boxes and carried them on her way back up the stairs. On this trip, as she passed a box she had already filled, but not taped, a flap caught the edges of the empty boxes she was carrying and knocked her off balance. She grabbed for the bookcase to regain her balance, but instead of solidity, she encountered movement.

Jenny flew forward. Before she could even react, she heard a thud and a click. She lay on the floor in a dark space or room behind the bookcase.

Disoriented, Jenny felt around on her hands and knees. It was pitch black, not a pinpoint of light anywhere. She could not see well in the dark under ordinary circumstances. Now, she panicked when her foot went into empty space. She withdrew her legs and pulled them to her chest. She yelled and shouted for a while, but the walls absorbed the sound. Then she screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

* * *

Hunger drew Josh's attention from his work. His eyes caught sight of the documents he had brought home from the County Recorder's office. He had handled everything else except them, but they would have to wait a while longer. His work for Peak Designs took precedence and he had dealt with it immediately. His second priority had been handling the multiple emails and phone calls from Chief of Police Rand Michaels, and Mayor Denny Moser.

They had arrested all five men caught on the tape. Three of the men hired lawyers and were not talking. One was singing like a bird, blaming everyone in the group but himself, claiming they had forced him to help.

Ex
-sheriff, Hollis Leonard, had accepted his arrest and resigned himself to his fate. His reason for running an illegal poaching operation was simple. He needed the money. His son was in the last stages of multiple sclerosis and Hollis was losing the battle to keep up with the medical costs He had two mortgages on his home, had used all his retirement savings, and was in debt to anyone who would give him a loan. He did not deny what he had done or try to make excuses. He simply said he would do anything to help his son. However, he swore neither he nor any of his men had been near the Bentley property when Jenny was shot. The Bentley property was also not the only land they were using to make their kills.

The Chief of Police and the Mayor suggested the ex-sheriff get a light sentence as he had a previously clean record and was the sole support of his dying son. Regardless of how Hollis Leonard had broken the law, he was well-liked in town, and the populace was sympathetic to his cause. People were already organizing fund-raising benefits to help him. His attorneys were working out a plea bargain for a work-release program, so he could attend to his son's needs. The other four men would each get sentences based on what their lawyers could bargain for them.

Josh had also been on the phone again with the credit card companies. The issue had gone well past troublesome and disruptive, to downright disturbing. Now, he and Jenny had to provide the card company's attorney with validated proof they were not in the areas where the thief perpetrated the frauds. They could easily provide it, but he reminded the people he was dealing with that they were the victims. Why was the burden of proof not on the guilty, instead of on the victim? He had a long list of people Jenny had to call.

Stretching back away from his computer, he realized he had not seen his kids since early morning. He was already breaking his promise not to neglect his family for business. He walked out of his office, and not seeing Bubba anywhere on the first floor, he locked his door. He heard the repetitive thumping of Kevin's nail gun from upstairs and went to find him.

"Hey," Josh yelled from the doorway.

Kevin looked over his shoulder from the scaffolding he was standing on. He pulled down his ear protection, "Yeah?"

"I'm heading over to the house for a piece of Jenny's famous chocolate cake, and to see my kids. Are you interested?"

"Always," Kevin said. "Give me two minutes. I will be done with this room."

Josh gazed around at the crown moldings and waited. When the carpenter jumped down, he disengaged the battery-pack from his nail gun and put it into a charger.

"Is this the last of it?" Josh inquired.

Kevin looked around as he replied. "I have one more room to finish, and then you will be ready for painting. This place is about two weeks from being finished."

"You are way ahead of schedule," Josh said as they companionably took the steps. He stopped and took in the overview of the main room. "This is something," he said appreciatively.

Kevin smiled. "I'm glad you like it. I want to bring Dad in to see it before it starts filling up with furniture. This place was important to him, and we have brought it back, even improved it."

"Anytime," Josh agreed.

"Daddy," Emmie scolded as soon as he came through the guesthouse door. "Where have you been?"

"Working, sweetheart," Josh said, swinging his daughter into his arms and hugging her. "Where's Mommy?"

"She's working too," Mila said. "You must have walked right past her."

"I didn't even check her studio," Josh said to Kevin. "Usually by this time of day, she is back here, dealing with the kids and dinner."

"She was packing books in the library," Mila said.

"She's not in the library, I just walked past it," Josh said.

"Did you look up? She was working on the second tier."

"I think I would have noticed. She must be in her studio," Josh said. "I'll go get her. We're having a cake break."

Josh walked back over to the main house, looking through windows as he passed, but not seeing Jenny. He knocked and tried to open her studio door, but found it locked. He used his key and went in, but she was not there. He walked back through the house shouting her name.

He saw Bubba coming from the kitchen. "Have you seen Jenny?"

"Not for a couple of hours. She was packing books while I was carrying them over to the foyer for pick up tomorrow. I went back to get more boxes, but she'd quit." Bubba answered.

"Help me check the house," Josh ordered. Josh took the upstairs while Bubba searched the downstairs again. Josh went over to Mila's area, but her house was empty. He went back into the guesthouse and upstairs, but she was not there either.

Mila and Kevin had their heads together talking. Kevin noticed something amiss though and went over to Josh. "What's wrong?"

"We can't find Jenny," Josh whispered to him.

Kevin put his coat on, before going back over and whispering into Mila's ear. Then he went outside snapping his fingers for Buddy to follow him.

"Missing!" Mila wanted to scream. She wanted to run out to search for her sister, but she could not. She had three small children to watch, and she could not panic them.

The three men searched the main house again, shouting with no results.

* * *

Jenny was beyond panic, she was terrified. The total absence of light was strange, because she kept thinking she saw flashes of something in her peripheral vision. It was as silent in the room as it was black. She screamed until she could scream no more. She could count on one hand how many times she had full out screamed in her life before now. Her vocal cords had been weak ever since she experienced strep throat multiple times during her teens. She was not one of those kids or adults who sang along to their favorite songs. She did not even sing in church, she faked it. She knew by the end of one song that she would be hoarse.

She had screamed in here. She had screamed until her throat hurt and no sound came out. No one answered her screams. Remembering old scary movies with people stuffed into walls and hidden away, she also remembered she hated scary movies.

She scooted around her prison, as much as she dared. She tried to get her fingernails in between the slats of wood she could feel. Nothing moved, but her nails broke. She kept trying to find something, anything to help. She even returned to the edge of the flooring, but scooted away from it again in terror. She kept telling herself she had to do something, and then on one of her forays, she found a bottle. It felt like an old-fashioned soda bottle, a small one with a thick bottom. She had no idea in which direction she faced anymore. She knew there were two long solid walls and one short solid wall, besides the drop off into space. She picked a wall and began banging the bottom of the bottle against it, over, and over again.

* * *

Bubba, Josh, and Kevin searched the entire house together, and then each of them went in a different direction to search again.

They met back in the great room.

Buddy whined and continually went back into the library to sniff the bottom of the metal stairway.

"We have all searched in here," Kevin said. "There's hardly anything in here anymore, now that most of the books are gone. There's nowhere for her to fall. Buddy, find Jenny!"

The dog whined and went up a few steps, but did not seem to know what to do with the twisting narrow treads. He stopped, whined again, tried to turn around, became tangled, and leapt to the floor.

"Quiet," Bubba snapped at everyone before standing still for a full thirty seconds. "Something is thumping in here."

Josh looked around. "I don't hear anything."

"Quiet!"

The ex-marine listened again. "It's repetitive. Kev, do you still carry your EMT kit in your truck?"

"Always."

"Get me the stethoscope," Bubba ordered.

Kevin returned with the entire kit. He handed the stethoscope to Bubba who inserted the ear buds, walked over to one wall, and put the instrument against it. He walked away from the wall and listened at the lower bookcases. Then he held the stethoscope against the metal staircase.