Searching for a New Home
Read Searching for a New Home Online
Authors: Karen Ward
Tags: #murder, #intrigue, #cowboy, #wyoming
FOR A
NEW HOME
KAREN WARD
Smashwords Edition
© Copyright 2011 Glenda Hays
Writing as Karen Ward
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
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This book is a work of fiction. All names,
characters, locations, and incidents are either products of the
author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual places, events, or persons living or dead is entirely
coincidental.
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Cover images from COVERS BY RAMONA
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Contents
PROLOGUE
Los Angeles, CA, October
2004
It's over. It's finally over. Legendary
criminal defense attorney Jacob Murray breathes a deep sigh of
relief and stares through the wall of windows in his penthouse
overlooking the darkening Los Angeles skyline, sipping on scotch.
He has just won the biggest, most difficult, highest profile case
of his life. Academy Award winning movie star Barry Farrady was
acquitted today of the murder of his wife, Tina Drake, and he owes
his life to Jacob. The press had already convicted Barry of the
crime long before the trial even started. It was touch and go for
most of the last two years and the trial monopolized nearly all of
Jacob's time. He is just glad it's finally over. Now, at last, it's
time to go home ... home to the family ranch, the Rocking J, near
Cody Wyoming ... home to his precious four year old daughter
Danielle, his life.
Taking another sip of scotch, he lets the
memories consume him. He and his now dead wife Beverly met in
college and married during his last year of law school. She was
beautiful, sophisticated, with shoulder length raven colored hair,
sparkling green eyes, and a figure to die for. He adored her even
though she was quite spoiled and pregnant. Danielle, his precious
Dani, followed seven months later. They had been happy, content, at
least until all of the notoriety his famous clients brought into
their lives. The high profile clients his reputation attracted only
increased the stress on their marriage, the lack of privacy, the
need for protection. The Paparazzi was relentless, following them
everywhere, intruding into every corner of their lives. Every time
they appeared in public it was the same. They couldn't even go out
to dinner without being followed and harassed. They tried as best
they could to shelter their precious Danielle from the prying eyes
of the ever present photographers.
A little over a year ago, his wife, Beverly
had begged him to leave Los Angeles, to take Dani back to Wyoming
where she could grow up without body guards, without gangs hanging
around on every street corner, away from the cameras, the
reporters. Her request surprised Jacob because Beverly had never
been happy on the ranch, but he had promised. As soon as this case,
the Farrady case was over, they would go. He would retire. Hell, he
had made more money in his short career than they would ever spend
anyway. He could always commute back and forth to the city if
needed.
Then, ten months ago, they had the fight of
all fights. He and the family had planned a ski trip to Lake Tahoe,
a get-away they all needed, but the Farrady trial had intruded
again. Unexpectedly, he had to go to the Cayman Islands following
up on leads in the Farrady case. Beverly was furious with him. She
was determined to go to Lake Tahoe anyway for a little skiing and
damn him and damn Barry Farrady! Her car skidded off the icy road
and hit a tree. Beverly died instantly. Barely four year old
Danielle, secure in her car seat was unharmed. She was taken in by
Social Services and placed in a temporary foster home. It took days
for the authorities to locate him.
When Jacob finally got to her, Dani was a
total wreck, crying endlessly for her Mommie. She was completely
inconsolable. Horrible screaming nightmares haunted her sleep and
she had developed an unreasonable fear of strangers, especially
policemen and others in uniform. He had immediately taken her to
Wyoming to his boyhood home, to the ranch and what is left of his
family, his twin brother Jason and his new wife Jenny.
Jason, the other half of himself, what would
he have done during that horrible time if not for Jason and Jenny?
They stood beside him and Dani from the first. They were his rock,
his foundation in a sea of turmoil. Jason stepped up arranging for
body guards and escorts. He intervened with the media. Oh, the
media, they had been like vultures picking the bones of his
marriage clean, and Jason handled it all, keeping Dani safe from
their prying eyes, sparing him their intrusive questions. Jason
understood without having to be told what he and Dani needed.
Eventually a different story drew their attention and the vultures
mercifully left.
And Jenny... sweet, warm, understanding Jenny
... Jenny showered Dani with the love and attention she needed to
fill the void of her mother's death. She held her through those
first long, lonely nights, rocking her, singing her lullabies and
soothing her troubled little soul.
After two long months of his constant
attention and the love and support of Jason and Jenny, Dani finally
calmed enough for him to return to Los Angeles and the Farrady
trial. She felt safe on the Rocking J and Jason and Jenny love her
like a daughter. Jacob flew back and forth every weekend and during
every break in the trial to spend as much time as possible with
Dani and her confidence continued to grow.
The trial was grueling, time consuming. It
sucked the life right out of him. Now, it is finally over and he is
going home too. He will honor the promise he made to Beverly, his
dead wife.
Rural West Texas, 2008
Damn, damn, double damn! How could I have
messed up my life so completely? It is a total disaster. I can't
think of any other way to put it.
I shake my blonde head trying to shake off my
troubles like a dog would shake water off his body but the memories
won't stop flooding into my head like a movie playing on a big
screen. Sitting at a table alone in the little coffee shop I
continue to analyze the mistakes of my past.
Fresh out of a divorce, I should have known
better than to get involved with a traveling man. But Frank swept
into my life with the pretty words my lonely soul longed to hear
and stolen my heart. I dreamed of forever. Forever wasn't part of
his vocabulary. The signs were present, but I ignored them. He
didn't have the same values as mine. He believed it was all right
to cheat a little, to lie to get what he wanted, even to steal if
it benefited him. He was only interested in ... what? ... my money?
... probably ... a place to hide out for a while? ... definitely!
He was controlling but I hadn't seen it. He was a master
manipulator, subtly manipulating every aspect of my life while I
paid all the bills, bought all the groceries, made excuses for him.
And when he left, he took not only my heart, but my self-esteem and
all of my savings too. He truly was the "bastard" he always told me
he was. I'm not bitter though. In fact, I am relieved. With the
clarity of hindsight I can now see how it could have been so much
worse.
Two years have passed and I learned the
lesson well. I am stronger now and have rebuilt my self-esteem. But
now, I have lost my job. The small manufacturing company where I
handled the bookkeeping has shut its doors. The owner retired. So
now here I am ... no man, no money, and no job. What is a girl to
do?
Well, I don't know about most girls but I
know what I am going to do. I am no quitter. I am smart and
determined and I am going to dive right in and start over ... a new
life with a new job in a new town.
June 2009
Driving through the late afternoon sunshine
underneath a cloudless sky, the heat rising from the pavement in
waves, I am headed north. Finally, at thirty years old, I am
leaving the hot, dusty prairies of Texas behind. I am free and
happy and a big grin slides across my face.
After a hectic few months, I am finally
starting my new life. I sold my house and all of my possessions and
now I have a pocket full of cash. Not sure where I am headed, I
dream of a small mountain town, where I can get a job making enough
money to live comfortably, a place where everybody knows everybody
else and friends are numerous. I dream of a place where friends and
neighbors look out for each other ... a home. I'm not sure, yet,
where that is, but I intend to find it.
As I drive, my mind drifts back over my life.
My parents are gone. My mom died of a stroke during my freshman
year in college and my dad a few years later. I still miss them
with an ache that seems it will never cease. I have no other family
so I am all alone in the world. I met and married my ex-husband
right after my father's death. We were happy at first. I thought we
would be together forever. It wasn't to be. My marriage of six
years had ended because of my husband's drinking. He isn't a bad
person, or even abusive, just useless. He managed to hold his job,
but as soon as he left work every day, he popped a cold one. Then
he would drink until he either passed out or ran out of beer and
went to bed.
I wanted more out of life ...I still want
more out of life, so I divorced him. Lonely and alone, Frank
literally waltzed into my life. We met at the Lone Star Ballroom
where all the locals go to scoot a boot. Frank wasn't particularly
handsome. He was tall, strong, with a charisma that drew people. He
was a wonderful dancer and had swept me into a world I had only
previously dreamed of. I love to dance and he had used that fact to
his advantage.
Frank Gibbons was in town working on a big
construction project. He made good money and spent it freely
lavishing me with gifts, fancy dinners, and late nights out on the
town. It hadn't taken him long to cast his spell. Within a few
weeks he moved into my modest home and slowly over time all of the
expenses fell to me. No more gifts, no more fancy dinners. Even on
our occasional nights out he would conveniently be short of cash.
Eventually he was able to convince me he had some immediate needs
for cash. He always seemed to have a sick relative or his aunt
whose house was going into foreclosure if he didn't come up with
some cash to help her out. Looking back, I can see how easily he
had talked me out of all of my savings. When the money ran out, so
did Frank.
I felt so stupid, so used. Well, never again.
I will never trust another man. They are all out for a meal ticket
and a quick roll in the hay. I will manage just fine all by myself.
My only regret is not having a child of my own. I love children and
have always dreamed of a large family. Well, it's just not meant to
be.
******
Eight year old Dani Murray is terrified. She
has been crouched in the corner of the restroom stall trying to
hide since the cold and that creepy guy drove her in from outside
the truck stop late last night. She hates being alone. It reminds
her too much of that other time, when her Mommie had died. She is
so scared of strangers. Scared they will take her away again and
this time her Daddy will never find her.
Cybil, her Daddy's girlfriend, left her here
last night telling her she would be back in a little while. Well,
that little while has now been hours. Dani is so tired and she is
starving. She hasn't had anything to eat since lunch yesterday and
she doesn't have any money to get herself something to eat. Where
is Cybil? Who leaves an eight year old girl alone at a truck stop
in the middle of nowhere? It must be nearly noon. What is she going
to do? What if her Daddy never finds her this time? He doesn't even
know they left the ranch because Cybil wouldn't let her call him.
She lays her head on her knees and lets the tears flow.