Searching for a New Home (6 page)

After a thorough search, I report to him that
some quarters are missing out of the ashtray where I kept them for
the toll booths. My Glock and a blue tooth headset for my cell
phone are missing from the console. My laptop is still in the car
but it had been buried underneath my clothes and other items in the
back.

Jacob notifies a private investigator, Tom
Christensen that he uses on all of his cases. He gives him a
thorough description of the blue tooth headset and asks him to
track it down, if possible. He also asks him to trace Jana's route
from the time she left the hotel in Casper and see if he can find
anything unusual or questionable along the way.

******

The days pass quickly as I settle into my new
life on the Rocking J helping Jenny around the house and spending
time with Dani. True to her word, Dani and Jacob teach me how to
ride and to care for the horses. They introduce me to Copper, a
very gentle mare and I love the hours the three of us spend just
wandering through the hills and meadows together.

I learn that Jenny is seven months along with
her and Jason's first child, a little boy. They are very excited.
It took a long time and several surgeries for Jenny to conceive and
Jason worries constantly. Jenny is tired a lot of the time so I am
happy I am able to take some of the load off her shoulders,
especially doing the heavy housework.

I also help Jason with the ranch's books. My
bookkeeping background allows me to pick up quickly on the
accounting program they use and I am learning how they track the
horses in their breeding program. It is obvious the ranch is a very
prosperous endeavor. I learn that the ranch has been in their
family for generations and was almost lost when cattle prices
bottomed out a few years ago. That was when Jason quit his job as a
stock broker in New York City to return to the ranch and start the
horse breeding program. Now Jason and Jacob work side by side with
Bob Kenner training the horses, often working till dark.

Jenny explains to me what the sheriff meant
when he told me I am a very lucky young lady. She tells me about
Jacob's reputation as one of the premier criminal defense attorneys
in the country. She also explains that Jacob retired from
practicing law four years ago when he returned to Wyoming to raise
Dani. He only takes special cases now. I feel very lucky that Jacob
has agreed to represent me.

In the evenings, Jacob and I retire to the
study and discuss the upcoming trial. Jacob tells me about any new
developments and asks any questions he needs answered. He is always
upbeat but the dread I feel is always present and growing. I am
very skeptical anyone will ever believe me.

Jacob and I find it very easy to talk to each
other and we have talked about everything, our families, our pasts,
our dreams. He told me about his marriage and the issues he had
with Beverly. I told him about my marriage and why I finally
divorced my husband.

To me it is almost like we have been friends
forever. I can't remember ever having a friend that I have confided
in so easily.

At the same time, Jacob always maintains
distance. He is very careful to make sure he and Jana are never
alone for very long and he never touches her even in the most
casual ways.

As the weeks pass and he has gotten to know
Jana better, Jacob's reluctance and concerns about her presence in
Dani's life have begun to recede. She seems to love Dani and Jason
and Jenny like her too. One would think that would make Jacob
happy, but it doesn't. He has become more and more reticent,
seeming to keep to himself, brooding. He is spending more and more
time alone working outside with the horses or in the study.

One evening in late July, Dani runs into the
study and climbs into his lap for a hug. She misses the time her
Daddy use to spend with her and Jana and doesn't understand why he
stopped. She looks over at his desk and freezes. Jacob asks,
"What's wrong Pumpkin?"

Dani is staring at a picture of Frank Gibbons
on the desk. She points and says, "That's him! That's the man that
followed Cybil out of the truck stop!"

Carefully Jacob says, "Are you sure Dani? You
saw that man follow Cybil out of the truck stop?"

"Yes! He was driving an old beat up blue
truck. He followed her out of the parking lot." Dani insists.

Jacob asks "Do you know which way they
went?"

Dani answers, "Sure, they turned left onto
the road, then back to the right a little way down. That's how I
know he was following her."

Jacob had filed a missing person's report
right after Dani's adventure because he hadn't been able to locate
Cybil. She isn't answering her phone and her bank accounts haven't
been disturbed since a large withdrawal on the day she left Dani at
the truck stop. She seems to have disappeared off the face of the
earth. The fact that Dani is placing Frank Gibbons with her raises
the hair on the back of Jacob's neck. He has a bad feeling
something tragic may have happened to Cybil.

When Jacob contacts the Sheriff in Casper, he
asks Jacob to bring Dani to the truck stop so she can show them
exactly what she saw on that night so long ago.

Jacob, Dani, and I arrive at the truck stop
around noon the next day. The Sheriff is waiting. Dani is very
nervous when she sees the sheriff's uniform but with her Daddy's
and my encouragement she is able to tell the Sheriff exactly what
she saw the night Cybil left her at the truck stop. The Sheriff
tells Jacob the road Dani indicated leads to an old rock quarry
that is now filled with water. Picnic areas are scattered around
the perimeter and many of the locals swim there in the summer. He
will get divers to check it out.

After lunch in the truck stop restaurant,
Jacob takes Dani and me to the same hotel along the interstate in
Casper and gets us rooms. He then goes back to the quarry to see
what develops while I carry Dani to the pool to swim.

The divers find Cybil's car just before dark
that same day. Cybil's body is still inside and it is obvious she
was strangled to death. But no money is found in the car. Someone
must have stolen the $70,000 she had withdrawn from the bank the
day she disappeared.

Jacob drives back to the hotel in a daze.
Cybil left Dani alone in the truck stop that night. Thank God!!
Whoever killed Cybil probably wouldn't have hesitated to kill Dani
too, if Cybil hadn't left her at the truck stop. He had been so
furious with Cybil for leaving Dani alone, now he is thankful she
did. Maybe the old saying is true, everything happens for a
reason.

After having a quiet dinner at a local steak
house and putting Dani to bed, he knocks lightly on my door at the
hotel.

"Hey," he says when I answer.

"Hey yourself."

"I thought you might want to know what we
found at the quarry. Let's walk down to the pool." Jacob
offers.

Once we are seated in the indoor pool
enclosure, Jacob tells me about finding the car with Cybil's naked
body inside. Then he tells me it was obvious she had been sexually
assaulted because she had bruising between her legs. He also tells
me they believe she was strangled to death because of bruising on
her neck but they won't know for sure until they receive the
autopsy results. He doesn't mention the missing money.

A cold chill slides down my spine. Frank
Gibbons killed Cybil. I'm not sure how I know that, I just know.
That could easily have been me in that car. I slept with that man
on numerous occasions. He lived in my home for six months. Once
again I feel blessed relief that I escaped from that relationship
unscathed with only the financial loss.

Jacob watches the emotions play across Jana's
face. He notes shock, fear, revulsion, and then relief. Without
thinking he reaches out and tenderly strokes a finger down her
cheek. The zing of sexual attraction roars through his veins the
minute he touches her face. Steeling himself against it he asks,
"Are you all right?"

I am shocked by the electrical charge that
streaks through my body at Jacob's touch. It has been months since
the day we first met and I felt that zing for the first time. I nod
and gaze into his chocolate brown eyes. I see warmth and
understanding and something else I can't identify.

"I'm just thankful it wasn't me in that car.
It could have been you know. Oh God, Jacob, I lived in the same
house with that man!"

"I know," he says. Jacob feels as if he is
drowning in the stormy blue pools that are her eyes. She is so
beautiful, so vulnerable, he wants to wrap her in his arms and keep
her safe forever. He wants to kiss those luscious lips until they
are both breathless ... but he won't, he can't. He jerks his gaze
away. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your room."

Long after Jacob leaves me at my room, I am
pacing back and forth across the floor. I can't erase the images of
a faceless Cybil, her lifeless naked body being pulled from that
car. Visions of what might have transpired between her and Frank
Gibbons flash across my mind causing shivers to race down my spine.
I think back to the time Frank Gibbons lived in my home. I never
personally experienced violence from him, but I know he was capable
of it. His threats to me are all the proof I need. Once again I
thank God that I got out of that relationship unscathed.

******

Damn! What was he thinking? That is the
problem, he wasn't thinking at all. He came so close to kissing
her. It took every bit of his self control to stop himself.

She is counting on him to save her life, to
keep her out of prison and he is finding it harder and harder to
keep his hands off her!! She probably thinks he is some kind of
pervert. Damn, damn, damn!! She is so easy to talk to, to be with.
They have spent hours just talking, about everything, their pasts,
their childhoods, their families, their dreams. He'll be glad when
this trial is over and Jana Bowen is free to continue on her
journey. Once she leaves maybe he'll be able to get past this
unrelenting desire for her! The icy cold showers are not working
anymore and she invades his dreams every night.

******

I love riding in the pickup with Jacob. I can
watch him until my heart's content. I love studying his profile. He
is an absolutely gorgeous man, my perfect man. Not movie star
perfect, cowboy perfect. Rugged, strong, confident, smart,
sensitive, everything a girl could possibly want in a man. All I
have to do is close my eyes to imagine those sensuous lips touching
mine. I can almost taste him on my lips and feel his tongue
plundering my mouth. Just thinking about kissing Jacob makes my
stomach do somersaults and desire unfurl in my abdomen. I look at
his hands as they grasp the steering wheel, his long fingers curled
so easily around its rim and can almost feel those work roughened
hands stroking my body. I know he wanted to kiss me at the pool
last night, I could see it in his eyes. What I don't know, is why
he didn't? That confuses me.

Whoa!! What am I doing? I am not ready for
that!! He is still a man and I just am not ready to go down that
road again ... at least not yet. I have to remember what could have
happened with Frank, what did happen to Cybil. But Jacob's not like
Frank ... he's not after my money ... he obviously has more than
enough of his own. And in all the weeks I have been at the ranch, I
haven't seen him have more than a glass of wine or two with his
dinner, so that wouldn't be a problem. But I just can't go down
that road again, it's just too soon.

Face it Jana, the man doesn't even know
you're alive. You imagined what you thought you saw in his eyes.
You are a client and that is all. He is repaying his debt to you,
nothing more. He is way out of your league and that is why he
didn't kiss you. And if you're smart, you'll stay as far away from
Jacob Murray as you can because the man can destroy you
emotionally. If you let yourself fall in love with him and it
doesn't work out, you will never recover. You have to leave as soon
as the trial is over, it is the only way. But leaving Dani is going
to be devastating.

******

Dani is downright disappointed. She really
hoped that getting away from the ranch with just the three of them
would help her Daddy see how special Jana is. She hoped that her
Daddy and Jana would start acting more like they like each other.
If anything, her Daddy is acting more like he hates Jana now than
he did before. He never looks at her or touches her. Oh, he is
polite, but he is polite to everybody. She needs to think of
something to make them like each other. She loves Jana and wants
her to stay at the ranch forever. She wants Jana to be her
Mommie.

******

From that day forward Jacob spends more and
more time working with the horses, mending fences, anything and
everything he can think of to keep his mind off of and himself away
from Jana. Most days he stays away from the house until well after
dark and goes straight to bed when he does come in. It is bad
enough that she invades his dreams every night. He knows he can't
trust himself to spend time with her. He is afraid that next time
he won't be able to stop himself. He will be glad when the trial is
over and she finally leaves the ranch and continues on her
journey.

On the rare evening he does come in early he
watches Dani interacting with Jana. He knows his daughter loves
her. He also knows it is going to hurt her terribly when Jana
leaves. Dani is tough though, she'll get over it but maybe he needs
to start preparing her for the inevitable. Yeah, he better have a
talk with Dani.

******

A few nights later as Jacob is putting Dani
to bed, he decides to broach the subject. He asks, "Dani, are you
going to be all right when Jana leaves the ranch?"

Tears immediately fill Dani's big brown eyes
and she says, "No! Please, Daddy, don't let Jana leave! I love her.
I want her to stay here forever!"