And she had gone there and broken into his suite. As difficult as this was for him to hear, Jake knew he needed to know. “When did you first realize they planned to inseminate you?”
“I kept hearing them mention ‘cryovials’ and ‘nitro-preservation solution,’ but I didn’t understand what they meant. I knew they were examining me for something. They’d send in one of the men to hold me down while they took blood. They gave me a gynecological exam. A couple of days after that, they brought in that vial, and I figured out what it was.”
His theory about Markham actually started to make sense. Too bad he didn’t know for sure what part Jessie played in it.
“So let me get this straight,” she said, drawing his attention back to her. “You want me to tell the doctor everything but the name on the vial they used to inseminate me?”
That was it in a nutshell. It seemed stupid to keep something like that from Dr. Lisette, but Jake wasn’t ready to announce to the world that Jessie was carrying his child.
He nodded and left.
Chapter Seven
There was a long silence on the line after Jessie told Byron about the shots that someone had fired at her. She let him rant for a while about how she could have been killed and about how irresponsible Jake McClendon was to have let her go out like that in the first place. It didn’t do any good to remind him that Jake had risked his life to save her and that it was Jake who had ultimately gotten them to safety.
After a litany of Byron’s colorful insults, she hit him with even more shocking news—she told him about the kidnapping and the insemination. And then the pregnancy.
“Hell,” Byron finally mumbled.
Well, that wasn’t the way she felt about the pregnancy, but it did aptly describe her situation. There was a killer out there somewhere, and he wanted her and her baby dead. Somehow, some way, she’d get to the bottom of all of this.
Jessie glanced at the clock, something she’d done several times during her conversation with Byron. She had already been on the line twenty minutes and didn’t dare risk much more. After all, she was making the call from Jake’s house. He wasn’t there, of course, he was out doing some errands. Still, she didn’t want his housekeeper to hear any part of this conversation.
“What about the money?” Jessie asked.
As if he were pulling himself out of deep thought, it took Byron a moment to answer. “I should have it day after tomorrow. I’ll bring it to you.”
“Definitely not a good idea.” For about a million reasons. Half of those reasons had to do with her host. “I’ll do a pickup the way we planned it.”
“Does McClendon know?” Byron demanded.
“About the pregnancy, yes.”
“No.” He made a frustrated groan. “Does he know you’re a cop?”
“A former cop,” she automatically corrected.
Byron didn’t even pause. “A cop on an extended leave of absence. You can return to the department anytime you want.”
That wasn’t exactly true. Technically, she was a renegade, an officer who had conducted an investigation into her friend’s death, which she’d been ordered not to do. Returning would mean disciplinary action. Besides, she couldn’t return pregnant.
“Jake doesn’t know I’m a cop,” she finally answered. “And I want to keep it that way for a while.” For how long, Jessie didn’t know. It just didn’t seem like the right time to tell him she’d been conducting an unauthorized investigation that involved him. She already had enough to deal with.
Byron cursed. “So he doesn’t know you’re looking into Christy’s death?”
“No.” Christy had died on Jake’s property, so at least Jessie was near the scene of the crime. Months earlier, she’d been convinced that her friend had been murdered. In fact, she had sworn at Christy’s funeral that she would make someone pay. That someone, she’d thought, was Jake.
Jessie easily recalled the last conversation she’d ever had with Christy. She’d gone over it so many times, trying to hang on to every precious word, all the while trying to sift through it for clues. A tough job, but hey, someone has to do it, Christy had said, after explaining that she would be at the McClendon ranch later that night. And Christy had laughed in that carefree way of hers and called Jake a cowboy sizzler. Jessie rarely agreed with Christy about her choice in men, but in this one case, her friend had been right.
She smiled at the memory, but at the same time it made her eyes misty. Many times Jessie had wished she had that moment back so she could try to convince Christy to return to Austin. To return home to the apartment they’d shared for years prior to Christy taking the job in San Antonio. If Jessie had convinced her to return, her friend would still be alive.
“Jessie, are you still there?” she heard Byron ask. At the sound of his voice, the image of Christy began to vanish. That smiling heart-shaped face framed with a thick mane of chestnut hair. Jessie tried to hang on to it a moment longer, but she couldn’t. The image faded, leaving only the ache in Jessie’s heart.
“I’m here,” she replied. “I was just thinking about Christy.”
“Yeah.” And the pause let her know he was thinking of their mutual friend, as well. “I miss her a lot.”
“I know you do.” The pain she heard in Byron’s voice made Jessie ache even more. After all, Byron had been in love with Christy. Not that Christy had returned those feelings, but thankfully she’d always been sensitive to the way he felt. Deep inside, Jessie had always prayed that Christy would come to her senses and return Byron’s love. And it might have happened eventually, if Christy hadn’t died.
“Did you hear me, Jess?” Byron asked.
“No. What did you say?”
“I said you could be in the house right now with the man who wants to kill you.”
Jessie didn’t believe that any longer. After all, if Jake had truly wanted her dead, he’d already had ample opportunity. He could have shot her after she passed out in his hotel suite. The cops would have dismissed it as a man protecting himself against an intruder. Or he could have killed her once he’d broken into her motel room. Again, he could have found a way to cover his tracks. But instead, it seemed as if he wanted to get to the truth as much as she did.
“By the way, Jake ran a fingerprint check on me,” Jessie said so she wouldn’t have to address Byron’s other comment. “He got my real name, but the cover held. That rap sheet was a nice touch. You didn’t tell me you were going to add that.”
“Rap sheets are easier to create than most other records. You said to give you a past, and I did.”
Yes, he had. Now Jake thought she was a first-class loser. That bothered her. Still, it was better than the alternative.
“Please tell me you have a plan to find out what’s going on,” Byron said.
Well, it wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all she had. “Jake and I are going to check out Dr. Radelman’s house tonight.”
“Oh, Jess. That’s not a good idea, not after someone fired those shots at you. You’ve got to rethink that. Anything could happen if you go there.”
The slight sound alerted her. A click, as if someone had picked up on another line. Jessie’s heart stopped. She listened for another click to indicate the person had hung up. It didn’t happen. In fact, she heard breathing. Someone was trying to listen in on her conversation. Jake, maybe? But he’d said he would be out most of the afternoon. It was barely one o’clock.
“I have to go,” she said abruptly to Byron.
“No. Please, rethink this—”
“I’ll call you when I can.”
She slammed down the phone and raced out of the room. Not that she knew where to look. The size of the house would probably make it impossible to find the person who’d been on the other line.
Jessie felt the rapid pounding of her heart as she darted down the hallway. One by one she threw open doors, glanced inside the rooms and moved on to the next. With each step, she fought to control the torrent that shot through
her. Had Byron been right? Was she in the house with a killer? Of course, even if Jake had tried to eavesdrop, it didn’t mean he wanted her dead. There was something about the listener, something about that click that had caused an icy shiver to go down her spine.
From the doorway of the library, she detected some movement in the far corner and, again, reached for a gun that wasn’t there. Jessie bit back a groan of frustration and braced herself to fight.
Or to flee.
Another image slashed through her mind, an image as clear and as provoking as Christy’s had been earlier. Her baby. The tiny baby that she carried inside her. Even if she won a fight, the baby might be hurt. Just the thought of that nearly brought her to her knees. All her police training meant nothing because it couldn’t assure the safety of her child.
Jessie felt a cold film of perspiration on her skin. Felt the muscles in her body tremble from the tight strain. With her breath held, she took another look inside the room. And saw the man in the darkened corner.
Not Jake. Douglas.
He didn’t say a word, but even in the nearly dark room she instinctively knew he had his gaze pinned to her. There was a phone on the table next to him. Had he been the one to eavesdrop?
“Jessie,” he greeted her. Strange, she’d never gotten a chill before when someone said her name, but she did now. The man obviously detested her. With reason. He likely saw her as a potential problem for Jake’s campaign. At least, she hoped that was all there was to it.
Douglas switched on the light and lifted his nearly empty glass. “Care for a drink?”
She shook her head. Her every instinct screamed for her to step back, but she held her ground. “Were you just on the phone?” she asked.
He looked at it as if just noticing it was there. “Nope. Not me. Come in. I was hoping we’d have a chance to talk.”
Jessie didn’t intend to get any closer to him than she already was, and she didn’t believe him. She would bet money on the fact he’d been the one on the line. What she couldn’t figure out was why he’d lied. Douglas didn’t appear to be the sort who worried about covering his tracks.
“Talk about what?” she asked, trying to force herself to breathe normally. It didn’t work.
The fact that her voice cracked seemed to amuse him. He smiled and pointed to a framed photograph that was next to the phone. “See this? That was Anne, Jake’s wife.”
It was a casual shot of a sleek blonde standing next to Willa. Jake’s sister had a hunting rifle propped on her shoulder and Anne held up a plate-shaped trophy. Both women were smiling. One glimpse and she could see that Anne was everything Jessie knew she wasn’t. Beautiful, busty and dripping with class. It was easy to see why Jake had married her.
“Anne died four years ago,” Douglas continued, his hand tightening on the crystal whiskey glass. “Care to guess how many women Jake’s brought here since then?”
No, Jessie didn’t want to guess. She could tell from Douglas’s suddenly ruffled expression what the answer was.
“None,” Douglas provided. “Well, except for you. And that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Why you?”
She moved her shoulder, an indifferent shrug, but inside she had no feelings of indifference. She wanted to get away from this man as quickly as possible. He was dangerous, and she could feel that in every fiber of her body. Jessie turned to leave, but what Douglas said next stopped her in her tracks.
“The gossips had a field day with Jake after Anne died,” he continued, his voice low as if telling a secret. “Large sums of money always get tongues wagging. Some people thought Jake wanted a child simply so he could inherit the millions that his parents left in a trust fund for their grandchildren.”
This was the first Jessie had heard about a trust fund, but she remembered Markham mentioning something about money in a will. She slowly turned back to face Douglas. “Are there any grandchildren?”
“No. Willa and I tried for years, but once she was past forty, we thought it was time to give up.”
Jessie gripped on the door frame, hoping it would steady her trembling hands. “But Jake, uh, could always have children.”
“I doubt it. I don’t think he’d want to risk it again after what happened to Anne. That always seems to be the way, doesn’t it? The people who want them can’t have them. Other people can turn one out every nine months.”
And sometimes people, like her, didn’t have any say in the matter. “So what will happen to this trust fund?”
“In about three weeks, on Jake’s thirty-fifth birthday, it’ll be divided between Willa and him. Not that Jake needs the money, but Willa and I would like to start our own business.” The clever smile returned. “Does Jake’s bank account interest you, Jessie?”
She felt as if he’d struck her. Douglas had obviously misinterpreted the reasons for her questions. Her concern had been for Jake, for a possible motive in all of this, not his money.
Jessie jerked her hands from the door frame and folded her arms over her chest. “No. Why would it?”
He took a step toward her. One calculated, slow, soundless step. His smile slipped away as quickly as it had come. Douglas pulled his mouth into a flat line. His nostrils flared. He reminded Jessie of a wild animal whose territory had just been violated. And she was obviously the violator.
“Consider this a warning, Jessie. The only one you’ll get.” His words were like cold steel slamming against glass. “Find a way to distance yourself from Jake and do it soon.”
The challenge both frightened and infuriated her. She certainly hadn’t asked to be part of Jake’s life. Just the opposite. Besides, she didn’t think Jake would appreciate anyone, including Douglas, speaking for him.
Protectively, she slid her hand over her stomach. “And if I don’t distance myself?”
He tossed back the rest of his whiskey. “It’s my job to eliminate obstacles to the campaign.”
That’s obviously what Douglas thought she was. Something to be eliminated. And if he felt that way, perhaps Willa did, too.
The sheer callousness in his warning robbed Jessie of her breath. She took the step back that she’d fought taking from the moment she had first seen Douglas in the room.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said as she turned and left.
While she was at it, she would keep something else in mind. She wasn’t safe just because she was on the ranch. After all, Markham had gotten through. And now Douglas had issued that not-so-veiled threat. It was a brutal reminder that she needed to find some answers fast. Maybe then, she could finally get her baby and herself to safety.
JAKE SAW JESSIE when she started down the hall away from where Willa and he had come to a standstill. She obviously didn’t see them, and she was also obviously in a hurry. It made him thankful he’d returned early from his “errands.” Maybe he could find out what was going on.
A moment later, Douglas stepped into the doorway. He didn’t look in their direction, either. He kept his attention focused right on Jessie, watching her, until she disappeared into her room. Jake saw an insidious smile lift the corner of Douglas’s mouth. Willa no doubt saw it, as well. Jake heard her whisper-soft gasp.
He caught his sister’s hand, well aware of what was going through her mind. Heck, he didn’t blame her. She’d recounted to him at least a half-dozen of Douglas’s extra-marital affairs. And even with such behavior, which Jake found reprehensible, Willa would be the first to declare her love for her husband. Jake admired his brother-in-law’s business sense, but he’d always secretly hoped that Willa would see the light and order her husband out of her life.
“If Jessie has…” But Willa didn’t finish.
“She wouldn’t do that,” Jake quickly assured her in a voice soft enough that Douglas wouldn’t hear. He wanted to watch his brother-in-law a moment longer.
“And how do you know that, huh? Douglas had her checked out, and he told me she worked at that seedy club in San Antonio.”
The shock hi
t Jake with full force. It felt as if his stomach had turned to stone. “Douglas did that?” He barely kept his voice even. Hard to do with the burst of anger he suddenly felt. How dare Douglas go behind his back to investigate Jessie.
“That other woman, Christy Mendoza, worked there, too,” Willa added.
At the sound of Willa’s raised voice, Douglas’s gaze whipped in their direction. The smile evaporated, and catlike he walked toward them.
Willa jerked her hand from Jake’s grip and made an angry shivering sound while she stormed toward Douglas. “Please tell me you’re not trying to start something with that woman.”
Douglas seemed only mildly concerned with Willa’s fury. “It never crossed my mind,” he said almost sarcastically.
“That’s bull. You were just looking at Jessie the way you looked at that other woman who worked at the same club.”
Jake had already opened his mouth to excuse himself from this argument and to insist that Douglas meet with him in private to discuss his background check on Jessie. That, however, stopped him cold.
“What do you mean, Willa?” Jake kept his eyes on Douglas, though, when he asked his sister that question.
“I mean, he followed that woman around half the night.” She added some profanity under her breath. “God, he practically drooled on himself.”
Still no reaction from Douglas. He stayed eerily calm. And that bothered Jake more than any outburst or angry denial would have done.
“Willa, you’re imagining things again,” Douglas explained almost dispassionately. “Jake knows about my past indiscretions, but that’s all behind me. In fact, he made me swear to it before he accepted my offer to be his campaign manager. Isn’t that right, Jake?”
His Child Page 8
