Wonders Never Cease (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Salonen, Debra

  Her mother sat down on the love seat across from her. “I don’t have any of the details, but I know Ben’s head over heels in love with you.”

  Jill felt herself blush. “Mom.”

  Mattie gave Jill one of her patented Mattie-looks. “Jill,” she returned in the same singsong tone. “The man was at your side every possible minute. He gave you his blood. He’s been dauntlessly helping Nils try to figure out who attacked you and why.” She paused. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything about what happened that night?”

  Jill frowned. She’d heard the story a dozen times. But only a few images—tall, black trees speeding past, a dog barking in the distance, sirens in the cold—stood out in her mind. But nothing made sense.

  She’d even lost track of the events of the week preceding the attack. She couldn’t recall playing tackling dummy for Czar or going to the Land Barons affair at the Ahwahnee or seeing Peter and Clarice. She smiled inwardly—amnesia wasn’t all bad.

  “Things are slowly coming back,” she said. “Too slowly.”

  Mattie reached out and squeezed Jill’s knee. “At least your fine motor skills are returning.”

  Jill sighed. Her right hand seemed unimpaired, but her left was still struggling. Her fingers felt numb part of the time, and her leg sometimes buckled without warning. She was scheduled to start physical therapy tomorrow.

  With any luck she and Czar would both be back to normal soon.

  Jill couldn’t recall exactly what had happened immediately after she’d opened her eyes, but she’d been told that both Ben and Czar were present. Apparently, she’d cried out and squeezed Ben’s hand, not even letting go when the nursing team rushed in. At some point, someone had spotted Czar lying on the floor beneath her bed. He’d suffered some kind of stroke. Once Jill was stablized, Ben had rushed Czar to the veterinarian.

  Czar.

  Jill couldn’t explain the deep connection she felt toward the police dog. She couldn’t wait to see him. After spending three days under the watchful eye of the veterinarian, Czar was now recuperating at Ben’s. Jill had lobbied to have Czar stay with her, but Ben was afraid there was too much activity here.

  Maybe Ben will bring Czar here after my folks leave.

  She found it odd that, although she could remember practically nothing of her experience, she could picture, with minute clarity, Czar’s soulful eyes.

  “I wish I could remember what happened that night,” Jill said, her frustration building. “I feel as though I’m letting everyone down. Especially Ben.”

  Mattie gave her understanding look. “Nobody cares what you can and cannot remember, Jill. We’re just relieved that you’re alive and well. Seeing you smile is something we feared might never happen.”

  In the past week, her mother had let her beauty-shop hairdo go. She’d forgone makeup completely. In some ways, she seemed like an entirely different person than the Mattie Jill remembered growing up.

  “You know, Jill, this experience has changed me,” her mother said as if reading Jill’s mind. “I’ve learned a valuable lesson. I know what’s important now. Love and family. And I’m never going to take either one for granted again.”

  Jill smiled. “I always knew you and Dad loved each other. I just never understood why you didn’t live together.”

  Mattie fiddled with the plastic bag in her hands. It was filled with little bottles and jars. “That was all me, Jillian. Nils was totally baffled, and more than a little hurt. He squirreled himself away in that workshop of his and hardly talked to a soul for years.”

  She sighed. “I married so young, and women of my day devoted themselves to being a good wife and mother. That was my job. And I was damn good at it.” She shrugged sheepishly. “The wife part, anyway.” Before Jill could say anything, Mattie rushed on. “But once you were out of school and on your own, I needed to prove to the world that I was something more than a woman who packed well.”

  “Mom, you worked your tail off all those years. I doubt any CEO could have accomplished what you did.”

  Mattie sighed. “I alienated the people most important to me.” She gave Jill a penetrating look. “Which explains why my daughter didn’t tell me about her divorce until six months after the fact.”

  Jill’s heart stuttered. “I was afraid you’d be disappointed in me.”

  “Honey, I was relieved for you. I never understood what you saw in Peter. I tried to support your decision, but Nils and I were terribly worried about you. You seemed so unhappy. So lost.”

  Jill looked up. A week ago she might have said, “How would you know? I hardly ever saw you.” But today she let it go.

  Mattie’s eyes studied Jill’s face. “Jill, I know I was hard on you when you were growing up. I didn’t want you to turn out like me.”

  Jill moved to hug her mother. “What’s wrong with the way you turned out? You created a home for us in every desolate, out-of-the-way place between Canada and Mexico. You’re the strongest woman I know.”

  Mattie’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re so forgiving. You’re not even mad at Peter and Clarice anymore, are you?”

  Jill couldn’t explain why, but she felt no antipathy toward either her ex-husband or her ex-friend. “You know, Mom, they have each other, and all I’ve got to show for six years of marriage is a Land Barons 401-K. Who do you think got the better deal?” She winked.

  Mattie rocked back in laughter. “Now, that’s my girl.”

  BEN TOOK a deep breath before pushing the enter key. His computer skills were negligible, but that hadn’t stopped Nils Jensen from setting him to work inventorying the files in Jill’s PC.

  “How’s it going?” Jill’s father asked before he’d even set foot into the small, bright room that Jill had set up as an office. Since the room was just a few paces away from Jill’s bedroom, Ben had taken every opportunity offered to spend time there.

  Ben looked up. “Pathetic. A clubfooted snail would be faster.”

  Nils chuckled. Over the past few days, the two men had established a bond. It wasn’t something they discussed, but Ben felt a comfort level with Nils he’d never known with his father. Of course, it helped that Nils was a patient teacher and a good listener.

  “My gut says nothing is in here. I’m ready to agree with your theory. Somebody did a very good job of cleaning house. But why go to the bother? Why not just chop the computer into little pieces or introduce a virus into the hard drive or something?”

  “If I’m right, whoever did this wanted to find out what Jill knew.”

  Ben nodded. “Someone other than Bobby Goetz.”

  “Exactly. When are you interviewing him, by the way?”

  Ben frowned. Jill had asked to see Bobby as soon as she learned that he’d been arrested for attacking her. She said she wouldn’t believe his guilt until she talked to him face-to-face. Amos seemed in favor of the meeting since none of his other leads had panned out.

  “As soon as we can clear it with the D.A. and public defender.”

  Ben turned back to the monitor. Something wasn’t right about this case. Everyone had hoped that Jill would be able to identify her attacker once she came out of the coma, but she remembered nothing—not even the steamy interlude they’d shared in the hot tub.

  Ben hadn’t known quite how to take that. He’d spent the past week falling in love with a woman who couldn’t recall kissing him. The irony would have driven him crazy if he hadn’t had so many other worries—including Czar’s mysterious setback.

  “You know, Nils, even if we prove someone tampered with Jill’s computer, we can’t connect it to the attack. Jill can’t tell us what’s missing or when she might have entered whatever isn’t here.”

  Ben’s frustration over this case was making him cranky. He was frustrated in other ways, too. Being in Jill’s presence while keeping a polite distance was killing him. Even though Jill had no memory of their time together, Ben knew they were connected. And he wished he understood the mysterious bon
d between Jill and his dog, but he didn’t. Is it because they both nearly died?

  Nils was talking, but Ben had missed most of it. “I’m sorry. What did you say, Nils?”

  “I think you need to concentrate on finding Dorry. She may have some valuable information.”

  Ben sighed. So far he’d gotten nothing but the runaround from Dorry’s mother. Something wasn’t right in the Fishbank household.

  “And someone at the paper may know something that could help us. That Jamal fellow, for example. Shouldn’t he be back from vacation soon?”

  Ben nodded. He’d interviewed the young photographer on the phone. Jamal had mentioned that Jill had complained about having problems with her files.

  “I’m not anxious to tip my hand at the paper. After all, it had to be one of her fellow employees who put us on to the stalker.”

  Nils nodded. “And if he was trying to cast blame elsewhere, then he…or, she…might actually be guilty.”

  Ben remembered something Jill had once said. “Nils, is it possible for people on the same system to get into someone’s personal files?”

  “Absolutely. Integrated systems like the Sentinel’s allow an editor or several editors or proofreaders access to the same piece of material.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the door. “Jill gave me a tour of the facility the last time I visited. Typically, three or four people have access to her story after she files it.”

  “Would there be any reason for an editor to go back into a reporter’s personal queue and change or eliminate the original copy?”

  “None that I can think of. In fact, that sounds rather unprincipled, but I suppose it could happen.” He tilted his head. “Did Jill suggest this happened to her?”

  Ben tried to recall what Jill had told him about the feature she’d written about him and Czar—the one allegedly sabotaged. “Yes. I think so.”

  Nils thought for a moment. “It’s also possible she logged on as someone else. Then any work she did would take place in that person’s queue. Which might explain why she couldn’t find it.”

  “How could that happen?”

  “If someone else used your terminal and forgot to log off, you might compose your story in his or her queue by mistake. I’m sure you’d realize your error sooner than later because your pathways and shortcuts would all be different. Why? Is it important?”

  “Probably not, but Jill wrote a story on Czar and me. She wasn’t happy with the published version and said her original was missing. I thought she was just trying to get off the hook, but now I’m wondering if someone tampered with her work.”

  Nils’s eyebrows shot up. “If Jill said she made a copy, she made a copy. She’s very good about backing up her work on disks, which is one of the reasons this search is so frustrating. There should be a nice neat box of backup disks sitting right there.” He strode to the desk and rapped his knuckles on the oak surface.

  “Have you asked her about them?”

  Nils sighed. “She can’t remember. Poor dear. She’s trying, but I don’t want to push too hard.”

  Both men were silent a minute. “Did you come up here to tell me something?” Ben asked.

  “Yes. Mattie and I are leaving. In twenty minutes. We have a flight out of Fresno that will take us to LAX where we catch a plane for Hawaii. We’ll join our group as the ship takes off for Tahiti.”

  Ben rocked forward. “You’re leaving? Today? But we haven’t solved this case.”

  Nils put a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “I have faith in you, my boy. You and Jill will work everything out.”

  His cryptic tone seemed to say more than Ben was ready to discuss. “But what about the computer stuff? You’re the expert.”

  Nils walked to a metal filing cabinet and picked up a small plastic box. “I’ve put everything on a Zip disk. A computer friend is meeting me at the airport between flights. With his help, we’ll be able to figure everything out.”

  Ben slouched down in the chair. “I still don’t understand what you expect to find if the stuff’s gone.”

  Nils smiled. “Remember my field of expertise, Ben. By the time I’m called to the scene of a mine explosion, the damage has already been done. Trying to rebuild a decimated computer filing system is like picking through the rubble of a ruined mine, the clues are everywhere, not only in what you see, but in what you don’t see—the gaping holes left behind.”

  Ben shook his head. “Like what?”

  “That, my boy, is what I hope to uncover. I’m only guessing at this point, but I’d bet that all the Sentinel-related files are missing.”

  Ben rocked back, thinking. If someone had taken the time to methodically go through Jill’s files, he probably hadn’t expected Jill back any time soon. Perhaps he’d been counting on her winding up dead or in the hospital as a result of a car accident.

  Nils cleared his throat, and drew a thick, white business envelope from his breast pocket. “This arrived in the mail this morning. Jill gave it to me because she said she didn’t understand it.”

  Ben’s heart contracted when he saw the Land Barons logo. He scanned the letter while Nils talked.

  “Jill and Peter mutually had invested in his company’s 401-K retirement plan. The returns were quite phenomenal, and at the time of their divorce, Jill had the option of keeping her share in Land Barons or rolling it over to the Sentinel’s plan.”

  He paused, as if remembering something. “Jill felt she should stay with a proven winner, and I agreed as long as she was adequately protected.” He drew in a breath. “On a hunch, I called the company’s accounting offices last week—and this letter confirms what I was told. Apparently, Peter borrowed against their joint account before the divorce was settled. He lied about it to the judge who wrote their settlement agreement. He’s virtually wiped out the entire fund, including Jill’s contributions.”

  Ben gripped the armrest. “Is that legal?”

  “You can access 401-K contributions through a loan. If you don’t pay it back, you owe the government taxes, and I believe there’s a penalty for early withdrawal. While it’s legal to borrow against the fund when you’re married, it’s unethical—and perhaps, illegal, as well—to tap into your ex-spouse’s contributions. I’m sending this to my attorney.”

  “Peter must be in serious financial trouble,” Mattie said, appearing suddenly at her husband’s side. Nils put his arm around her shoulders. She added in a low voice, “To someone like Peter, money is the equivalent of blood. If he were feeling a little anemic, he might be desperate enough to do something rash.”

  All three were silent for a moment, then Nils said, “Peter has an alibi. Ben and Jill saw him at the Ahwahnee. But what if he hired someone to break into her files while he did something to Jill’s brakes?”

  Mattie shook her head. “I can’t picture Peter on his hands and knees in a tuxedo fiddling with an automobile’s brakes. He might pay someone to do it, but he would never dirty his hands.”

  Ben knew she was right. Still, given this revelation about his finances, Peter moved up a notch on Ben’s list of suspects.

  JILL LEANED her forehead against the door and closed her eyes. By focusing, she could hear her parents’ rental car as it backed out of her driveway and sped off down the street. Gone. They were gone. She felt a mixture of relief and fear.

  “I supposed I should take off, too,” a voice said behind her. “You need to nap.”

  Nap? “Nap?” Jill spun around, hands on her hips. “That’s what my mother just said, too. Look, Ben, I’m thirty-one, not three. I have a life, and I’m tired of sitting on the sidelines of it.”

  His lips flattened as if trying to keep from smiling. Other frustrations—some she couldn’t even name—fueled her temper. “I’m not kidding, Ben. You and my parents have been talking around me like I’m a…a dog, and I don’t know what’s going on. This is going to stop. Now.”

  Ben took a slow breath. “Okay.”

  Her ire dissipated. “Okay?”

 
; He nodded. “I promise not to talk to you like you were a dog.”

  She heard the humor in his tone. She stepped toward him, fist raised. “I mean it, Ben.”

  His eyes lit up, but his expression remained serious. “I know.”

  The impasse lasted three seconds then he leaned down, took her wrist in his hand and kissed her knuckles. “I also know you’re not ready for hand-to-hand combat.”

  A shiver of something delightful, something sexual passed through her. Was there a message in his words beyond the obvious? “How do you know? You’re not my doctor.”

  He glanced up; their gazes met. “I asked your doctor.”

  Jill gasped. She felt her face heat up. “You didn’t.”

  “Actually, your mother did. I just happened to be eavesdropping.”

  Jill’s mouth dropped open. She knew they weren’t talking about fisticuffs any longer. While one part of her was mortified that anyone would discuss such personal things behind her back, another part wanted to know the answer. She needed to know.

  She swallowed. “What did he say?”

  Ben let go of her hand and moved back a step. Suddenly the foyer seemed overly bright and pretentious. It was her least favorite room in the house. She was tempted to grab his hand and lead him to her bedroom. A much better place for such talk.

  “Doctor double-talk.”

  Jill’s gaze narrowed. “You mean like police double-talk? Tell me what he said. This is my body, Ben. I should know these things.”

  Jill couldn’t swear to it, but she thought the color in his cheeks intensified.

  “Whitehurst said he wouldn’t recommend any physical exertion for a few weeks but, technically, you’re in great shape.”

  Yep, a blush.

  She looked at the man across from her. She was drawn to him in a way she didn’t quite understand. Something told her they were connected at a level so basic it defied description, but her amnesia had erased any memory of falling in love or playing all those getting-to-know-another-person games. She was forced to trust her instincts.