That Perfect Place

by M Carr

  “It’ll be great, Dad. Jill is really cool. She’s a lot more sensible than Mom or Grandma Ida and a better cook than them. Also, I won’t have to worry about you.”

  “What do you mean, worry about me?” Jake’s eyebrows shot up.

  “Well, you’re always overtired, and I wouldn’t want you to burn down the house or something. Somebody has to keep an eye on you.”

  When Brad walked away, Jake called after him, “So I have your permission?”

  His son stopped, turned around, and grinned. “Go for it.”

  “Is it me or did my life take a turn into the twilight zone?” Jake said to himself as he headed for the shower.

  That evening he put on dress slacks, a button-down, and a tie in place of the cowboy boots and jeans he normally wore. He stopped to pick Jill up at her place with the flowers but held the earrings for later.

  Jill had spent the afternoon deep in thought. I’ve made a sensible decision and will stick to it. After all, I’m newly divorced, and he has a lot of responsibilities. We’ll just spend time together until next spring and then see how we feel. Her decision made her feel wise and mature. They weren’t children who dashed heedlessly into a marriage of passion that would wind up in another divorce in a few years.

  And then she saw him coming up the walk, and her breath caught in her throat. Why have I not noticed how absolutely handsome he is? But then she remembered feeling that way about Tom, at one point in time. She would keep her resolve and not make another mistake or force him into one either. Her heartbeat was none too steady as she got into the car.

  They talked about Stephanie and Troy on the way up. Jill was dismayed to hear that Steph would be without her husband for six months.

  Jake said, “I know it was real tough for me in ’99. I had to leave for Africa two weeks before Brad was born. I didn’t see him in the flesh until he was six months old. Of course, a lot of the guys in Iraq were gone as much as two years.”

  “You know, I always forget about that side of your life. Did you like the service?”

  “I liked the humanitarian missions. We did two of them before Afghanistan. It made you feel good to help those poor buggers out, especially the kids. After Afghanistan, I wouldn’t have stayed when my tour was up even if I hadn’t been wounded.”

  “Pretty ugly?”

  “Men are too easy to kill, and I didn’t want it to become a habit.”

  Jill shivered at his honest statement. They didn’t say much the rest of the way.

  He took her to an intimate restaurant in Cedar Falls with booths that afforded privacy. Jake was the perfect gentleman, opening her door, holding her chair, and choosing a wine. He spent dinner admiring her skin in the soft glow of the candlelight and mentally rehearsing the best way to say all he needed to.

  When they were finished with dessert, Jill plucked up her courage to begin. He hadn’t said much all evening and had sighed several times loudly. Jill did not know how to interpret this except to say he was extremely stressed.

  She cleared her throat. “I don’t want you to feel pressure about our relationship. After I told you about Jim and my sister, I sensed you distancing yourself. I made a bad mistake on my first marriage. I don’t want you to be just my rebound fling.” She hesitated over her words but plunged on. “I think we should make a pact to back off and allow ourselves six months to get to know each other better. In fact, if you want to date someone else, I won’t say anything.” She tore her straw paper to bits to avoid looking at him.

  For Jake it seemed as if the world had suddenly stopped in its rotation. “Are you dumping me already?” he said somewhat heatedly.

  “No, Jakob, I’m trying to be fair to both of us.”

  “So what you want is fair then?”

  Her heart twisted in her chest. Am I doing right or pushing him away? “I want to give us time to grow together.”

  “That’s the definition of marriage, Jillian,” he said, running his hand through his, for once, tidy hair. “If I did distance myself, it was to think. I want to be with you, to share everything, but I hadn’t thought until last Friday night about more kids. I’ve had to fight for custody of my son while I was recuperating from losing my foot and parts of various internal organs. I did this while I was going to vet school, not to mention all the extra courses I had to take because I didn’t get pre-vet.

  “Then my dad, who always treated me and my mother like crap, went off the deep end and I wound up saddled with Callie and my mother and that farmhouse and had to rebuild not just the hospital but our reputation as well. I’m mired in debt, I still owe for vet school, the clinic is heavily mortgaged, and I still have bills from Callie. In four short years, Brad’ll need money for college and I have to put him first. So yeah, I did distance myself, maybe just a little bit.”

  There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him in astonishment. Jake had never lost his temper in her presence before.

  “Oh crap,” he said and threw his napkin on the table. “I’m going to wash my hands.” She half expected him not to come back, but he did. He was rather tight-lipped as he paid the check. She didn’t say anything until they were in the car.

  Very quietly she said, “I’m just trying not to make any more mistakes.”

  “Well, good luck with that. You take some time and make sure you get it right this time. The rest of us will just blunder through making our mistakes and living our damn lives.”

  “Christ! Jakob, here I am trying to be understanding and give you the time you need and you’re making me feel like some kind of insensitive jerk.”

  “One of the benefits of being thirty-four is being able to make decisions a bit quicker.”

  “I thought you were thirty-five,” she blurted.

  “Not until the end of September.”

  “Oh God, I’ll be thirty-six in November.”

  “Well there you go. I couldn’t possibly be in love with a woman who was so much older.”

  He dropped her in front of her place with barely a goodnight. The Chevelle peeled off, leaving a thick dust trail, in the wrong direction for home. Jill, for the second time in a few short months, had a good cry over her feelings for Jakob Gundersen.

  It was about 2:30 a.m. when Andy Willis, with the help of another friend, poured a passed-out-drunk Jake into Andy’s car and drove him home. Andy had never seen his buddy like this. Only a very special woman could make a man get that shit-faced drunk.

  ill woke up around nine with a pounding headache from crying. She made herself some coffee and cried some more when she remembered that Jake didn’t know how to poach an egg.

  Jake woke up at noon because Brad was shaking him. The sunlight was blinding, and his head was definitely going to explode.

  “Man, you guys must have had some fight.” Brad laughed.

  Jake threw a pillow at him. “I’m dying, go away.”

  “I am. That’s what I came to tell you. Travis’s mom is taking us to the movies. I’ll be back this evening.”

  “Great, I might be up by then.” Jake covered his eyes. “Take some money if you need it.”

  “I’ve got my own.”

  “Bless you, boy. Now go, leave me to rest in peace.”

  Around one, Jake suddenly remembered that there were two horses in the clinic. He went into panic mode. No one would have known to feed them. He yanked on his prosthetic foot and impatiently pulled on jeans and a T-shirt.

  Dusty was placidly chewing on some hay, and the pony was napping. Brad’s initials were on the stall card saying he had filled hay nets and mucked stalls. Jake dosed them with their requisite medicines, vowing that his son would never have to worry about money for college. He texted Brad and thanked him, hoping that the cast on his leg did not now smell like a barnyard.

  About the same time, Jill received a call from the emergency service asking her to come to Cynthia’s farm to look at a mare that seemed colicky. She was thankful that she had brought the small truck home with her yesterday knowin
g that she had the on-call duty today. She wanted to talk to Jake but would wait until she got back and they had time. She still wasn’t quite sure what had made him so mad.

  She was right to be prudent, wasn’t she? It wasn’t good to rush into things on the strength of a few erotic nights. OK, weeks of ecstasy, if she were being honest. Jill stewed all the way up to C 57. After yesterday, she sure couldn’t confide in Cynthia.

  The place seemed to be empty. She went into the barn first. No one was there nor did anyone answer the doorbell at the house, and the door was locked. She went back down to the barn to see if it was obvious which horse was affected. Perhaps Cynthia’s stable manager had to run a quick errand or was out in a pasture. She checked the office and noticed the tack room door was open. She called out, but no one answered and peeked in but saw no one. Without warning, a strong, unseen hand shoved her in the back, and she fell forward against a saddle rack and hit her head. She yelped in surprise, but before she could turn to see who it was, the door slammed and locked. She pulled on the knob and pounded and yelled, but the door remained shut.

  After a few minutes, she quieted down and listened. There was no sound. Why would anyone do this? Perhaps they thought she was an intruder. The truck had the veterinary symbol and name of the clinic on it. Surely they would realize their mistake and let her out. Jill sat down on a pile of horse blankets and took stock of her predicament.

  Jake had said Cynthia wasn’t vindictive, but maybe she didn’t want her to have Jake after all. Then Jill remembered what a mess she had made of things last night. If Cynthia would just open the door she could explain that Jake was up for grabs right now. She called out again, then listened. Nothing.

  She checked her pockets and realized she had left her cell phone on the truck seat. Damn! She had a stethoscope and a thermometer on her and that was it. There were no windows in the tack room and no outside walls. The only tools to be found were a leather punch, awl, and a tack hammer. She tried picking the lock with the awl, but it wouldn’t fit in the hole in the knob. She banged on the door with a hammer, but it only made a few tiny dents in the oak. The hinges were on the outside. Jill was truly stuck until whoever locked her in decided to let her out. Her head hurt, her heart ached, and she was totally frustrated with the situation.

  Around four, Jim and Tina showed up at the farmhouse. Jake was surprised that Jill wasn’t with them. He had texted her a couple of times, but she hadn’t answered so he figured she was with her sister hammering out whatever was making her back away from him so quickly. He thought he had made it clear that he was ready to commit, but you never knew with women. Sometimes they didn’t understand the same way a man did.

  “Have you talked to Jill today, Tina?” he asked.

  “No, I’ve been calling her since just after lunch and she hasn’t answered. I figured you two were busy…Oh no, did you fight?”

  “She wants six months to cool off and see how we feel, just when I was thinking of more permanent arrangements.”

  “Honestly, Jake, I love Jill, but she cannot make a decision. She always doubts her own instincts and jumps the wrong way. I know she’s nuts about you. You might just have to push her a bit not to be so cautious.”

  “Unlike us—we are definitely not cautious.” Jim grinned and Tina elbowed him.

  Jake rubbed his head. “I need to get my car from the parking lot at the bar. I wasn’t in driving shape last night. If one of you would drop me off, I’ll stop by her place on the way back and talk to her. I need to see what’s made her back away so fast. Maybe your aunt’s death?”

  “That or her buddy Trish. She was at the funeral. That woman is always full of bad advice, and my dumb sister always listens.

  Jim volunteered to drive Jake. Tina said she wanted to talk to Jeanine and went into the farmhouse.

  “Do you think this is because of Tina and me?” Jim asked as soon as Jake got his door shut.

  “I would think that would push her the other way. She seemed kind of torn when she told me—like she was happy for you two but sad for herself. That’s when I started thinking about the future. I don’t have any problems with marrying her, but I had to think about more kids. Kids are definitely game changers. By the way, have you two set a date?”

  “Nine months, I believe, is the usual.”

  “I meant your wedding not the baby.”

  “Oh sure, we’re leaning toward Wednesday. We want to do the justice of the peace thing, but the parents won’t be too happy with that.”

  “It’s your marriage. Do what you want and they’ll get over it. We’ll have a big reception party and that will make them happy.”

  “Ooh, Tina won’t want a fuss. How about a barbeque at the farmhouse? It’s bigger than our place. With her family, mine, and yours we’ll be at least a hundred. We can do the cake thing and get a DJ. That’ll be good with her, I think.”

  “Give Jeanine some dates on the honeymoon so we can cover the schedule.”

  “I think we’ll skip that for now. What with the remodeling costs and a baby coming, we’ll need to save our pennies. We’ll do a big trip when the realities of married life start to get us down.”

  Jim seemed calm but very happy about having both a wife and a baby. Jake wished his life could be that simple.

  The Chevelle pulled into Jill’s driveway. Her car was there, but no one answered the door. He tried the phone again. No answer. Maybe she was so upset that she’d run home to Mom? Then he remembered she had the call so was probably out on an emergency. He called his sister on his way home.

  “She left around one for a colic at Cynthia’s. I haven’t heard from her since, but I imagine she’ll be back by dinner or calling you for help if it’s a bad one.”

  Jake went to the farmhouse but was restless. The uneasy feeling he used to get in Afghanistan when the enemy was near was rearing its head. He couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. He called first Jill, then Cynthia. No answer from either one. After a half hour, he decided to go up to the ranch and see if things were all right. Jim went with him in case someone was injured.

  Jill heard footsteps coming. She stood up but was not prepared for who and what she saw when the door opened. She could barely understand what was said to her she was so shocked. She was grabbed roughly, and her hands were duct-taped behind her back. A needle jabbed her in the arm, and by the time they got to the car she was barely conscious. She was aware of the car’s movement but wasn’t alert enough to follow the direction they were going.

  The Ranger was sitting in the shade of the barn when Jim and Jake pulled in. The engine was cool, and Jill’s cell phone was on the seat. Jim checked it and found Tina and Jake’s numerous messages and the emergency service call reporting the colic. The Porta-Vet was still closed and locked. Both men were suspicious now. They searched the barn and found a stethoscope with her initials on it in the open tack closet. There was a roll of duct tape sitting on the floor near the door. Jim called the sheriff’s office and reported a possible crime.

  Buck was on duty and told the vets not to touch anything until he got fingerprints. Jake went to check the house, and Jim looked around the barn and grounds but they found no other clues. They both noticed the neighbors across the street were working in their front yard. The two men crossed the road to ask if anyone had been seen coming or going.

  It was an elderly couple, and the woman said that she had seen a fancy car pull in when they were coming home from church.

  “It was a Mercedes convertible, red,” the husband said. “Probably Cynthia’s ex. He’s always after her for something.”

  “Oh Fred, don’t spread gossip,” the woman said.

  “Did you see if he was still here when the vet pulled in? It would have been around one thirty?”

  “Didn’t notice anyone else pull in,” Fred answered. “But I saw him leave ’bout twenty minutes before you got here, and someone was in the car with him. I could just see some dark hair blowing out the window.”

&n
bsp; “Which way did he turn?”

  “West. He headed west.”

  “Thanks.”

  Jake waited until they were back at the truck before he exploded. “Bob Mattson!” he exploded. “What would she be doing with him?”

  Jim checked her phone log. They had already smeared any fingerprints, so it didn’t matter. There were no outgoing calls for the entire day except for the one to Jeanine logging in the emergency call. “She didn’t call him, and he didn’t call her on this phone. Does her place have a landline?”

  “Not that I know of. Maybe we shouldn’t have called the sheriff. Maybe she decided she wanted to be with him and they are off somewhere together.” Jake dialed Halloran’s number. “I know somebody that may have Bob under surveillance.”

  Jake explained the situation and listened for a minute. “He’s checking with his team,” he told Jim. He listened for a few more minutes then hung up.

  “Bob definitely left here with Jill in the car, but she was slumped down in the seat like she didn’t want to be seen. He told us to wait here for his contact.”

  Buck turned into the drive about twenty minutes later followed by a familiar black Chevy Cobalt.

  “Mirza,” Jim said in astonishment. “I told you I saw him driving around. He must be working for Halloran.”

  “Jaleel, what can you tell us?” Jake asked as soon as the Mirza was in hearing distance.

  “I am thinking, Jakob, that the lady was drugged. I followed them for six miles until I lost them when they passed some farm vehicles. She was slumped against the door the whole time and not moving.”

  “And it was definitely Bob Mattson driving?”

  “It was the man she played at golf with.”

  Buck broke in: “Jake, why are we worried if she was in the car with Mattson, drugged or not?”

  “Because last Saturday Doug McCaffrey admitted that he was involved in cattle theft, and Mattson was the ringleader. The anthrax cows were on Bob’s property, so he’s involved somehow.”