Plain Target Read online

  Obviously he had been right.

  Didn’t she know she needed to rest? He admitted to himself that he was concerned. Working alone in the barn was not safe for her. And she had said the day before that no one would be coming in until after lunch. It hadn’t struck him until he had dropped her off that someone—meaning her—would have to come out to take care of the horses in the morning. All alone like that, she would be an easy target if the person who’d attacked her stables came back. He shook off the thought. For all he knew, the fire was a random act by a group of kids. Yeah, right.

  The stable door was standing open. He headed that way, pausing just inside it. Jessica stood outside the office door, her arms closed tight against her belly, her eyes squeezed shut. He started, ready to rush in and...what? Comfort her? He wasn’t sure, but he knew he didn’t like seeing her so vulnerable. Never had, even though their association had been so brief. Which made what had happened even more contemptible. When he had betrayed her trust, he had left her open to the cruelty of others. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been a part of the actions they had taken against her. He knew what a soft heart she had. And that she had a crush on him. But instead of protecting her, he’d stepped back and allowed her to be hurt in a disaster which ended with her being pulled from the school.

  He drew himself away from his painful memories. Then he noticed her lips were moving. She was praying. Okay, now he felt really uncomfortable. He wasn’t big on prayer. Not that he minded other people praying. He just hadn’t had much experience with it personally. And to be honest, he rather doubted it did any good.

  A few seconds later she opened her eyes. They widened as she saw him poised in the doorway.

  “Seth! What are you doing here?” Her voice was low and pleasant. Although her inflections were slightly irregular, most people probably wouldn’t even pick up on that.

  “You left this in my truck.” He waved the bright pink wallet at her.

  Jess’s hazel eyes widened. “Oh, no! I hadn’t even noticed it was missing.”

  “No worries. It was safe. And I’m even a little glad ’cuz it gave me an excuse to check up on you. Make sure you were taking it easy.” He gave her a pointed look.

  She bit her lip. Dropping her gaze to the floor, she scuffed the toe of her boot in the dirt. When she flicked her glance back up to his face, he was momentarily distracted by her wide hazel eyes. He hadn’t let himself feel attracted to a woman for a long time. His behavior in high school, and his poor judgment six years ago with his former fiancée, had taught him that he was not husband material. As bitter as it made him feel, he had been forced to acknowledge that he was too much like his father. Selfish and prone to hurt those close to him. Shaking himself out of it, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

  He held his breath while he waited to see if she would answer. He wouldn’t blame her if she brushed him off. She had no reason to trust him. Past events would tell her not to. But he really hoped she would.

  Finally, she sucked in a deep breath. Let it out slowly.

  “You know that the police are toying with the idea that I started the fire?” She waited for him to nod before she continued. “What I couldn’t tell the officer last night was the fire wasn’t the first accident.”

  “What?” He hadn’t meant to shout, but her words terrified him. He wanted to sweep her into his truck and drive her to a safe place. The feeling surprised him. And made him uncomfortable.

  Jess squirmed. Then she lifted her chin and seemed to collect herself. “I didn’t realize at first that they were anything more than accidents. I put it down to carelessness. Until last week. A new ladder broke when I took it out to paint. That’s when I started to wonder if someone was behind the accidents. Then this happened.”

  “How long has this been going on?” He kept his voice calm with an effort.

  “About three weeks.”

  “You should have mentioned it to Sergeant Jackson last night,” Seth admonished her.

  Hazel eyes blazed up at him. “And you think he would believe me? Just when my barn suffers extensive fire damage and I’m a person of interest?”

  She had a point. It would have looked like she was lying to cover her tracks.

  “I think it started because I was asking too many questions.”

  He wasn’t going to like this. “Asking questions about what?”

  Those soft lips started to tremble. She squished them together. “I know that people think my brother was guilty of something, what with him dying the way he did and all. But I can’t believe that of him. He was the most gentle, sincere person I have ever known. I have been trying to find evidence to take to the police to clear his name.”

  He knew something dicey had happened, although he was foggy on all the details.

  “What is it that they think he’d done, exactly?”

  For a long moment, she stood, jaw clenched. Clearly it wasn’t a topic she enjoyed discussing, and he felt a twinge of guilt for even bringing it up. But he needed to know what they were dealing with if he was going to help her.

  “My brother had started a rescue foundation for abused racehorses. Several months ago, one of his volunteers noticed that money was being stolen. The police suspected Cody. The fact that he spent so much time at the race track was suspicious. I guess there was suspicion that he was using funds to support a gambling habit. They questioned him, and there was an investigation. It was never closed. Cody was never even officially charged—they didn’t have enough evidence against him. But when he took his own life, everyone seemed to take that as an admission of guilt. People who had contributed to the foundation felt hurt, betrayed. I can understand that,” she admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I’m all right with people continuing to say such horrible things about him when no one has been able to provide a scrap of evidence proving that he did anything wrong.”

  “So you spoke up in his defense,” Seth concluded, “both when he was first questioned, and then later after his death. And that’s turned people against you?”

  She nodded.

  “Including the police?” he asked.

  “Especially the police. Not only was I unable to convince them he was innocent, they made it clear that I was also on their radar, since I worked for the foundation in a minor role. They wouldn’t listen to me.”

  Frustrated, he shoved a hand through his hair. “You have to let the police know about the other accidents, Jess. This is no joke.”

  She started to shake head. “Don’t you understand? There is no way they will believe me! And the stables are already losing clients. If these things keep happening, then I will have to sell the horses and the stable.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Seth, owning a training stable has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I have already lost my brother. I can’t lose this, too.”

  A constriction formed in his throat. It was necessary to swallow several times to ease the tightness. A sudden thought popped into his head.

  “Wait a minute! Jess, my brother-in-law is a lieutenant in the LaMar Pond Police Department. You can talk to him.” Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? Dan was pretty easygoing. And he was head-over-heels ridiculously in love with Seth’s half sister Maggie, which meant he’d do just about anything Seth asked—including hearing Jess out, and giving her the benefit of the doubt.

  “I didn’t know you had siblings.” There was that suspicious look on her face again. He was going to have to work hard to earn her trust.

  “It’s a long story. But Maggie is my half sister. I met her almost a year ago for the first time, but we’ve gotten close. And her husband, Dan, is a good guy.”

  A humorless laugh left her mouth. “I can’t believe I’m considering listening to you. Seth, we knew each other in high school, but that was eleven years ago. And you betrayed my trust back then. Why should I give it to you no
w?”

  Why, indeed.

  TWO

  Seth’s teeth snapped together with a loud click. He knew his jaw would ache later. Turning away from Jess, he began to pace as he battled to keep the anger and fear simmering beneath the surface from exploding out of him. The temper he had learned to keep under wraps for so long threatened to overwhelm him. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to lose it now.

  When he had himself under control, he faced Jess again. She eyed him warily.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Unbelievable. He rolled his eyes.

  “Am I okay? I’m not the one whose stable was set on fire and I haven’t been the victim of any strange accidents. I’m amazed you’re not a basket case right now.”

  Jess shrugged. Her attempt at nonchalance didn’t fool him. She was scared. He had to admire her determination to tough it out on her own.

  But enough was enough.

  “Jess.” He took a step closer. Close enough to smell her perfume. Her eyes widened. He needed to make sure he was completely understood. “Come with me to my sister’s house. My brother-in-law is off today so we should be able to talk with him in private.”

  He braced himself to argue with her. Turned out, he didn’t need to. She met his eyes, and slowly nodded her head. Reluctant surrender was written all over her face.

  “Will you stay? Just in case I need an interpreter?”

  Why did he think she actually wanted him there for moral support? She didn’t say it, but the plea was in her shadow-filled eyes.

  “I won’t leave your side,” he promised.

  Some of the tension drained from her shoulders, and the corners of her lips tilted in a slight smile. The urge to comfort her with a hug crept up, but he resisted. The last thing she would want would be to be touched by him. He was well aware of the fact that he had a long way to go to make up for the jerk he’d been eleven years ago.

  Leading her out to his truck, he held the door while she pulled herself up into the cab. Good thing he hadn’t parked next to a puddle. As he shut the door behind her and jogged around to his side, he ignored the anticipation dancing through him at the thought of spending more time in her presence. It wasn’t as if they were going on a picnic. It started to rain again once they were underway. The overcast sky and the loud patter of raindrops on the roofs made the space inside the cab seem close. The fragrance of her light perfume added to the impression. Perfume? Since when did he pay attention to perfume unless it was too strong? Weird. Just weird.

  He glanced into the rearview window, frowning at a car riding right on his tail. “Back up, buddy,” he muttered. Seth slowed the car, then made a right turn. The dark green sedan continued to keep pace with him. The tinted glass made it difficult to see who was driving the vehicle. Someone was in a hurry.

  “What?”

  He shot a reassuring grin at Jess. “Sorry. Talking to myself. We have a tailgater.”

  Jess looked back over her shoulder, and froze. Seth stopped grinning as he saw the look of fear on her face. Her hands were fisted on her lap, the knuckles white.

  “Jess? Jessica! What’s wrong?”

  “I have seen that car almost everywhere I have gone in the past couple of weeks. I can never tell who’s driving it.”

  The thought of someone shadowing her, stalking her, set his teeth on edge. “Are you sure it’s the same car?” He used one hand to sign the question so there would be no mistake.

  Jess shook her head. “Sure? No, I have never gotten close enough to see a license plate. And there are hundreds of cars that look like that one. Except for the dark windows.”

  Without considering his actions, Seth spun the wheel and started to pull off onto the berm. The green car slowed down. Then it suddenly shot forward. Its tires hit a large puddle, and water splashed Seth’s windshield. His left hand shot out to activate the wipers, hoping to clear his view in time to get a glimpse of the license plate, but it was too late. The car whipped around the corner. And another car was coming far too fast for Seth to get back on the road and follow him.

  Frustrated, he waited for the other car to pass and then resumed driving toward Maggie and Dan’s house. His mind was full of questions. And doubts. Was it possible Jess was being stalked, or was she letting her anxiety rule her thoughts? After all, even she had admitted the car wasn’t an uncommon model. Except for the windows. He rejected the idea that she was imagining things almost as soon as it entered his mind. She had always been very down to earth, never one to exaggerate or jump to conclusions. “Okay, we need to remember to tell Dan about the car.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her nodding, but her expression remained troubled. It was time to see if they could make some sense of the current situation, while they were alone. And the quiet of the truck meant she would be able to hear him. And if she couldn’t, it was light enough that she could see him sign, or read his lips if necessary.

  “Why don’t we try and get our ducks in a row before talking to Dan. He’s going to want to know about the people you work with at the barn. Because chances are good that one of them might be the person responsible for the fire.”

  A shake of her head denied any such possibility, but shadows crept into her expression. As much as she might want to believe none of her coworkers would hurt her, the doubt had taken root in her mind.

  “So who worked for you yesterday?” Man, he hated doing this to her. But it was necessary for her protection, he argued with himself.

  For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she would answer. Finally she sighed. “Kim and Eric. They’re both fairly young. Kim just started working for us about seven months ago, but Eric has been coming for years, first as a student, and later as a worker and part-time trainer. I would trust him without hesitation.”

  “And Kim?”

  He knew the answer the moment she bit her lower lip. As painful as it was, Kim was a possible suspect.

  “Okay, how about Rebecca—”

  The words weren’t even out of his mouth before she interrupted him.

  “Don’t even go there. I would trust her and Levi with my life. We went to the same deaf and hard-of-hearing program for years. In fact, we rode the same bus. She was two years behind me, but we stayed friends even after I returned to my home district for high school.”

  He nodded. “Okay. And she was Amish?”

  “Yeah. Until she was seventeen. She made the choice to leave instead of being baptized, which means she can still visit her family.”

  “But still, there would have been years when you didn’t see her because you left...” His voice petered out as he realized what he was saying. The last thing he wanted to do was bring up why she had left high school, and his role in all of it, but it was too late now. If he could, he would have swallowed those words back. But he couldn’t. Maybe she would let it go. He glanced at her. Her lips tightened, her shoulders grew stiff. Nope.

  “Yeah, I left to go back to my district’s school so I could be closer to home and take advantage of the clubs and sports programs. Things most high school students take for granted. I just didn’t expect that to include you telling your bully friends that the weird deaf girl you tutored had an annoying crush on you. And I definitely didn’t expect them to decide to teach me a lesson to show me how unworthy I was.”

  “I never meant—”

  “They ganged up on me, drew the word IDIOT on my forehead with a permanent marker and shoved me into a dark janitor’s closet. It was small, no lights and no windows, and I missed my bus. I was stuck in that small, smelly place for five hours until my parents and the principal found me. I was terrified to go back there. And Rebecca had left the deaf program. Amish students only go to school through eighth grade. I convinced my parents to send me to the Western PA School for the Deaf so I wouldn’t have to face any of my attackers
again.”

  So that’s where she had gone.

  He could hear her ragged breathing. Remorse choked him. What a moron he had been.

  “I would do anything to take that back. I only said something to get my girlfriend, Trish, off my back. She was jealous of the time we spent together.”

  She grimaced. “She was cruel. All your friends were. Except that dark haired girl you sat with in bio.”

  Melanie. His best friend. He’d messed that up, too.

  He sighed, wishing he could go back in time and shake some sense into the stupid, arrogant kid he used to be. “I couldn’t believe Trish would do something like that. We had a huge fight over it and finally broke up. I wanted to track you down and apologize...but no one knew where you’d gone.”

  “How hard did you look?” she asked, her voice cold and accusatory.

  “Not very,” he admitted. “I figured you wanted to leave me and everything I’d done in the past. It didn’t seem right to force you to have to sit through my sad excuses if you’d moved on with your life.”

  “And yet here you are.”

  “To help,” he insisted. “I know it doesn’t change the past, but you’re in trouble now and you shouldn’t be forced to deal with it alone. I’d like to help you, the way I should have back then.”

  Silence settled between them, tense and awkward. After a few minutes, he felt her hand touch his arm. Brow rising in surprise, he turned to face her.

  “Can I ask you a question?” Jess’s voice was hesitant. It was an olive branch, and he knew it and gladly seized it.

  “Yeah, sure.” His voice was thick. He cleared his throat. He spared her a glance to be sure she heard him. Her face was turned toward him, eyes intent.

  “I don’t remember ever seeing you sign before. But yesterday you were signing like you’d been doing it for years. How did you learn? Why?”

  He shrugged. “I had a roommate in college who was deaf. Ernie. He taught me some sign. And I went home with him several times. His whole family was deaf, so it was sink or swim. After I decided that I had zero interest in following my dad into law and politics, I took other classes to find what interested me. Including ASL.”