Special Delivery (Mountain Meadow Homecoming 1)

by Laura Browning

  As they’d planned, Jenny and Evan spent the evening sniping at each other. Jenny harped on what a cold fish he was, and Evan made comments about her background and her overzealous fixation on her job. The more they argued, the more pleased Stoner appeared, and the more often he tried to guide Evan to the horse-faced woman Jenny had met earlier. After a couple of hours, Evan pulled her into a corner of the main room.

  “How’s it going?” he murmured, still glowering in a way that would sizzle most people into ashes.

  “About time for me to blow up and leave, I think,” Jenny replied, her eyes narrowing as if she wanted to take a swipe at him when what she really wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and deep kiss him so no one could doubt he was hers.

  “Wish me luck,” he whispered as he once more made a grab at her arm. Jenny grinned evilly at him and winked right before she threw her wine in his face. There was an element of being able to just let loose that she hadn’t anticipated.

  “Go to hell, Evan!” she snapped loudly enough for most of the room to hear. “This was a mistake. I knew it from the beginning, so just find your own way home. I’m leaving.”

  He wiped the wine from his face with a pristine white handkerchief and glared at her. “Go ahead. Walk out. It’s what you do best.”

  He had been the one to do that so many years ago, but this? This was Evan rectifying that mistake in such a fashion she would never doubt his love again. He was most likely sacrificing his family ties for her.

  Jenny spun on her heel and stormed past the shocked guests and her hosts. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stoner stop Catherine as she started toward her. A maid hastily handed Jenny her coat, and as soon as the valet saw her, he scrambled to bring the BMW around. Jenny slipped behind the wheel, spinning gravel behind her as she headed down the drive. Along with the relief of finishing her part in this farce, was the worry of leaving Evan behind.

  * * * *

  Inside the Richardson house, Catherine handed her son a napkin and relieved him of his soiled handkerchief. “Oh, Evan, I’m so sorry.”

  He smiled tensely and wiped his face. “You’re hardly to blame for Jenny’s tantrum.”

  Stoner stepped up and put his hand beneath his son’s elbow. “Why don’t you join me in my study, son? It will give you a chance to calm down and clean up, and we can talk for a few minutes.”

  Evan smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Dad. Good idea.” As they walked toward the study, the buzz of the party conversation resumed. Apparently even public marital blowups barely rated a blip for the area’s social elite.

  Evan was thinking how well things were going when his father shut the door. “I’m surprised at you, Evan.”

  He dismissed a flash of uneasiness and arched one brow. “How so, sir?”

  Stoner’s gray eyes, so like Evan’s, were icy. “Surprised you would consider bringing trash into our home to begin with, but then now you’ve seen what comes of carrying on with someone so below you.”

  Evan’s expression grew even chillier. “It’s just a difference of opinion, Dad, a spat…nothing more. I think you should know I plan on marrying her.”

  Stoner stiffened. “Really? I thought when you ran for commonwealth’s attorney you had finally decided to pursue your political aspirations.”

  “What does my relationship with Jenny have to do with that?” Evan snapped.

  Stoner laughed contemptuously. “Come now, Evan. You’re smarter than that. You know any hint of scandal in your past or your wife’s could derail your future like that.” He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

  And what was the scandal that derailed yours, Dad?

  Evan carefully controlled his expression as he stared at his father. This part at least he didn’t have to fake. “What exactly are you referring to?”

  Stoner laughed. “You think I don’t know why you dumped her all those years ago. The girl was a slut. I doubt that’s changed.”

  Evan glared at his father, again an emotion he didn’t have to fake. “I caught her with one guy years ago.”

  Stoner arched his brows. “Really? You think it was just one? Is that what she led you to believe?”

  “Careful,” Evan snarled. Damn, he needed to get himself under control before he blew this whole thing.

  Stoner simply stared at his son, as coolly as he might inspect an antique or painting he was appraising, then unlocked the top drawer in his desk and pulled out a disk. He tossed it to Evan. “Here’s a little home movie for the two of you to take a look at. Once you’ve seen it you might rethink things.”

  Evan shoved it casually into his pocket, carefully hiding his satisfaction. He’d gotten exactly what he came for. “Whatever. I’ll take a look at it later. It appears I’m going to need a place to bed down for the night.”

  Stoner’s mouth twisted. “You can stay in your old room. I don’t think your mother’s put any guests in there.”

  Evan nodded. “Excuse me, then. You’ll understand if I’m not exactly in the party mood.”

  Chapter 13

  As Jenny and Evan planned, she returned to her own house. Neither of them trusted Stoner, so on the chance he had someone follow her, they’d decided the farce must appear real. Unlocking the door and entering the home she’d built after returning to Mountain Meadow, it suddenly struck her it no longer felt like home. Evan’s Victorian on Maple Street was home. Wow, just a few days and her life had already changed so much. She smiled. The changes were all for the better.

  After dropping her handbag on the table in the front hall, Jenny kicked off her heels, carrying them as she sprinted upstairs and changed into sweats. She was too keyed up to sleep. A run on the treadmill should help. A couple of miles, followed by a movie might be enough to put her to sleep.

  While she ran, Jenny glanced once or twice at the dark landscape beyond the window. Nothing was out there. She tried to laugh it off, but she was uncomfortable and ill at ease. Logic told her to attribute it to the events of the evening and being on her own. How quickly she had become accustomed to Evan’s presence, with Jake and Holly just next door. Still the feeling persisted something was not quite right. And Jenny’d learned a long time ago her gut feelings could usually be trusted. She used those instincts on a regular basis in her medical practice.

  So she remained alert. That’s why she saw her attacker reflected in the television screen and managed to roll to the side just as the blow came down that would have struck her in the back of the head. Instead it barely caught the point of her shoulder. Jenny screamed from pure reaction, though she knew no one would hear, and no one was there to help. Her attacker was on her almost before she could scramble to her feet, grabbing her by the arm. Jenny fought the panic. She couldn’t freeze or she was doomed.

  Her fate lay in the flatness of his eyes. He wouldn’t be content with just scaring her. Her gut told her Stoner was behind this, and she would get more than just a warning. This man would take her out of the picture any way he could.

  Powerful hands wrapped around her throat, and Jenny struggled for air against his crushing hold. While she tried to pry his fingers from her neck, she kicked, aiming for his knee. Instead, her blow hit him in the shin, and he growled angrily. She struggled to remember moves from her self-defense class.

  “Bitch!” he snarled and punched her in the side of the face with his fist. His other hand still held her windpipe, and Jenny swayed as air and blood flow were cut. He would kill her! In desperation, she jammed the heel of her hand against the bottom of his nose as hard as she could. As he jumped back in pain, Jenny scrabbled for whatever she could get her hands on. Her fingers closed on the geode she’d brought back from a hiking vacation. Swinging as hard as she could, she smashed the rock against her attacker’s temple. His hold instantly relaxed and he dropped to the ground.

  Jenny stood there for a moment, dazed but finally able to suck in the air she needed. Stars twinkled and fizzled in front of her eyes, but she shook off
the faintness. As she stared at the man’s fallen form, anger replaced her earlier fear. Her jaw tightened and her fists clenched.

  “Son of a bitch!” she snarled. She had to find some way to keep the guy immobilized until she could get Evan, Jake, or someone there. Jenny stumbled for the kitchen, yanked out her utility drawer, and grabbed duct tape. She had no idea how long he would stay unconscious, but she wanted to make darn sure he didn’t get away. She was tired of being Stoner Richardson’s victim, and she was tired of him screwing up her life. Not this time!

  Jenny started with her assailant’s hands, binding them as tightly as she could, then moved to his feet and finally his knees. Only when she had him immobilized, did she return to his ski mask. Who was he? Someone she knew? Her hand hovered over the blue knit mask. A quivering remnant of the scared girl she once was hesitated, but she sucked in a deep breath. Not anymore. Jenny yanked off the ski mask and gasped. She stumbled backward as memories at last flooded her brain in a kaleidoscope of pain.

  * * * *

  Evan closed the door and studied his old room. It looked almost the same as it had when he was still coming home for college breaks. High school trophies and some college awards rested on shelves or hung on walls. A shrine, Evan thought, as if his mother were trying to remember when their family had still been together. But that had always been just an image. His sister was the smart one. Erin’s latest address was in the Virgin Islands, and she used that as an excuse not to visit.

  He stuck his hand in his pocket and extracted the DVD. Evan slid it into the player on the console at the far end of the room and pressed Play. His stomach twisted, and he watched it only long enough to verify it contained what Jenny had told him was there. Then he popped the disc, handling it like something poisonous. Pain and fury tightened his throat. How could her father…and his…have subjected her to that? She’d been a girl, and they’d set her up to be brutalized.

  Evan forced himself not to march down the stairs, find his father, and smash his fist into his face. What mattered now was getting the arrests and getting the evidence. Jenny was safe at home by now. Evan took several deep breaths, flipped open his cell phone, and called Sam.

  “It’s Evan. I’ve got the disc, and I have the warrants. I’m ready to go any time.”

  “First thing in the morning, Evan,” Sam responded. “I assume you’d like to do it before too many people are moving about. However we do it, the shit’s gonna hit the fan.”

  Evan raked a hand through his dark hair. “I know. If it weren’t for my mother, I’d tell you to move right now.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line. “You looked at it?”

  Evan swallowed. When he spoke his voice was tight, “The son of a bitch had them videotape themselves gang-raping her.”

  “Calm down, Evan. You gonna be all right overnight?”

  Evan sucked in a breath. “Yeah. I’ll stay in my room. It’s probably best I don’t see him until we make the arrest. Is Jake ready to go after the ones in Mountain Meadow?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can see you arrive from my window. I’ll be waiting.”

  Evan hung up and stripped off his coat, tie, and vest. All he had to do was make it through the night without trying to kill his father.

  * * * *

  Jenny almost called Evan but stopped. If she told him about this now, he would blow the entire case against his father and the others for what had happened to her twelve years ago. Her face and her throat hurt so much that she struggled to think clearly, but she had to handle this without Evan’s help so the plans he already had in progress wouldn’t be ruined. She dialed Jake instead, her voice not much more than a whisper.

  “Jenny?” He sounded groggy. She was sure she’d awakened him. “What’s wrong?”

  She outlined what happened and her concern about letting Evan know. “Jake? What do I do?”

  There was a long pause on the other end, and she heard the rustling of covers as he shifted. “I’ll call Sam. It’s his jurisdiction, so he’ll have to make the arrest. Given who it is, I need to stay out of it, but I can come over if you need some moral support.”

  Jake had always been there for her as a friend, but she wouldn’t take him away from Holly. The two of them needed time to themselves.

  “No. I can wait. I’ve got him trussed like the pig he is so he’s not going anywhere. He’s still unconscious right now anyway. If you don’t mind, though Jake, can I come over once he’s taken away? I can’t stay here by myself.”

  “We’ll be waiting, Jenny honey. You always have a place with Holly and me. You know that.”

  Jenny stared at Mike Saunders after she disconnected. He was a former classmate of Jake, Evan, and Jenny, former member of the basketball team, president of the senior class—and Mountain Meadow’s mayor. Though it repulsed her to touch him, she checked his vital signs to make sure he was okay. Swelling marred his temple where she’d hit him, but she hadn’t broken the skin. Concussion was almost a certainty. Only because she was a doctor did she force herself to make sure he didn’t die.

  She dropped into a chair in the corner of the room, gripping her baseball bat firmly in one hand. If he managed to get loose, the next time she hit him he wouldn’t get up.

  Seeing Mike Saunders’s face when she knew her life was in danger, finally accomplished what seeing him every day around town never had. It unlocked memories of that awful night. Jenny swallowed and the pain in her throat reminded her of what had nearly happened again this night.

  Mike had never appeared in the videotape...because he’d been the one standing behind the camera, the one egging everyone else on. In some ways, it made him worse than the rest of them put together. The other six had been teenagers overcome by rampaging hormones and a power trip, but Mike maintained enough presence of mind, even as a teenager, to not only videotape the entire episode, but make sure he wasn’t seen.

  Saunders groaned and tried to roll over. His eyes snapped open. Jenny stood where he could see her. “Why, Mike?” she asked quietly. “That’s all I really want to know. Why?”

  His gaze held contempt. “Are we talking about tonight or twelve years ago?”

  “Both.”

  His lip curled and he sneered, “Money and power, Doc. Money and power, and that’s all I’ll say until I talk to my attorney.”

  Jenny’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have an attorney good enough to save you.”

  As soon as she was convinced he couldn’t get loose, Jenny stepped out onto her deck to inhale the cold night air and stare at the tree on the hill. She felt whole. She’d struck two blows for Hope tonight, and, though remembering what had happened brought additional pain, it destroyed the fear and the emptiness that had haunted her.

  Sam’s cruiser approached the house with the lights on, but no siren. She was grateful. Even though she had no close neighbors, sirens attracted bystanders. They didn’t need anyone witnessing this… for her sake and for the sake of Mike’s family. Jenny met Sam out front. He touched her arm.

  “You okay, Doc?” he rumbled in his deep drawl.

  “Mostly,” she rasped. “He hit me in the head and tried to choke me, but I’ll be okay.”

  “You want someone to look at your throat?”

  “I’ll see to it myself. Sam, did Jake tell you who it is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you should know something else as well. When I took his mask off, I started remembering what happened twelve years ago. Mike Saunders is the one who videotaped the other six.”

  Sam’s relaxed posture disappeared. “You’re saying he was in on the gang rape?”

  Jenny brushed shaky fingers across her face. “He was first. The tape didn’t start until after he’d finished.”

  “That’s a lot to absorb, Doc. You want me to call Evan so he can be here with you?”

  “No. I’m afraid he’ll go ballistic.” Jenny frowned into the darkness. “He’s only hel
d on by a thread as it is. I don’t want to push him. Right now, Evan’s been doing a wonderful job of doing what needs to be done and keeping his head about it. I’ll tell him tomorrow, after you make the other arrests.”

  Jenny desperately wanted him there with her, holding her, just holding her, but this was the right thing to do. Her whole body shook. Sam Barnes pulled her against his thick jacket and his broad chest and simply held her for a moment.

  “He’s a lucky man to have you,” Sam reassured her.

  * * * *

  Jake couldn’t settle back down. After a while, he gave up and eased out of bed, careful not to wake Holly. She lay curled on her side, one palm lying curled near her cheek. Her hair spilled around her head in a tangle of curls. Jake’s body stirred. He couldn’t get enough of her. He resisted the urge to touch her. She needed the rest. She was a bundle of energy when she was awake, but he saw the weariness at night. She slept like the dead, and very often Jake awoke and brought Noelle to her.

  After pulling on sweats, Jake padded downstairs to wait for Sam and Jenny. He heated milk for hot chocolate, stirring it before taking the first sip. A soft creak of the floorboard made him look up. Holly leaned against the door frame.

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” she inquired softly.

  “Jenny called. Mike Saunders attacked her after she returned to her house from the party at Evan’s parents.”

  Holly straightened and moved into the room. “Oh no! Is she all right? Is Evan with her?”

  Jake shook his head. “She was afraid to call him for fear it would ruin the arrests in the morning.”

  “We should bring her here, Jake,” Holly stated. When she paused with one hand pressed against his chest, he smiled and touched her cheek.

  “Sam’s doing that. He’ll take care of Mike too. I figured I should stay away with Mike being the mayor.” He cupped her chin and gazed at her with concern. “You should be sleeping, Holly. You need your rest. I’ll wait up.”