Jake’s heart nearly stopped in his chest, and he could only nod at her.
Even before he forced her hand, Nikki had been planning to leave him.
The thought hit him like a punch in the gut, but he struggled to keep his face impassive for Darcy’s sake. It was obvious that she thought he already knew. She was still talking, and Jake had to force himself to concentrate on what she was saying. She squeezed his hands again.
“Oh, Jake!” she said. “I know this sounds awful, but I’m glad you finally know. I’ve felt so guilty these last few weeks, knowing what was going on and even that she used me as an excuse sometimes so she could get out of the house. We haven’t even spoken in the last couple of weeks because of it. I never wanted to hurt you…”
“I know.” Jake gave her a pained smile. He hugged her again, and then watched her get into her car. She started it up and Jake was walking off when she rolled down her window.
“Hey, this may be crazy of me, but…if the body from the car isn’t him, please be careful. I don’t know if Nikki realized it, but he was obsessed with her.”
Jake watched her drive off, wondering if the guy had been obsessed enough to try to kill him.
***
Nikki was thinking about the phone call when Jake appeared in the doorway. He stared at her in that intense way of his, and Nikki could barely breathe. She was having a hard time trying to catalogue all the things she felt when she looked at him.
“Nikki, you’re shaking. Are you okay?”
She started to lie, to say that she was fine, but the concern on his face crumbled her defenses.
“Jake, I’m so scared. This is awful! What if I never remember? I can’t stand this—” She knew she sounded hysterical, but she couldn’t keep the panic from her voice.
“Hey.” He lowered the bedrail and climbed in beside her. Nikki found herself wrapped in those strong arms again. She buried her face in his soft flannel shirt and clung to him like a drowning woman. One of Jake’s hands wound in her hair, while the other stroked her back.
“You’re going to be okay, Nik, I swear it. We’ll make it through this. I’m here for you, for as long as you need me.”
What an odd thing for a husband to say, she thought. Everything in her life was crazy and skewed, but the man who held her was the biggest enigma of all.
Jake pulled back a little and cupped her face in his hands. Another teardrop escaped, trailing down her cheek, and time seemed to slow as Jake leaned to kiss it away.
Nikki’s heart thumped in her chest, her tears all but forgotten. The look in his eyes paralyzed her as he brushed his lips across hers. She could taste the saltiness of her tear as the kiss deepened. Nikki wound her hands in his black hair, urging him closer, deeper, and he pressed her backward in the bed. His tongue teased hers, set her on fire as it probed her mouth, gently at first, then more insistently.
There was such need in his kiss, such hunger, that suddenly their roles were reversed; he was the one seeking assurance and she was the one desperately trying to give it to him.
She felt him pull away emotionally before he did physically. When he finally looked at her, she saw a myriad of emotions playing across his handsome face, confusion, desire…and even fear.
“I’m sorry, Nik.” He averted his eyes. “That isn’t what either of us needs at the moment.”
You’re wrong, Jake, she thought, but she knew better than to push him. Already she had a sense of how fragile the bond between them was. One wrong move and she could lose him forever.
Nikki expected him to get up, but he surprised her by lying back in the bed beside her. She laid her head against his shoulder, feeling somehow content even in the uncertainty that swirled around her, and wished she could remember what it had been like to be his lover.
She shut her eyes and Jake moved his arm behind her head, pulling her to him. Nikki snuggled up against him and pressed her face into his hard chest, breathing in the warm, masculine scent of him. He cradled her in his arms and she wondered how many times that they had lain in bed, just like this. Jake stroked her hair and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. The tenderness he showed her touched Nikki, even though it plainly scared him to death to be close to her. She dared to think that they might save their marriage.
***
November 5
“Wow,” Nikki said. “We live here?”
She turned a slow circle in the foyer, taking in her surroundings. Jake thought she was lovely, even with her bruised face and choppy hair, and she seemed so excited to be home. He couldn’t help but be pleased with her newfound admiration for the place. He gave her the grand tour, enjoying her childlike wonder over the things that she had once dismissed so casually.
“You’re so young and I don’t work, so I figured that we lived in some cozy little newlywed cottage. I never imagined it would be this big!”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Everything’s so beautiful.” She trailed her fingers on the ornately carved stair rail.
“Well, it was put together by a beautiful decorator,” Jake said with a wink.
“I did this?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned. “You picked out every piece of furniture, every picture.”
By now they had made it upstairs. Jake pushed open a door and announced that this was her bedroom.
“Mine?” Her smile faded. “Not ours?”
“Mine is down here.” Jake guided her down the hall to the small guest room he had taken over. “We haven’t shared a bed in weeks,” he admitted.
“Why?” she asked bleakly.
Jake grimaced. He saw no reason to keep it from her any longer.
“Because I found out you had a lover.”
***
A pair of socks.
Jake never dreamed that his marriage would be destroyed by a pair of socks, but it had. He and Nikki had been arguing some, but he never would’ve believed there was someone else until he found the socks.
They had been on their way to one of Sara’s political dinners, and Jake had dropped a cufflink. It bounced under the bed and, as he peered under there to locate it, he spied something dark in the corner. He reached to see what it was and found a crumpled pair of men’s navy dress socks. He had none like them, but still might not have thought anything if Nikki hadn’t come into the bedroom at that moment.
Jokingly, he held them up while still feeling for the cufflink.
“Hey, babe. Looks like some guy had to leave in a hurry.”
He didn’t look up, expecting some smart little retort, but she was silent. He glanced at her, and was shocked by what he saw written on her face.
Nikki had gone dead white.
In his worst dreams and in his most desperate moments, Jake Hawthorne had never been so profoundly frightened. Suddenly, he wished more than anything that he could rewind the last few moments and never look under that bed. Looking at her guilt-ridden face, he had known that the life he knew, the life he loved, was over. Nikki had betrayed him, and the proof wasn’t in his hand, but in her eyes.
***
“Oh, Jake!” the post-Nikki cupped her hand to her mouth in misery. “I’m so sorry.”
She reached for him, but, caught up in the searing memory of that moment, Jake couldn’t bear for her to touch him. He jerked away from her and backed down the hall.
“Don’t!” he said, sharper than he intended. “Please…just don’t.”
He retreated into his room and slammed the door behind him, leaving her standing there, convicted and condemned for a crime she couldn’t remember committing.
Chapter 5
Jake found her a little while later in the kitchen and had no idea what to say. Her eyes were red, but she managed a smile as she said, “So, what do you have to eat in this joint?”
He admired her spirit and decided that he’d make an effort, too.
“Well, you always said that I make a mean chili dog. How does that sound?”
“It so
unds great.”
Nikki winked at Jake as she attacked her second chili dog. He had thrown everything on it, like she used to like, and she devoured it in sheer delight, even pausing once to lick the messy sauce off her finger.
Jake cleared his throat and said, “Look, Nikki, I’m sorry about before. All this is so new and it kills me to talk about it.
It’s so hard, trying to talk to you about you. I know you want to get your memory back, and I want to help you, but—”
“It’s okay,” she interrupted. “I understand a lot now. I think you’re a wonderful man for standing by me like you have. I know it may not mean anything to you right now, but I’m sorry I ever hurt you.”
“Thank you.”
Neither of them spoke for a while. Nikki absently played with the salt shaker as Jake stared out the window, watching the curling brown leaves race through the yard in the gusting wind. When Nikki took his hand, he didn’t pull away. He pressed his face to her palm and then kissed the inside of her wrist. Nikki closed her eyes.
Nikki cleared her throat. “Do you think there’s a chance we can save our marriage?”
Her quiet question stunned him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Do you want that?”
She squeezed his fingers. “I want that more than anything.”
Jake leaned back in the chair and exhaled softly. “I need to know who he was, Nikki. I don’t think I could stand being around my friends and acquaintances every day and wondering if it was one of them. I need to know where you were going that morning when you roared off in my truck, and I need to know who was with you that day, if it wasn’t him. Can you understand that?”
“I understand, because I need to know, too.”
Jake nodded. “Come on. Let’s see if there’s any news yet.”
He helped her with her coat and they headed to the Whitwell police station.
“None of this looks familiar?” he glanced at Nikki, who sat staring out the passenger window at the gray mountains on either side of them. Rolling white mists of fog enshrouded the valley, giving the illusion that clouds had drifted from the rosy pink and yellow sky and settled like cotton on the ground.
“No,” she replied, “but it’s so beautiful! Which mountains are these?”
“That’s the Cumberland Plateau. I wish you could remember the fall, Nik. The mountains burst with all shades of red, orange and yellow and the moon looks like a big orange ball. It’s gorgeous.”
As Jake pulled into the Whitwell police department, he searched the parking lot for the sheriff’s white Chevy Blazer. Luck was with them. It was parked haphazardly by the double glass doors.
Matt Garrettson raised his coffee cup in greeting when they walked in. Other than his thin, wiry frame, he was the perfect caricature of a laid-back, small town sheriff. No doubt Matt liked to give that impression. Many people were fooled by his slow, lazy drawl and underestimated the intelligence flashing in his dark eyes.
“Coffee?” Matt called, and both of them shook their heads. He ran a hand through rumpled hair, which was now more salt than pepper, and jammed a faded Atlanta Braves cap on his head. He strolled over to them and clapped Jake on the back.
“Tell me son, how’s your mother doing?” he asked. “Although I haven’t seen her in a few months, I’ve still thought about her.”
“She’s doing great, sir.” Jake was instantly at ease around his late father’s best friend. Matt would be straight with him.
“Tell her when she decides to get rid of Zeke I’m still single,” he said with a wink and Nikki laughed.
“Still don’t remember anything, young lady?” He turned his attention to her.
She shook her head. “Just bits and pieces of nothing that really matters, mostly from my childhood.”
“Well, that’s a start,” he said. “Come on in, grab yourself a seat.”
Easier said than done. The only available chairs were piled high with what looked like files and old copies of Field and Stream. Jake helped Matt move them to a little metal table that looked as if it might collapse under their weight.
“Sorry for the mess.” Matt frowned beneath his bushy moustache. “What can I do for you?”
“We were wondering if you’ve found out anything about the passenger or about the truck yet, sir.” Jake leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Let me get the file and we’ll see,” the sheriff replied. He hit the intercom button on his phone and barked, “Joan, get me the file on the Hawthorne case.”
Silence.
“Aw, hell,” he muttered, then flashed them an embarrassed grin. “My secretary ran off to Vegas with one of my deputies last week. Keep forgetting she’s not out there. I hollered at her all day yesterday.”
His cowboy boots made a soft scraping sound as he crossed back to the door. “Janney!” he bellowed. “Bring me the Hawthorne file.”
The younger officer appeared a few minutes later with the file in hand. He looked displeased about surrendering it.
“Sir, Les and I were going over to discuss the findings with Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne this evening.”
“Well, they want to know now.” Matt leaned back in the chair and stared at his officer. Janney stood there with his hands on his hips until the sheriff said mildly, “That’ll be all, Janney.”
The man frowned and then strode out, shutting the door a little too hard.
“Young Janney is a little gung ho.” Matt chuckled. “Always wanting to throw somebody in the slammer.”
Nikki and Jake shared a look.
They must think someone tampered with the Dodge.
The sheriff was quiet for a moment as he pored over the reports. Nikki tucked her hand inside Jake’s and he gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“ME says the passenger was a white female, 5'5-5'7, age approximately 20-40 years old, approximately 100-120 pounds. Sound like anyone you know?” he asked Jake.
A woman.
Jake was so surprised that it took him a moment to process what Matt was asking. He had been sure that Nikki was with her lover that day. His mind went blank as he tried to fit this new information into the puzzle.
“I have no idea,” he said finally. “Nikki has a lot of friends. So many of them left messages on the machine, but I don’t remember which ones did or didn’t right now.”
“My people are going through piles of missing persons reports as we speak, because I figured it had to be a friend she was shopping with or something.”
“Nikki’s best friend knows practically all the same people Nikki does. I’ll get her to check around.”
Jake couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Nikki had been in no mood to go shopping that morning.
“If anyone turns up missing, we managed to collect some tissue and dental samples to do a DNA test on, but other than that…” He shrugged.
“Now, about the truck—” He handed them a stack of photos of the twisted wreckage of the Dodge. “The fire was so hot that it destroyed much of the undercarriage. There’s nothing conclusive, but I’d bet my paycheck that someone tampered with that brake line. For sure, the emergency brake was inoperable,” he paused, then added, “Don’t let Janney try to intimidate you. He’s got nothing that he could prove in court, but he thinks you might’ve tampered with Nikki’s brakes because she was seeing someone else.”
“It was my truck!” Jake exclaimed. “Why would I have sabotaged my own truck?”
“Easy, boy.” Matt winked. “I know you. I know better than that, plus I meet you in that truck about every morning on the way to work. I have a wicked case of Dodge envy, so believe me, I noticed. Always wanted one of those king cabs.” He stretched back in his chair and stared at them. “Let me explain something to you about a cut brake line. If it had been completely severed when Nikki left that morning, there’s no way she could’ve driven the forty-nine miles to Palmer. We know that she drove at least that far from home because she was on her way back down the mountai
n. Now, say the line had been cut just a little. It would’ve eventually burst, but it could be hours, days or weeks before it did. If you were a patient enough guy, you could do your damage and not be anywhere around when the accident happened.”
He regarded them with kind, brown eyes. “I need you two to be straight with me. Was Nikki seeing some other guy? If she was, I need to know because I believe that someone might’ve tried to kill you, Jake.”
“Oh, God,” Nikki whispered, and covered her face with her hands.
Jake sighed. “Yes, Nikki was seeing someone, but we don’t know who it was. She admitted it to me before the accident, but she refused to say who.”
Matt twisted the end of his moustache. “Kids, it looks like we’ve got ourselves one crackerjack of a situation here. I assume that both of you want to find out who he is. I don’t know if this is how you want to proceed, but if it were me, I’d go through all Nikki’s things and see if I can figure out who this guy is. Maybe there’s letters, credit card receipts, stuff like that. I’ll get a copy of your phone records. We need to find this guy, because, if I’m right, he’s already killed once and no doubt he’ll try again. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll approach Nikki.”
Jake shuddered at the thought and took Nikki’s hand. It was icy in his.
Outside in the parking lot, in the light of day, Jake found the idea of someone trying to kill him preposterous. He was thinking that surely Matt’s intuition was wrong, but then he recalled Darcy’s words.
He was obsessed with her.
Now they knew that he was still out there.
Nikki grabbed his arm before they got into her car, and Jake turned to face her. Her beautiful face looked tight and anxious as she said, “Oh, Jake! What have I gotten you into?”
He hugged her close against his chest and she clung to him. Jake had to close his eyes at the sweet sensation of her slender frame in his arms. As he stroked her hair, he said, “Whatever it is, I promised you that we’d get through it together. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Unforeseen Danger Page 7