JD couldn’t even think about Nina. Wouldn’t. It confused the issue too much. He hurt in so many different places, he couldn’t distinguish one pain from another. For one brief moment, he’d thought he’d seen anguish in her eyes when he’d said his good-byes. Surely he hadn’t put it there. She’d made it perfectly clear he was no more than a distraction from her problems.
JD took a gulp of desert air and pushed Jackie into the car when it arrived. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he promised. If he lived to get to it, he added mentally.
The day of Hattie’s funeral, Sheriff Hoyt had arrived with pictures of the corpse Jackie had found. The sheriff hadn’t needed to disturb Nina with the gory details. JD had recognized Harry’s distinctive features instantly.
The grief sweeping over JD was as nothing to his fury. He meant to find the bastard who’d done this to a simple man like Harry, and then he’d send him to fry in hell.
***
Nina fingered the business card JD had left on the vanity he’d used as a computer desk: “JD Marshall, Chief Executive Officer, Marshall Enterprises.” JD Marshall. Well, at least she knew who he was now, even if she didn’t know what Marshall Enterprises was. It scarcely mattered. He hadn’t called, and he’d left over a week ago.
She didn’t know why she worried. She’d never thought of JD as a busy executive, but she supposed she should have. He’d dropped enough clues. No mere employee worked as hard as he did or took weeks away from his job and worked anyway. A man like that wouldn’t even think of a nobody like her once he’d returned to his own realm.
Still, she couldn’t believe the long-haired motorcycle rebel she’d seen in him, the concerned father, or the man who had rocked her to sleep the night Hattie died—the one who had stood on a bulldozer and defied the establishment—could so callously forget that she existed. If she had a little courage, she would call this phone number on the card and make certain he’d arrived safely. But she had no courage. It had departed with JD.
Irritated with herself, Nina stuffed the card in her pocket. The temperature had already zoomed to unbearable, but she’d watered early this morning when she couldn’t sleep. Normally, she would work on the plans for the garden at this time of day, staying inside until the heat dipped, but if she stayed inside much longer, she’d have to talk to her mother.
She couldn’t talk to her mother. They’d reached an armed truce after the debacle of the phone company war. Nothing like suing your own mother to generate goodwill, but JD’s lawyer had said that’s what it might come to. She’d given the man the thousand dollars JD had paid her for rent as down payment on the legal battle. She didn’t know where she’d find funds for the rest of his expenses. The lien she’d filed against the land was all that stood between her mother and the garden unless they located a will.
Nina glanced out the front window at the scattering of pickup trucks in the drive. Tom and the others still came over and worked whenever they had a break in their chores, but JD’s departure had taken a little of the hope out of the enterprise. They knew an effort like this took money, and none of them had it.
The phone rang, and Nina ambled over to answer it. She almost wished school would start so she could shake this monumental black cloud hanging over her head.
“Miss Toon?”
The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but Nina couldn’t immediately place it. “Yes?”
“This is Jimmy MacTavish. Is JD still there?”
Alarm shot through her so fast, Nina almost dropped the receiver. Clutching it with both hands, she waited for her heart to stop racing before answering. “He left days ago, Jimmy. He said there was some emergency back there. He and Jackie flew out of Nashville on Tuesday.”
The silence that followed jangled more alarms.
“I’ve talked with Nancy. JD brought Jackie home Tuesday evening. I thought maybe he’d just gone back there. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
“No, wait! Did Nancy say whether JD was flying out of Arizona? He left the motorcycle and your truck here, so he doesn’t have any other transportation.”
“She said he rented a car at the airport. Maybe he’s at home and not answering the phone.”
“Jimmy, let me know what you find out. He seemed awfully quiet when he left here, but I thought he was just worrying about that program.” Nina clung to the receiver, unwilling to break this tentative connection with JD’s world. Her overdeveloped sense of disaster was spinning out of control.
“He’s right to worry about the program. Someone’s already marketing it. I’m afraid he’s done something crazy like going after his uncle Harry’s friends.”
That made little sense in the normal run of things, but Nina understood it in some vague manner. Shaking now, she stared at the daguerreotype of her pioneer ancestor. “Call me as soon as you check JD’s house. I’m calling the sheriff. If you can’t find him, maybe you should call the police out there.”
She could tell by the way Jimmy said his farewells that he thought she’d gone off the deep end, but she couldn’t explain her eerie prescience, not even to herself. She’d never tried explaining how she knew a plant was sick or a machine was about to die. She certainly couldn’t explain how she knew JD was in big trouble.
As soon as she hung up, she called the sheriff’s office. Hoyt was actually in for a change. “Hoyt, something’s happened to JD,” she said firmly, in her best teacher’s no- nonsense voice. Sometimes, even when she said the most insane things, people listened to her if she spoke with authority.
“Something better not have happened to him,” Hoyt replied grimly. “The state police still want to talk with him. He was supposed to call them days ago.”
“The state police?” Alarm shot through her with treble force.
“Didn’t he tell you? Remember that body they found down by your place?”
As if she could forget it. Capping her impatience, Nina forced herself to be calm. “Of course, Hoyt. What about it?”
“They couldn’t ID it, so I brought a photo over Tuesday for you and JD to look at. I showed it to JD first, and he said not to bother showing it to you, that he could identify the body. Said it was his uncle Harry from Las Vegas. The police out there have confirmed that Harry Marshall hasn’t been seen in weeks. I thought JD was a mite upset, and I didn’t want to pursue the matter what with everything else going on at the time. But he promised to contact the police as soon as he checked things out for himself.”
With her back to the wall, Nina slid down and sat on the floor, resting her forehead against her knees. “He’s disappeared, Hoyt. Something bad’s happened to JD. Did he tell you about the Mercedes?”
“What Mercedes?”
She told him about the car that had followed them around, and then told him that JD was certain the van that had wrecked his truck had done so deliberately. Hoyt didn’t take her seriously.
“I’ll look into it, Nina, but we never found that van, and it’s kind of hard looking for a Mercedes without a license number. If you see it again, you let me know. And if you hear from JD, tell him to get his ass back here or give me good reason why.”
Nina continued sitting on the floor after she hung up. If she had any real psychic abilities, she should be able to tune in to JD and know where he was right now. But all she had was this sense of impending disaster. She swallowed and tried to force herself up, but not until her mother sauntered down the hall could she even raise her head.
“What the hell are you doing down there?”
So much for motherly concern. Sighing, Nina tilted her head until she could see her mother’s lined and heavily made-up face. “Praying. Have you ever heard of the word?”
“Nonsense. You’re not praying. Hattie never much believed in that stuff.” Helen stood there awkwardly. “I’m listing this place for sale. I’m signing the contract this afternoon.”
“Fine.” Nina pried herself from the floor. “What do you expect to get out of it? Fifty thousand, maybe? How
long can you live on fifty thousand?” She couldn’t even summon the energy for anger. She’d known this was coming. They’d never found a will. Hattie probably thought she’d live forever. The whole mess was in the hands of the lawyers. Finding JD was her priority now.
That errant thought startled her so much that Nina almost didn’t hear her mother’s reply.
“It’s fifty more than I’ve got now.” Helen took a seat and picked up her cigarettes from the end table. She’d defied Nina’s edict about smoking ever since the funeral.
“Brilliant thinking, the same kind of thinking that got you where you are now, I suppose.” Wearily, Nina leaned against the doorjamb. “You have a house that’s completely paid for, land that provides sufficient food for a family, and you intend to sell it and do what? Buy a house in the suburbs and starve? Rent an apartment and eat off the proceeds until they’re gone?”
Helen shrugged. “The Realtor says we can divide it up into lots and make plenty.”
Nina gave a sarcastic laugh. “You’ve been talking to George. He’s been trying to sell lake lots for years. Unsuccessfully, I might add. People around here don’t want them. The lake floods every spring, the roads are inaccessible in winter, and the mosquitoes eat you alive in summer. The only people fool enough to want property out this far are tourists who don’t know any better. And even they have sense enough to look at the places that already have electricity and roads. If you haven’t noticed, the for-sale signs have been on those lots so long that they’ve about faded away. You’re kidding yourself if you think that land will bring you anything. The house is all you’ve got.”
Helen smashed her cigarette into the ashtray. “This house is a museum, for God’s sake! You’ve got no cable, the TV dates back thirty years, and your electricity won’t fry a turkey. And I won’t even consider the plumbing. This is a technological backwater, and I’m getting the hell out of here before I turn into a dinosaur like Hattie.”
“Fine, then get the hell out of here. JD gave the town its first opportunity to be more than a speck on the map, and you’ll swat it out before they even have a chance. I’d buy the place from you, but I doubt I could make mortgage payments and still pay the insurance, taxes, and utilities. Good luck finding anyone else.”
Nina shifted her shoulder from the wall and headed for the stairs. JD had helped her when no one else would. He’d stood behind her like a tower of strength even as his own world crumbled. She’d seen the bleakness in his eyes that night, but she hadn’t reached out to help him. She’d been too busy protecting herself. But she, of all people, should have seen beyond that thin facade to the injured man inside. Damn, but she was a fool.
She didn’t have time to consider all the implications now. She’d have to stop in town and pick up a few supplies and some cash. She’d never flown anywhere before. She wasn’t certain how to make travel arrangements. She’d ask Julia. Julia had run a travel agency for a few years, until it collapsed out of sheer inertia.
She didn’t even stop and think about what she was doing. Maybe that was the secret to courage. One just did it. With her entire world splintering around her, she no longer had reason for caution.
Nina didn’t think about it. She just took one step at a time. She removed her savings-account book from her desk, and stuffed it into her purse. There wasn’t much purpose in saving for taxes and insurance.
Don’t think about it, she ordered herself as she swung the Camry out of the drive. Think about JD. Think about what the sheriff had said. Someone had killed JD’s uncle. Think about what Jimmy had said. Someone was marketing JD’s computer program. Someone had stolen his dream as Helen had stolen hers. But JD wouldn’t take any of this lying down. JD would fight.
With any luck, JD had the money for fighting. But somehow, she knew JD’s fight had gone past the lawyers and money stage, into something far more dangerous. That’s why he had been hiding out here in the backwater of nowhere. That’s why the van had rammed him, and the Mercedes had followed him.
Industrial espionage!
The words flew into her head just as Nina hit the main street of town. She read the newspapers, watched the evening news.
The competition in the computer world was fierce. Innovation made or broke a company. JD had something a lot of people wanted. And it sounded as if someone had found him and got it out of him.
Don’t think about it, Nina reminded herself. One step at a time.
She stopped at the pharmacy and picked up travel-size shampoo and toothpaste. On second thought, she grabbed a cosmetic bag, too. She didn’t have anything decent for traveling. Thank goodness she’d bought that rolling overnight bag when she’d gone with the kids on a weekend to Nashville. She’d had to go to Paducah to find that.
Ed was busy at the counter, so she just waved at him, paid the clerk, and started for the side door. Julia’s house was just up the back street and down the road. She could walk.
The instant she reached for the handle of the glass door, Nina saw it—the Mercedes parked in the alley beside the store. Tinted glass prevented her from seeing inside, but just the sight of the car created panic.
Easing away from the door, Nina glanced back at the pharmacy counter. The Mercedes was parked so its occupants could see the main street and her Camry, and not this side door. But she’d have to walk out not three feet from the car’s trunk. If the driver turned and looked over his shoulder...
She couldn’t take that chance. If JD feared the Mercedes, she would be wise to do so, also.
Ed looked startled as Nina circled around the counter, held her fingers to her lips, and slipped into his supply room. He followed her, protesting vehemently, probably protecting his shelves of expensive drugs.
“Ed, I’m avoiding someone, all right? I’m not stealing anything. Go back to your customer. And unless that Mercedes parked outside is yours, I wouldn’t mention this to anyone or you may have some very unpleasant customers to deal with. Okay?”
“Nina, are you out of your mind? Wait...”
But she let herself out the back door before she heard the rest of his protests.
The heat of the parking lot smacked Nina as she hurried through the blinding sunshine. Amazingly, energy sang through her veins. Doing something was a hell of a lot better than moping and worrying.
Once safely through the parking lot, Nina cut across old man Rafferty’s backyard and into the street of residences behind the shopping area. Julia lived just a few blocks over, and the huge old shade trees would prevent sunstroke since she’d forgotten her hat.
Julia looked surprised to see her but let Nina in without question. Along with the travel agency, Julia had once taught at the high school, too. After her husband’s death, the life insurance policy had given her the freedom to try anything she wanted.
“First, I need to use your phone.” Familiar with Julia’s house, Nina hurried toward the kitchen.
“Nina, have you been out in the sun too long? Here, let me get you a Coke.”
Nina accepted the glass as the phone rang in the sheriff’s office.
“Hoyt, the Mercedes is parked in the alley between the pharmacy and Joe’s. I didn’t get the license plate, I’m sorry. It kind of startled me, and I ran.”
“Nina, I swear, if this is some sort of gag like the one the boys pulled last—”
“It’s not a gag, Hoyt. I don’t know what it is, but JD was afraid of that Mercedes. He went well out of his way to avoid it. It may be nothing. JD may have been a paranoid schizophrenic for all I know. I just know the blamed car followed me twice, and it’s out there again. Do what you like, Hoyt.”
Nina slammed down the receiver and caught Julia’s stare. Taking a swig of the soft drink, she thought quickly and found no easy answers.
“Just don’t ask, Julia, ’cause I don’t know. I need to get to Las Vegas as quickly as possible. How do I do it?”
“Why Las Vegas?”
Nina stopped with her glass in midsip and considered the question. Why
Las Vegas? JD was from Los Angeles. He’d last been seen in Arizona. But Hoyt had said JD’s uncle Harry lived in Las Vegas. JD had gone there, she had no doubt. She was insane. Whatever JD had was contagious. She was spending her life savings on a wild-goose chase.
“I just have to do it, Julia. Will you help me or not?”
“Well, if you want a cheap vacation, you chose the right spot. There’re all kinds of inexpensive tour packages to Las Vegas. Of course, if you mean to gamble your savings for funds for that garden of yours, you’d better have your lucky rabbit’s foot with you.”
Julia strode into the dining parlor as she talked. Nina followed and gaped in amazement at the array of computer equipment distributed around the room. Had JD known about this place, he’d have moved in here.
“When did you get all this stuff?” Nina asked, but she half knew the answer. Julia had no family, no children. She never used the formal dining room for meals. She’d just accumulated years of expensive toys in here.
“I bought the big computer when I started the agency. I still have the 800 hookup. I’ll check on air packages for you.”
“You can do that? On the computer?”
Julia sat down and switched on the set. “Sure. I can check times, availability, and book your tickets. I don’t have the agency system anymore, but there’s a place on the Web that isn’t much different.”
Nina watched in awe as Julia drew up airline schedules, hotel packages, and car rentals. “Will you want a car?” Julia asked idly as she clicked her way through the selections.
“I don’t know. Can I take a taxi from the airport?”
“Sure. I’ll give you a list of the cheapest car rentals in case you change your mind.”
A printer spit out a professional itinerary, listing flights, hotel confirmation numbers, and prices. Nina’s rising excitement took a nosedive when she read the figures, but it was only money. And Julia had said these were the cheapest rates.
“This hotel won’t be some kind of dive, will it?” Nina had some experience in hotel rates, at least. This one seemed amazingly low.
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