Wonders Never Cease (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Salonen, Debra

  Clarice nodded.

  “Good. Then listen to counsel. I’m going to suggest that we continue this at the station.”

  Czar made a low groaning sound that Ben usually associated with hunger. He didn’t understand it given their recent stop at the fast-food shop. He absently patted Czar’s shoulder and kept his gaze trained on the couple across from him.

  Clarice shook her head. “You said when you called that you wanted to talk about Dorry’s ticket. Even if you hadn’t figured that out, I would have called you. I’m worried about Jill. You think you caught the right man, but you didn’t. That person was a patsy.”

  “So, who did it?” Ben asked, his stomach knotted with tension.

  Hatch Brumley pounded his fist on the table. “I object. My client can’t think straight with you haranguing her. I will file charges if you ask her another question. She’s been under a doctor’s care for several days and isn’t well.”

  “I’m pregnant,” Clarice said in a tone that implied disbelief. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Quite against all odds, I am expecting a baby.”

  The depth of emotion he read in her face moved Ben. Suddenly he remembered something Jill had told him. “It was my understanding that your husband—”

  “Had undergone a vasectomy? That’s what he told Jill, but it was a lie.”

  “Why?”

  Peter made an unhappy sound. “Is this necessary? I don’t see why my wife’s condition has anything to do with—”

  Clarice looked at her husband with compassion and understanding. “Peter suffers from low sperm count. He found out when he volunteered for some kind of study in college. This was shortly after he’d met Jill, and he was afraid Jill would think less of him if she knew.”

  She sighed and looked at Ben. “Jill’s a very trusting person. She even believed him when he told her her retirement account was safe.”

  Peter made a sputtering sound and turned his back to her.

  Clarice smiled sadly. “I, however, am more demanding than Jill. I wanted a child and was determined to do whatever necessary to conceive.” She took a deep breath. “We’ve been seeing a fertility specialist for four months.”

  “Didn’t I tell you this was bad timing?” Peter asked. “At this rate, the kid will only get to see us on visiting day.”

  Clarice broke into sobs.

  Czar gave a low cry of his own. Ben put his hand out and stroked his head. “It’s okay, boy. We’ll be done here in a minute.”

  Amos cleared his throat. “Before we head to the station, I’d like to clarify one point. If Bobby Goetz didn’t attack Jill, then who did?”

  Hatch Brumley leaned on the table. “That’s our bargaining chip, and I refuse to let either of these people say another word.”

  Amos’s back stiffened. “You’re obstructing justice, Brumley. There’s a violent criminal out there, and if another person gets hurt because you’re playing kiss and tell, I swear I’ll see you disbarred.”

  Czar barked. Twice.

  Ben’s stomach turned over. He knew that bark. Danger. The only person who could be in danger was Jill.

  He grabbed for the phone and punched in Jill’s number. A busy signal. “She can’t still be online, can she?” he asked Amos, who frowned.

  Flinging the receiver, he leaned across the table, grabbing Peter Martin’s prissy yellow button-down shirt by the neck. “Tell me.”

  Clarice gave a small peep then reached for her husband. “Will Ogden. Peter’s been paying him to write favorable editorials, and Will—along with Bud Francis—recruited the members of the planning board to grease the wheels, so to speak. Will’s big payoff comes when the lots are sold, but that won’t happen if Jill tells people about the water.”

  JILL FLEXED HER HANDS, testing the tension on the thick, coarse rope binding her wrists. The seat belt cut across her sore shoulder and she couldn’t get comfortable, but somehow Jill knew that wasn’t going to be an issue for long.

  “Why are you doing this, Will? What have I ever done to you?”

  He drove slowly, paying heed to all traffic signs. “Oh, come off it, Jill. Nobody could be that obtuse and still be alive.” He reached across the bench seats of the older sedan and flicked his middle finger against her forehead, as if disposing of a pesky bug. It didn’t hurt as much as it startled her, and Jill felt tears gather in her eyes.

  “And then her feelings got hurt. Oh, my, how mean of me,” he said in child’s tone. “Grow up, Jill.”

  Jill tried to draw on anger and outrage to give her focus, but fear consumed her. The only thing that helped was to picture Ben. Strong, fearless. He’d rescue her, wouldn’t he?

  “Peter was right,” Will said snidely. “Your naiveté is such a turnoff. After you came to work at the paper, I considered having an affair with you, but you always struck me as too timid.”

  Jill shook her head in confusion. She knew that occasionally Peter and Will had golfed together with Bud and Mr. Davenport, but she didn’t think they were friends. “You and Peter are…involved?”

  Will snickered. “I’m not sure I like that connotation. We’re business associates. When you and Peter first moved here, he was looking for someone to help him set up a base of operation, open doors, grease a few palms.”

  Jill wasn’t surprised that Peter was involved in such shady dealings, but she was shocked by Will’s participation. “You used the paper as a forum to promote the Land Barons’s agenda?”

  His lip curled up. “You make that sound like a bad thing. I prefer to think of it as helping the indecisive masses make up their minds.”

  Before Jill could respond, he laughed. “Oh, that’s right—our self-righteous campaigner still believes in journalistic integrity.”

  Jill felt herself blush, and it made her mad. “At least I didn’t sell out.”

  His smirk made her cringe. “You might have if the stakes were big enough. I was banking enough to blow this town in style until you came along and ruined things,” he said bitterly.

  “The water.”

  Will shook his head. “So there’s a little arsenic. What’s the big deal? Everybody drinks bottled water these days. Ten years from now doctors will probably decide arsenic’s good for people.”

  He looked left to check for oncoming traffic then turned toward the mine. Jill’s heart plummeted. Although the old shafts had been closed years earlier, there were ravines, drop-offs, hidden nooks and crannies that would take days to search.

  “Aren’t you overreacting?” she asked. Her voice sounded strained and frightened. “I mean, those files Dorry found were ancient. The arsenic is probably long gone by now.”

  He snickered. “Nice try. But wrong. And even if that were the case, just the hint of something unhealthy lurking in the soil would drive down the value of the lots. Land Barons might be able to cut its losses and bail, but there’s still the problem of insider trading and bribery.”

  Jill vacillated between wanting to placate him and wanting to ask reporter-type questions. As she worked the knots at her wrists, she said, “Things can’t be as bad as you think, Will. I didn’t suspect you, and I was closest to the story.”

  The old car chugged going up the steep grade. Will downshifted with a scowl. “You’d have found out sooner or later and you’d have exposed the whole scheme. You play by the rules, Jill. I heard you joking about your mother’s rules one day.” His laugh made her skin crawl. “Rules are for losers, Jillian. I thought you might have gotten the message when I messed up your precious dog and cop story.” He looked at her. “Actually you surprised me. I figured you’d have given up and quit long ago.”

  “So now you’re planning to kill me? How does that help?”

  He sighed. “Consider yourself a diversion, Jill. They’ll be too busy hunting for you to look for me.”

  Jill shook her head. “Why do you hate me? What have I ever done to you?”

  “Me, me, me,” he said, his tone mocking. “This isn’t about you, Jill. It’s never been a
bout you. You’re simply an annoying fly buzzing about the pile of manure. A simple sheep who wandered too far from the flock and has fallen prey to the Big Bad Wolf.”

  “You’re quite mad.”

  “Mad in the sense of crazy? No. Mad as in angry? Bingo. I worked very hard to make this happen and your nosy intervention has ruined everything. If you’d have died that night, we might still have pulled it off. Clarice didn’t believe me, but we could have.”

  Jill froze. “Clarice is involved?”

  “Who do you think introduced her to Peter?” He put on the blinker and slowed down to make the turn into the driveway leading to the mine. In the twilight, Jill could still see the spot where Ben had tracked her that morning after Bud had ruffled her feathers.

  “Is Bud in this, too?” she asked.

  “Of course. And half the planning commission. We’re talking deep, deep pockets, Jillian. Yes, gloat while you can. Your suspicions were grounded. Too bad you’re not going to be able to spread the news.”

  He said the last in a lascivious tone that made her skin crawl. Would he try to rape her before he killed her? Jill’s heart sped up a notch. Her wrists were raw but she kept wiggling them, trying to work one hand free.

  The bumpy motion helped her move sideways. In the back of her mind, she thought she might be able to open the door and jump for it.

  Will glanced her way and yanked her closer to him with a violent, wrenching grip. “Soon enough, Jill,” he said, obviously reading her mind. The pungent smell of his cologne made her gag. “It’ll all be over soon. Just be patient.”

  A nerve in her shoulder became pinched and she wiggled back to relieve it. As she did, her fingers brushed against something solid. In the fold of material created by the sagging seat cover, a toothpick was hiding.

  She curled her fingers around the treasure. One of Will’s fancy toothpicks. Whole, not broken in two. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it might come in handy.

  The car bounced across the dusty field to the shadowy wall of rocks that led to a spot the locals called Lover’s Leap. The room-size slab of granite provided a favorite make-out spot for Bullion youth. Jill, herself, could remember kissing Noah Watson there her senior year.

  Will parked the car behind a cluster of scrubby bushes. He turned off the engine and got out. Jill gripped her tiny weapon and braced herself as he walked around the car.

  Instead of opening the door right away, Will leaned against the side of the car and whistled a tune she didn’t recognize. “What are you waiting for?” she cried.

  “My ride,” he said. “A helicopter.”

  “What about me? You’re just leaving me here?”

  He looked down. The window was open halfway. In the fading light, his face looked eerily calm, almost bored. “That’s right.”

  Jill’s stomach turned over.

  He pushed off from the car and walked to the trunk. Jill used the time to frantically wiggle her hands. She felt the rope give a little. Her shoulders were killing her, especially her bruised collarbone, but she fought through the pain. I can do this. I can.

  He slammed the trunk and strolled to the front of the car. Jill strained to see what he was carrying. A bucket? A gas can. Oh, God.

  With lazy, looping movements, he sloshed the potent-smelling liquid over the hood of the car, working his way toward the rear. Jill let out a small scream and ducked when the fluid hit the windshield.

  Lying prone, she found she had better leverage. Her hand was almost free.

  “Loathsome smell,” Will said, his voice coming from the window behind her.

  Jill whipped around so he wouldn’t see her hands. She put her face close to the window, almost gagging on the fumes. “Please, Will,” she begged. “Please let me go. I won’t say anything. I promise.”

  He ignored her. “Sorry, Jill. Too late for promises.”

  Jill’s hand popped free, but fortunately Will had turned away, probably looking for a match. She weighed her options. She might not have a chance to escape once he lit the match, but she didn’t think she could outrun him if she bolted too soon. She tried to keep him talking.

  “But why kill me, Will? If you fly away now, you’re just a guy who broke a few rules. Big deal. But kill me, and you’re a murderer.”

  Jill’s newly sensitized hearing picked up a sound in the distance. A helicopter. She thought she heard a siren, too, but she couldn’t tell how far away it was.

  Will drew a lighter from his pocket.

  It was now or never.

  She dived for the door and wrenched it open, falling to her hands and knees. Her wrists buckled and her chin scraped the ground, but she managed to get up and start running. Away from the car. Away from the smell and the crazy man who wanted to kill her.

  BEN’S TRAINING told him to check Jill’s house, even though the telephone line was busy. His adrenaline surged when he pulled into the driveway and found the garage door open.

  He yanked his gun from the glove compartment and jumped from the car. Czar followed at his heels.

  The inside door stood open. Frank meowed plaintively, but Jill failed to answer his repeated calls.

  With Czar at his side, he checked the house, room by room, then dashed to the Blazer to call in an APB.

  Czar remained in the doorway, barking frantically. Ben hurried back, wondering what he could have overlooked. He found Czar and the cat nose-to-nose at the coffee table.

  “Oh, God, Czar, not with the cat again,” Ben groaned. “We don’t have time…”

  Czar made a whining sound that came off as pure exasperation. Taking a closer look, Ben spotted a piece of paper. He picked it up. “Damn. It’s him, but surely Jill wouldn’t have let him in.”

  One look at the scar on the dog’s head reminded Ben of how desperate and determined Will Ogden was. He raced to the Blazer and called for backup. Czar occupied the passenger seat, barking impatiently. Ben started the engine but pounded the steering wheel. “They could be anywhere. Where do we start?”

  Czar gave him a look that seemed to say, trust me.

  Ben put the car in gear and backed out of the driveway, his tires squealing. At the stop sign leading either into town or toward the mine, Czar lunged across his lap. Ben called in his location. “I think he’s taken her to the mine.”

  He turned on the siren. “Please, let me get there in time,” he muttered. “If there is a Time God, I could sure use a little help here.”

  His pulse raced; adrenaline surged through his veins. At the turnoff to the mine, the Blazer took the corner on two wheels. Both he and Czar slammed together like on a carnival ride. He pulled the car under control and shot up the incline flying over the rise like a stunt driver.

  Nothing. The field was empty.

  Czar pawed at the passenger window. Ben instinctively cranked the wheel and hit the gas. Dust churned as the car bounced over rocks and ruts. Czar’s barking increased the same moment Ben spotted a car. An older sedan. Blue.

  Even as he made the mental description, a sudden spark of light appeared and almost instantly the car was engulfed in flame.

  “No,” Ben cried, jumping from the Blazer before it was fully stopped. He left the door open and felt Czar’s body sail past him. Ben sank to his knees immobilized by horror and grief. “Jill.”

  Czar latched onto his shirtsleeve with his teeth and tugged so hard it ripped. The sound penetrated Ben’s agony. He looked up in time to see Czar dash through the wind tunnel of dust that suddenly arose out of nowhere. As the noise seeped into his awareness, Ben looked up. A helicopter.

  Maybe it wasn’t too late.

  He took his gun from the waistband of his jeans and started running. He followed the sound of Czar’s barking. Under his breath he whispered a prayer. Please, let her be okay.

  JILL DIDN’T GET as far as she’d hoped, but she hadn’t counted on him grabbing her by her ponytail. The pain brought tears to her eyes, but she used it to sharpen her focus. When he tugged backward, she added her weight t
o the momentum to throw him off balance. They went down together. He was heavier but she squirmed like an eel, and he couldn’t keep her pinned down long enough to aim his gun.

  As she felt her strength sapping, Jill decided to try using her weapon. Arching her neck, she curled to the side and bit his hand. Hard. She spit out the taste of his blood. When he jerked back, her right hand was freed. She stabbed at his face with all her might. The tiny piece of wood, sharp and scented, went deep—deeper than she’d expected.

  His howl of pain was satisfying but short-lived. Will retaliated with word and fist. His first blow missed her face, but the second grazed her temple.

  There wasn’t a third.

  Instead, a growl as ferocious and frightening as she’d ever heard pierced the night. The next moment a projectile flew out of the gloom and knocked Will over.

  Czar.

  Jill rolled to her belly and started to sob.

  “Ben,” she called out, crawling to distance herself from the melee going on in the dust. “Help.”

  A word rang out. In German. Czar broke from the body curled in a fetal position. “Make one move and I’ll let him kill you,” Ben snarled.

  Will didn’t move. Not so anyone could see, but Jill heard something. “Ben,” she cried. “He has a gun.”

  Her warning was lost in the crack of a gunshot. Jill knew it hadn’t come from Will, but she didn’t dare look. She was almost afraid to breathe. Please, God, let it be over.

  “Jill,” Ben said, dropping to one knee beside her. He carefully eased her onto her back. “Are you okay, baby? Tell me you’re okay.”

  Before she could answer, a shaggy beast covered her face with slobbering kisses. She tried to defend herself but was laughing and crying at the same time.

  Ben shooed the dog aside. “Dammit, Czar, she might be hurt.” He brushed her forehead with a soothing touch. “Don’t move, honey. The medics will be here any minute.”

  Honey?

  Jill ignored his command and sat up. She threw her arms around him. “I don’t need doctors. I just need you. Only you.”