by B. J Daniels
He must have, too, because he reached over and gripped her arm. “You didn’t imagine it any more than you did the black cat.”
She stared at him. “How can you say that?”
“Someone was outside Natalie’s window tonight. There were fresh tracks where he’d stood. He took Natalie.”
Her heart began to thunder in her ears. “Someone tried to...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words as she imagined a shadowed man taking her baby girl out through the window. “But why...?”
“He must have heard me coming and changed his mind,” Jackson said.
“Changed his mind?” This all felt too surreal. First Nick’s death then all the insane incidents, now someone had tried to take her child?
“Why don’t you sit down,” Jackson suggested.
She nodded and sank into the closest chair. He took one and pulled it next to hers.
“Is there someone who would want to take your daughter?” he asked.
Again she stared at him, unable to speak for a moment. “Why would anyone want to kidnap Natalie? I don’t have any money.”
He seemed to hesitate. “What about your husband’s family?”
* * *
JACKSON SAW THAT he’d voiced her fear. He’d seen the way her in-laws had been just that morning. It wasn’t much of a stretch that they would try to take Natalie. But through an open window in the middle of the night?
“They’ve made no secret that they want to see her more, but to steal her from her bed and scare me like this?”
Scare her. He saw her eyes widen in alarm and he took a guess. “There have been other instances when something happened that scared you?”
Her wide, green eyes filled with tears. “It was nothing. Probably just my imagination. I haven’t been myself since...”
“Tell me about the incidents.”
She swallowed and seemed to brace herself. “I found a squirrel in my cast-iron pot that has a lid.”
“A live squirrel?”
“Half dead. I know it sounds crazy. How could a squirrel get under a heavy lid like that?”
“It couldn’t. What else?”
She blinked as if stunned that he believed her, but it seemed to free her voice. “My husband used to buy me clothes I didn’t like. I found them all cut up but I don’t remember doing it. My brother-in-law took Nat and me out for dinner and when I got back they were lying on the bed and there were new clothes in the closet, eight hundred dollars’ worth, like I would have bought if...”
“If you had bought them. Did you?”
She hesitated. “I don’t think so but there was a check missing from my checkbook and when I took them back to the store, the clerks didn’t remember who’d purchased them.”
“No one was ever around when any of these things happened?”
She shook her head. “When I told my mother-in-law about the squirrel in the pot...she thought I was still taking the drugs the doctor gave me right after Nick’s death. The drugs did make me see things that weren’t there....” Her words fell away as if she’d just then realized something. “Unless the things had been there.”
Allie looked up at him, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Like the black cat.... I wasn’t sure I’d even seen it until you...”
It broke his heart. For months after her husband’s death, she’d been going through this with no one who believed her.
“I don’t think you imagined any of these things that have been happening to you,” he said, reaching for her hand. “I think someone wants you to believe you are losing your mind. What would happen if you were?”
She didn’t hesitate an instant. “I would lose Natalie.”
* * *
AS RELIEVED AS she was, Allie had trouble believing what he was saying. She got up and started to make a fire.
“Let me do that,” Jackson said, taking a handful of kindling from her.
Allie moved restlessly around the room as he got the blaze going. “You think it’s someone in Nick’s family?”
“That would be my guess. It’s clear they want Natalie, especially your mother-in-law. Would her son, Drew, help her?”
She shook her head. “Nick would do whatever his mother wanted. But Drew...” She didn’t want to believe it, but he seemed to have turned against her lately. She felt sick at the thought that she might have been wrong about him all this time.
“You must think I’m such a fool.”
“My mother said be careful what family you’re marrying into. I didn’t listen. I didn’t even know the woman I was really marrying. But then she hid it well—until we were married.”
“I know exactly what you’re saying.”
His chuckle held no humor. “I learned the hard way.”
“So did I. I would have left Nick, if he hadn’t disappeared.... I suppose you heard that he went hiking up in the mountains late last fall and was believed killed by a grizzly.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry. You must have all kinds of conflicting emotions under the circumstances.”
Allie let out a sigh. “You have no idea. Or maybe you do. My friend Belinda says my so-called incidents are brought on by my guilt. She’s even suggested that I see a psychic to try to contact Nick on the other side to make the guilt go away.”
He shook his head. “I think there is a very sane explanation that has nothing to do with guilt, and the last thing you need is some charlatan who’ll only take your money.”
She laughed. “That was exactly what I thought.” She couldn’t believe how much better she felt. She hadn’t felt strong for so long. Fear had weakened her, but Jackson’s words brought out some of the old Allie, that strong young woman who’d foolishly married Nick Taylor.
He hadn’t broken her at first. It had taken a few years before she’d realized what he’d done to her. She no longer had her own ideas—if they didn’t agree with his. He dressed her, told her what friends he liked and which ones he didn’t.
He’d basically taken over her life, but always making it seem as if he were doing her a favor since he knew best. And she had loved him. At least at first so she’d gone along because she hadn’t wanted to upset him. Nick could be scary when he was mad. She’d learned not to set him off.
When Nick had been nice, he’d been so sweet that she had been lulled into thinking that if she was just a little more accommodating he would be sweet all the time.
“Belinda thinks Nick knew that I was leaving him and went up in the mountains to...”
“Kill himself? What do you think?” Jackson asked.
“Nick did say he wanted to change and that he was sorry about the way he’d acted, but...”
“You didn’t believe it?”
She shook her head. “The Nick I knew couldn’t change even if he’d wanted to.”
* * *
SO WHY HAD Nick Taylor gone up into the mountains last fall and never come back? Jackson wondered.
The fact that his body hadn’t been found made Jackson more than a little suspicious. If the man had purposely gone to the mountains intending to die and leave his wife and child alone, then he was a coward. If he set the whole thing up and was now trying to have his wife committed...
The timing bothered him. His stomach roiled with anger at the thought. “Is there any chance he knew of your plans?”
“I didn’t think so. For months I’d been picking up any change he left lying around. I also had been skimping on groceries so I could save a little. He might have noticed.” She looked away guiltily. “I also took money out of his wallet if he’d been drinking. I figured he wouldn’t know how much he spent. He never said anything.”
Jackson hoped this bastard was alive because he planned to punch him before the man went to prison for what he was doing to this woman. Not lettin
g her have her own money was a sin in any marriage, no matter what some head-of-the household types said.
“I hate to even ask this, but is there any chance—”
“Nick is still alive?” She stood and paced around the room. “That would explain it, wouldn’t it? Why I think I see him or why I smell his aftershave in the house, even though I threw out the bottle months ago. Why when I start feeling better, he shows up.”
“Like at the rodeo?” Jackson asked, feeling his skin crawl at the thought of the bastard. “This only happens when there is no one else around who sees him, right?”
She nodded. “It all happens in a split second so I can’t be sure. At the rodeo, though, I almost caught him. Just a few more yards...” Allie’s eyes suddenly widened. “I remember now. Someone grabbed my arm and spun me around. That’s why I fell.”
“You think it was someone who didn’t want you to catch him.”
“Did you see anyone you recognized in the crowd before you found me?”
He thought for a moment. “I wasn’t looking for anyone but you, I’m sorry. Allie, all of this is classic gaslighting. Someone wants to unnerve you, to make you think you’re imagining things, to make you doubt your own reality and ultimately make you doubt your own sanity.”
She met his gaze. Her eyes filled with tears. “You think it’s Nick?”
“I think it’s a possibility. If he suspected you were going to leave him and take Natalie...he might have staged his death. He had the most to lose if you left him and with his body never being found...”
* * *
NICK ALIVE? ALLIE felt a chill move through her. Her husband had been a ghost, haunting her from his mountain grave for months. Now he had taken on an even more malevolent spirit.
She got up and threw another log on the fire. But not even the hot flames could chase away the icy cold that had filled her at the thought of Nick still alive. Not just alive but stalking her, trying to make her think she was crazy. Still, why—
“You think he’s after Natalie,” she said and frowned. “He’s never cared that much about her. He wanted a son and when he didn’t get one...”
“Believe me. I know what it’s like to have a vindictive spouse who would do anything to hurt me—including taking a child she didn’t really want.”
“Oh, Jackson, I’m so sorry.”
“If your husband is alive, you can bet he is behind all of this.”
If Nick really was alive, then Drew would know. It would also explain why Drew was being so protective and acting jealous over Jackson.
Jackson stepped to her. “There is one thing you can count on. It’s going to get worse. Nick will have to escalate his plan. He probably has a story already planned for when he comes stumbling out of the mountains after being attacked and having no memory for months. But that story won’t hold up if it goes on much longer. I don’t want to scare you, but if whoever is behind this can’t drive you crazy, they might get desperate and decide the best way to get Natalie is to get rid of her mother for good.”
She shuddered.
“Sorry,” he said. “I know it seems like a leap...”
Jackson looked to the dark window before returning his gaze to her. “But if your husband is alive, then you have to assume he is watching your every move.”
If Nick wasn’t, then Drew was doing it for him, she realized. “You really think it’s possible?” she asked in a whisper as if not only was he watching but he was listening, as well.
“Given what has been happening to you and the fact that his body was never found?” Jackson nodded. “But if he is alive, we can’t let him know that we’re on to him.”
We. That had such a wonderful sound. She had felt so alone in all this. Suddenly, she wasn’t. Jackson believed her. He didn’t think she was crazy. Far from it. He thought all of this was happening because someone wanted her to believe she was crazy. Maybe not just someone, but the man she’d married.
She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat at the thought of how far her husband had gone and to what end? “He must have known I was leaving him and taking Natalie.”
“That would be my guess. With you in the nuthouse, he could reappear and take your daughter.”
The thought of Natalie with a man who would do something like that turned her blood to ice.
“But if he is alive, then—” Jackson seemed to hesitate “—then I really can’t see how he could have pulled this off without help.”
Allie knew what he was saying. Not just Drew but Mildred and Sarah might be in on this. “His brother, Drew, has been around a lot since Nick...disappeared and has helped out financially until the investigation is over. His mother’s never liked me and didn’t believe me when I’ve told her about only some of the things that have been happening. Or at least she pretended not to.”
Jackson nodded. “What about Drew’s sister, Sarah?”
“She’s afraid of Mother Taylor, not that I can blame her.”
He looked away for a moment. “What about the two women working with you on the wedding?”
“Belinda and Megan? Belinda’s the only friend who stuck with me after I married Nick. He tried to run her off but she wasn’t having any of it.” Allie didn’t want to believe it. Refused to. She shook her head. “She’s been on my side against them. And Megan? She’s my stepsister I never knew until...”
“Until?” he prompted.
“I guess it was right before Nick died. Megan contacted me. She was just finishing up her college degree at the University of Montana in Missoula. After my mother died, my father remarried several times and had more children. He moved away and I lost track of him and my step-siblings. Megan was like a gift coming into our lives when she did. Nat adores her. I adore her. You can’t think she is somehow involved in any of this.”
Jackson didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. His skepticism was written all over his face. “It’s the timing that bothers me.”
She nodded. He thought she was naive. She’d always been too trusting. Isn’t that what Nick had told her time and time again?
Allie quickly turned away as she felt hot tears scald her eyes. All of this was just too much. She thought of her daughter and hurriedly wiped at her tears. Straightening her back, she felt a surge of anger and turned back to face Jackson.
“Whoever is doing this, they aren’t going to win. What do we do?” she asked.
“We catch them. Do you have a photograph of Nick?”
As she left the room, she noticed that the sun had come up. She came back with a snapshot. “This is the only one I could find. It’s one of Nick and his brother, Drew. Nick is the one on the right.”
Jackson looked down at the photo. “They look alike.”
“Do they?” she said, looking at the snapshot he was holding. “I guess they do a little,” she said, surprised that she hadn’t noticed it because their personalities were so different. “Drew was always the quiet one. Nick was his mother’s favorite. I’m sure that had something to do with why he was so cocky and smart-mouthed. Drew was the one always standing back watching.”
“Did Drew resent that?” Jackson asked.
Allie frowned. “I don’t know. He didn’t seem to. Just the other day he was telling me how hard it was to keep the business going without Nick.”
Jackson turned thoughtful for a moment. “You mentioned something about Belinda wanting you to see some psychic so you could reach Nick on the other side? I think you should do it.”
Allie blinked in surprise. “Seriously? You don’t think I’m messed up enough?”
“It’s Belinda’s idea, right? If she is involved, then this séance with the psychic is a trap. But since we are on to them now, it would help to know what they have planned for you. I suspect it won’t be pleasant, though. I’m sure it is suppos
ed to push you over the edge, if you aren’t already dangling there. Do you think you can handle it?”
She raised her chin, her eyes dry, resolve burning in her like a blazing fire. She thought of the people who had been tricking her for months. Anger boiled up inside her along with a steely determination. She hadn’t felt this strong in years. “I can handle it.”
Jackson smiled at her. “Good.” He checked his watch. “Give the psychic a call. Calling this early she will think you are desperate to see her, exactly what we want her to think.”
Allie dug the card out, glad now that she’d saved it. She took a breath, let it out and dialed the number. Jackson stepped closer so he could hear.
She was surprised when a young-sounding woman answered after three rings.
“I’m sorry to call so early but I need your help. My friend Belinda suggested I call you.” Jackson gave her a thumbs-up.
“You must be Allie. I was hoping you’d call. You’re in danger—and so is your daughter. I need to see you as soon as possible.”
“Is today too soon, then?” Allie asked.
“Why don’t you come this evening, say about eight? Will that work for you?”
Allie met Jackson’s gaze. He nodded. “That would be fine. I hope you can help me.”
“I will do my best but ultimately it will be up to the spirits.”
Jackson swore softly as Allie disconnected. “Spirits my ass. Between now and then, I will try to find out everything I can about the people with access to you.” He reached over and took her hand. “Don’t worry. We’re going to catch these bastards.”
Chapter Eight
When Jackson returned to the ranch, he found his brothers, told them what he thought was going on and asked for their help. He no longer kidded himself that he wasn’t involved.
“I can talk to the cops about what they found in the mountains,” Hayes said. “You say Nick Taylor’s body still hasn’t been found? Isn’t that odd? He died late last fall and even with hikers in the area, no remains have turned up?”
“No, that’s what makes me suspicious,” Jackson said. “His claw-shredded backpack and rifle were discovered at the scene with grizzly prints in the dirt and enough blood to make them believe he was killed there. But still no remains of any kind.”