Cold Case Manhunt

by Jennifer Morey

  “And for another?” she asked.

  “I didn’t feel like explaining anything to my dad.”

  “He thinks we’re a couple and that isn’t true.”

  “It’s kind of true.” He hefted the suitcases on the stands located in front of the windows.

  Jaslene went there and opened hers, digging out a comfortable but practical nightgown. Cal removed his shirt and shoes, then went into the bathroom to wash his face.

  With the evening’s events running through her mind, she went to the other of the two sinks.

  “Your sister is nice,” she said.

  He finished drying his face and looked at her in the mirror. “Yes.”

  “So is your mother.”

  “What are you trying to say, Jaslene?”

  He sounded taxed from the hours spent with family he wanted nothing to do with, and yet he’d flown back to Dallas at the drop of a hat as soon as he’d heard his mother had a ministroke.

  “It’s not your entire family that’s annoying,” she said. “Your brother and father have a...strange way of viewing the world, but your sister and mother are fine.”

  “Except for the fact that, in order to see them, I’d also have to see Newman and Corbin.”

  “I still think you should talk to your dad. Corbin would probably follow his lead if you patched things up. Your father’s approval seems really important to him.”

  Cal suddenly removed his jeans, taking Jaslene by surprise. He stopped in the doorway where she stood.

  “Don’t worry. I’m too tired to do anything but fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

  After watching him walk to the bed and admiring his butt, she took her time in the bathroom.

  When she emerged, Cal lay on the bed, blankets up to his chest, but exposing his nipples. He had not fallen asleep when his head hit the pillow. His head wasn’t even on the pillow. It was on his folded arm, bulging his muscles.

  The TV played at a low volume. Jaslene went to the bed, nervous about sleeping with him. She climbed under the covers and lay looking up at the ceiling.

  “I thought you were tired,” she said.

  “I thought so, too.”

  He must be thinking about his father, being back here.

  Jaslene rolled onto her side, propping her head on her hand, the covers under her other arm. “Your mother was glad to see you.”

  Smiling warmly, he turned his head. “Yeah.”

  Once he had told her that he didn’t come back because he didn’t want to see his dad. Jaslene thought he had a bad habit of avoiding his problems. She needed a gentle way of broaching that with him.

  “It must be hard to deal with all the death in your line of work and then have to face things that don’t turn out the way you would like in your personal life.”

  He rolled his head straight again. “Jaslene...”

  He didn’t sound terribly angry...yet. “All I’m saying is, you have enough to deal with in your job.”

  “You’re saying more than that. Stop sugarcoating and say what you want to say.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to overstep a boundary.” She wanted to help him grow past his ex, whom she now knew was named Megan.

  “Yes, go ahead.”

  He seemed genuinely all right with her talking about this. “Well,” she put her hand on his torso and rubbed slowly. “Maybe you haven’t gotten over Megan and haven’t forgiven your father yet because you can’t.”

  Cal looked from where her hand rubbed to her. “I don’t follow.”

  “You don’t want to do the work it will take to resolve the way you feel,” she said.

  “And how would I go about doing that?”

  “You could start by talking to your father.”

  He looked up at the ceiling, brow going marginally low. “That’s probably going to be inevitable. I’ll have to talk to him, whether I want to or not.”

  “Tell him how you feel, Cal.” Jaslene stopped rubbing but left her hand there.

  “I have. Many times. It doesn’t work.”

  “Have you ever vanished for three years before?”

  He sighed and met her gaze and she could see he had not.

  “Maybe he’ll listen this time. Give him a chance.”

  Cal didn’t respond for a few seconds. “What about Megan? I don’t want to talk to her.”

  Jaslene rested her head on his folded arm and began running her finger along his chest. “She’s a different matter.”

  “I can’t wait to hear your suggestion.” He sounded sarcastic but not irritated.

  “Her you just have to chalk up to a mistake, learn from it and put it behind you. Stop overprotecting your heart, Cal. Don’t let her have that kind of hold over you.”

  “Huh. Easier said than done.”

  “You can still have what you wanted with someone else.”

  He turned his head and their faces were closer. “You?”

  She hadn’t meant to imply herself, but now that she had she would go with it. “The jury is still deliberating on that.”

  He chuckled and took hold of her hand, stopping the drawing on his chest. “It is.”

  Cal moved her hand down until he placed it over his erection. All the while they’d talked he’d been lying there getting aroused.

  As he kissed her, his response kept going through her mind. He would still hold back with her but as passion grew it ceased to matter.

  Chapter 9

  Cal woke up early the next morning and left Jaslene sleeping lest they ignite another inferno. He had surprised himself by being receptive to talking about his dad and Megan with Jaslene. Truth be told, he wanted to hear what Jaslene had to say. He wanted to know how to get past his personal demons. Talking to his dad, he could do. Letting Megan go would be harder. Not letting her go; he had let go of her the day he had discovered her betrayal. He had to let go of his bitterness. Jaslene was melting into his heart. Look at him; he was thinking of Megan by her name now. That had to be because of Jaslene. He and Jaslene were so good together. Therein lay the problem. Whenever he considered giving something serious a try, he got cold all over.

  He saw his dad was alone at the kitchen island bar, sitting on a stool with a cup of coffee and his tablet, working no doubt.

  Reluctantly, Cal went to the cabinet and found a cup, then poured fresh coffee that smelled like only the best money could buy.

  “Phyllis made breakfast,” his dad said with a brief glance his way. “It’s on the table.”

  Phyllis was the housekeeper-slash-cook. Cal looked behind him and saw the spread, kept warm in catering pans. “Does she work through tonight’s dinner, too?”

  Now his father held his gaze. “No, we have a night staff to make it for us.”

  Cal took his cup and sat a chair over from his dad. Maybe he and Jaslene would go home today. He felt the tension between himself and his father, the difficulty he always had with him socially. They might as well be strangers.

  “Your brother has always been envious of you.”

  Cal didn’t expect his dad to say something like that.

  “That’s why he’s always taking jabs at you,” his dad said, sipping some coffee with his gaze still on the tablet.

  “What about his wife? Am I supposed to be impressed?”

  Newman grunted with a grin and glanced at Cal; for the first time in a long while, Cal felt any sliver of a connection with his father. “No. That’s Corbin trying to feel like as much of a man as you are.”

  Cal could only gape at his father. “You think I’m a man?”

  “Takes a pair of huevos to do what you do. And now you’ve joined that agency. I never got to tell you I was proud of what you’ve done with your life, Cal. The rangers. Your degree. Becoming a homicide detective.”

  Seeing
the sincerity in his dad’s eyes, Cal wondered if he’d finally reached an age where wisdom had finally kicked in. “Did Mother put you up to this?” He had to ask.

  His dad grinned again. “No. And for the record, I still don’t like your political orientation.”

  Because it didn’t align with his.

  “How’s business?”

  “The ranch is running great with Skylar managing everything.”

  Cal felt a further softening toward his father, but held back in case this was just a lapse in his ordinarily cutthroat operation. “I meant your business.”

  “Aw, now, Cal, you know this ranch is my first love.”

  Cal had to take a moment to digest that. He had never perceived his father to be a rancher first and top corporate executive second. “Actually, I didn’t.”

  His father met his eyes as the realization his son hadn’t known hit him. “You and I never had much chance to talk after your divorce and you decided to stay in that little southeastern town.”

  This was the most they had talked in years. “Why didn’t you come home for a visit before this?”

  “I called.”

  “On holidays. Hardly the time to have a father-son talk. And the phone... I guess I didn’t know how to broach the subject. And I knew you were hurt over Megan. I wanted to give you time.”

  Cal could appreciate his dad giving him space, but wasn’t three years a little much?

  “I can’t lie and say I don’t enjoy working corporate,” his dad said. “I do. But this ranch means everything to me. It’s my legacy, what I’ll leave to my children. The three of you and your mother are more important to me than anything, more than my success as an executive. As soon as I heard you were coming here, I decided I had to tell you that.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  His dad smiled slightly, warmly. “Will you come see us more, son? Your mother...”

  “Yeah.” Cal looked away. While a ministroke hadn’t killed Francesca, she was at risk of a bigger one. Her life could end at any time. Cal wouldn’t waste time. “I will.”

  His dad put his hand over Cal’s and gave him a few pats. “I’ll work on Corbin but I can’t promise he won’t continue to be annoying.”

  “I can handle Corbin.”

  His dad returned his attention to his tablet. “What about that girl you brought? How long have you been seeing her?”

  “I’m not seeing her.”

  His dad turned to him. “Looks to me like you are. Was I mistaken in putting you in the same room?”

  “No.” Cal never got uncomfortable around family but with this new turn in his relationship with his dad, he felt that way now. “I need her close to protect her.”

  “But you’re already close, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know her that well.”

  His dad studied him while he appeared to mull over that. “I see.”

  What did he mean? Cal continued to look at him.

  “You aren’t seeing her but you two have something going on. I get it.”

  His dad had never spoken this casually to him. “What’s changed in you?”

  His father’s brows twitched. “Changed?”

  “Yeah. You usually aren’t this nice to me,” Cal half joked.

  His dad chuckled briefly before he sobered. “When your mom...” He rubbed his forehead.

  “Where were you when it happened?”

  He sighed. “Work.” He turned to Cal. “Skylar called and said the ambulance was on the way. I had my corporate helicopter take me to the hospital. When I got there, Skylar told me Francesca called her and she couldn’t understand what she was saying. She called 911 on her way to the house. The doctors said she had a stroke and tests were being done to determine how severe.”

  Cal could imagine how the waiting must have tortured him.

  “I was baffled. How could she have had a stroke? Corbin arrived and finally we were allowed to go in the emergency room to see her. When she smiled and said she was fine, I never felt more relieved in my life.”

  “Test came back with a mini?”

  “Yes.” His dad rubbed his face this time, clearly agitated. “I don’t know what I would do without her, Cal.”

  “She’ll be around for a long time, Dad. She isn’t the lying-down kind. She loves this ranch as much as you do. She’s a hard worker and has been healthy, other than the stroke, hasn’t she?”

  His dad nodded. “Yeah, but I still am afraid.”

  This time Cal put his hand on his father’s. “No matter what happens we’ll all be here for you.”

  His father shook off his melancholy, his emotion something so rarely seen in such a man. “I’ll be all right on my own, I just can’t bear the thought of living without my Francesca.”

  Cal grinned at first and then couldn’t stop a chuckle. “The iron man falls at the feet of a woman. I always knew you loved her but this is pretty pathetic, Dad.”

  His dad half smiled. “Don’t tell anyone.”

  * * *

  Hearing the front door open, Jaslene left her eavesdropping spot and went into the kitchen. She’d been about to enter when she heard Cal and his father talking and stopped short. She heard Cal ask why his father hadn’t called and couldn’t stop listening after that. Yawning to cover up the guilt over intruding on a private conversation, she went to the coffee machine, feeling Cal watch her.

  She inwardly cheered for Cal bonding with his father—finally. She also wondered how Newman could tell there was something going on between her and Cal.

  As she turned to take her coffee to the table behind Cal and Newman, Skylar entered, dressed in Wranglers, boots, a flannel shirt and cowgirl hat. Her presence zapped energy into the room.

  “How’s Mom?” she asked.

  Seeing food had been put out on the table, she took a plate from a stack and scooped eggs and potatoes onto it along with some fruit.

  “I almost had to tie her down to keep her from getting out of bed,” Newman said. “Phyllis is up with her now, probably force-feeding her.”

  Skylar smiled and poured some coffee. “She’ll be down shortly. Just let her be.”

  Newman looked up with what Jaslene imagined was an unappreciative glance. Then he finished his coffee and stood, bending to put the tablet in his leather laptop case.

  “I’ve got to go into the office for a while. Will you be here for dinner?” he asked Cal.

  Cal glanced at Jaslene and then said, “Yes.”

  His dad nodded once, back to his unapproachable self.

  “Bye, Dad,” Skylar called.

  “Daughter.” Newman left and Cal went to sit at the table, putting a plate of food together.

  Skylar joined them, eyeing the two of them as she ate.

  “Jaslene, would you like me to give you a tour of the ranch?” she asked.

  She’d love that. “Yes. I really would.” She turned to Cal. “Will you join us?”

  “This is a girls-only tour,” Skylar cut in.

  Cal smiled and said, “I want to spend some time with my mother.”

  As he should. Jaslene tried not to melt even more for him, at his softening toward his family. She even began to think he’d never actually been hardened. He’d only closed himself off, when all the while underneath was the capacity for love. Maybe there was hope for him after all.

  “And then we need to get back to Chesterville,” Cal said.

  Jaslene sobered. They had to go back but they would go back to Riley trying to find a way to make her pay for his perceived wrong.

  * * *

  Jaslene rode with Skylar in her big blue diesel pickup truck along the narrow paved road toward the stable. About a quarter mile from the house, it was an enormous structure with a green metal roof. Miles of fence rose and dipped with the rolling landscape. Trees followed a meande
ring stream in the valley to the left and horses grazed on hay bales and grass.

  “This is our main stable,” Skylar said as they walked toward the expansive building. “There are two other barns on the property that you can’t see from here.” She stopped before entering a side door and pointed toward another sizable building. “That’s an indoor riding arena. The others are a carriage house, storage shed and equipment garage. We even have a chicken coop.”

  “Do you use that greenhouse?”

  “Yes. One of our cooks does. He’s quite a chef. There’s an apple orchard, a pumpkin patch, and behind the house a garden with a path and a pond. It’s beautiful in the summer.”

  That was one thing Cal’s house in Chesterville didn’t have—a garden. She imagined gardening with him as a couple. Maybe even starting a family.

  Seeing several ranch hands moving around the buildings, she could appreciate the amount of work it would take to run a ranch this size. “What other animals do you have besides horses?”

  “Some cattle. Goats. Pigs. It brings in a decent revenue. Enough to keep the ranch in the black.” She smiled, full of triumph.

  Jaslene could see Skylar prided herself at managing the ranch successfully enough not to have to rely on her father’s substantial income.

  For someone who grew up among all this wealth, Skylar sure did seem humble. She explained everything as information only, with no hint of boasting.

  Following her into the stable, she saw that two horses had already been saddled. Skylar must have had this planned long before she’d invited Jaslene to join her.

  “Have you ever ridden before?”

  “A few times.” She was no equestrian but she could stay seated.

  Skylar handed her the reins to a brown-and-white horse while she took the big, gray gelding.

  “This is Prince Bogie. Bogie for short. He’s my baby.”

  The horse nickered as though protesting the nicknames.