Quite a different life-style from She caught herself. From where I come from. She shifted positions on the sofa and he caught a whiff of her pleasant floral perfume.
She obviously didnt trust him yet and was afraid to let him know what city held the secrets of her past and the events that had brought her to Mustang.
Without movie theaters or shopping malls, what do the youth of Mustang do for entertainment?
The town holds a lot of dances and social gatherings, but most of the time the teens gather at a little stream just outside of town. Theres a tree down there they call the kissing tree and legend has it if you kiss a girl beneath that tree, her heart will belong to you through eternity.
She smiled. Have you ever kissed a girl beneath the tree?
Nah. Came close a couple of times in my youth, but the idea of eternity always loomed larger than any desire to steal a kiss. He frowned. At the moment, the kissing tree and the surrounding area is off-limits to everyone.
Why is that?
Jesse stood, restless as he thought of the latest criminal case to strike the small town. It was the craziest crime hed ever had to deal with. Two weeks ago a woman was kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Jesse paced from the chair to the window. She was bound, blind-folded and gagged. Apparently she was taken to the kissing tree, kissed, then left there. She was found by a couple of teenagers.
How horrible. Was she hurt? She spoke first to the chair, then toward the window, as if unsure exactly where he stood.
Physically, no. But she was terribly traumatized. He left the window and again sat in his chair, realizing it was easier for her to talk to him if he remained static. At first we figured it might be a bad joke, some sort of prank or bet carried out by some kid. Then last week it happened again to another single woman.
You still think its kids playing jokes?
No. Jesse threaded a hand through his hair and forced himself to remain seated. If the females were teenagers, then I might still think another teen was responsible, but these women arent teenagers. The first is twenty-six and the latest is twenty-eight. They arent kids.
You certainly didnt need the extra responsibility of a blind woman in your care right now, she said, only this time he heard no tinge of self-pity in her voice. She was merely stating the obvious.
I wouldnt have mentioned this to you at all, but if youre going to be here for any length of time, youre sure to hear about it from other sources. Jesse rubbed his stomach, where he thought he might be trying to develop an ulcer. Mustangs intrepid social reporter has decided to take it upon herself and become the reporter detailing the case of Casanova.
His stomach burned as he thought of Millicent Creighton, who at the best of times could be an irritant, but lately had been a veritable pain in the rear. Twice in the last week, hed caught the older woman snooping around the kissing tree, looking for clues to the madman who held Mustang in his grip of terror. The last time hed caught her there, hed threatened to arrest her if he found her there again.
Casanovais that what youre calling him?
Thats what our friendly reporter, Millie Creighton, has dubbed him.
She released a sigh and twisted a strand of her hair between thumb and forefinger. Jesse noticed that her hand trembled slightly. Theres really no place in this world thats truly safe, is there?
She didnt wait for his reply, but rather continued. You think youre safe
in your own home, or in a family members home, but there are no guarantees. You think youre safe in your own bed, but that isnt necessarily so, is it?
Her unseeing gaze found him, her eyes luminous, yet holding the shadows of whatever nightmare shed endured. Tell me Ill be safe here, Jesse. I just need to know that for a little while I can let go of the fear inside me.
As Jesse saw the haunting of her eyes, felt both the tragedy and the fear that emanated from her, he wished he could reassure her, promise her sanctuary, but Jesse had never been one to make false promises.
He knew nothing about her situation, knew nothing about what danger might find her here. He wouldnt lie, couldnt give her guarantees that didnt exist.
Somethingan expression of need in her eyestouched him, and he didnt like it. He didnt like it one bit. He didnt want to get caught up in her drama, didnt want to know her life history or what had so dramatically changed her life. She was a jobnothing more, nothing less. In two weeks time shed be gone, back to where she belonged.
My job is to keep you safe, and thats what I intend to do. His job wasnt to help her work through her state of blindness, nor was it to aid her in adjusting to the losses fate had thrown her way.
Still, being sure in his mind what his responsibilities were where she was concerned, didnt dispel the feeling that if he wasnt very careful, he could be in way over his head with this woman.
Chapter 3
Shed never dreamed that one day she would miss that eye-watering, slight sting of looking directly at the sun.