Tempestuous Taurus Page 4

  Tara pushed past them, opened the screen door, and held it for the child to enter.

  “Kaitlyn doesn’t like to be touched, so let her climb onto a chair herself,” Jared said.

  Tara busied herself getting cookies out of the pantry and poured a glass of milk. “What just happened out there? That was Copper. There’s something wrong with him. He’s agitated and twitchy. You told Roberto to walk him. Do you think he has colic?” She placed the cookies on a plate and set them in front of the little girl. “And who is this hungry child, and what was she doing in Copper’s stall?”

  “Long story,” he said. “Kaitlyn used to take therapy classes here, with the other therapist, Christy—I don’t think you’ve met her—but her foster mom doesn’t like horses, so she’s not allowed to come here anymore.”

  “Some juice?” Tara asked Jared. “You know me. I don’t have any sweet tea because I prefer to drink it hot with no sugar.”

  “Thanks.” He leaned against the counter and watched her pull a glass out and fill it with orange juice. “This isn’t the first of these incidents.”

  “What do you mean, incidents?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  He hoped Tara understood that he didn’t want to talk about Kaitlyn while she was in the room. They watched her pick another Oreo apart and lick the icing.

  “Something’s been spooking the horses,” Jared said. “You saw how uptight Copper was.”

  Tara nodded.

  “It’s difficult to explain. They just—start acting twitchy and unsettled, even nervous. Never all of them at once. It always seems to be just one or other of them.”

  “Has Doc Grainger been told?”

  “Sure. He came out the first two times, and did all manner of tests, but he couldn’t find anything. Not a frickin’ thing.”

  “What do we do with Kaitlyn now?”

  “I’ll take her back home to her current foster mom, Lou Barnard. She married Skunk—remember him? Skunk Barnard? He was a year ahead of me at high school.”

  She made a face. “Kind of. Isn’t he the one who let off a stink bomb at the prize-giving in middle school?”

  “Yup.” Jared grinned. “That’s when we started calling him Skunk because the stink stuck on his clothes.”

  “I hope he’s cleaned up now.”

  “Yeah. He’s a good dude—and hard-working. Lou, his wife, has fostered a couple of other special needs kids and her hands are full, but I know she’ll be worried sick.” He set the glass on the counter and glanced across at the child. “Thanks for the drink. Come on, Kaitlyn. You can bring the cookie with you. Time to go home.”

  Kaitlyn stood up and followed him to the door.

  Jared looked back at Tara-Grace. She had never looked so gorgeous, even with the frown on her face, and the wrinkled shirt. He wanted to linger, ached to touch her anywhere—just to run his fingers through her wild hair and feel them snag in the tangles. “I’ll be back to finish up with the pump.” He took one last look at her before heading back to the truck.

  Chapter 7

  Tara watched as Jared made his way to his truck. She rubbed her arm where his naked chest had just made contact with it as she held the door open for him. “Damn.”

  The child looked half-starved, her brown eyes were too big for her face. And those long blonde braids. Someone had taken a lot of time to do that. She must be autistic, like Cassie. That was why she didn’t speak. Jared had an amazing way of handling her. So calm and sweet, and she followed him meekly.

  Jared. This was so surreal. How can he have been in the house with her?

  Tara found a bottle of red wine in the pantry and opened it, thankful it had a screw top. She didn’t know if she was hungry or not, but the wine would go down well. She needed something to calm her nerves and stop her shaking. What a day.

  The landline phone rang, making her jump. She checked the caller ID. Cory. She picked up. “Hey,” she said. “How’s Mel?”

  “She’s doing okay—as well as can be expected. Are you gonna be okay there? Do you need me to help you with anything until you’re settled in?”

  She took the handset to the chair and picked up the wine. “It would be nice if you were here to help me. Jules seems to think I’m going to wave a magic wand and everything will be back to how it was. She thinks I’m going to give up my life in Phoenix and move here and we’ll all live happily ever after.”

  Cory was silent, then, “You’re gonna have to handle this, Tara. I mean, how hard can it be? I’m only a phone call away, and I’ll do what I can from here. Jules will help you. She’s been at the Center for seven years. “

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Jared? You must have known.”

  Cory groaned. “Sorry, sis, he asked me and Jules not to tell you. I thought long and hard about it, believe me.”

  “What do you think about him being freed?”

  “I don’t think they could have gotten him pardoned if there wasn’t overwhelming evidence to show he didn’t do it.”

  “So, then who did it? If Jared didn’t do it, where’s the killer?”

  “I wish I knew the answer. I would guess whoever it was is long gone. He wouldn’t hang around and risk getting caught.”

  Tara hugged herself and took another large hit of wine. “You don’t know that. He could be living in Hardship, laughing at law enforcement because they didn’t nail him. I’m not comfortable with that thought. I don’t feel comfortable staying here on my own.”

  “I understand, and I can’t make you stay there even though I know Mom and Aunt Lacey would have expected it. But you’re gonna have to put on your big girl panties and get the records and marketing and everything else in order, and make sure the business is running effectively. Then if you want to sell the place, we’ll talk about it. I was hoping I could come for a weekend, but now with Mel as she is... I know you can do it. You’re a very capable person.”

  Tara thought about Jules’s comment about the bills piling up. She had also said there was a shortage of cash. How would she pay them? She had no idea what other problems she would have to resolve. That unsettled feeling sat heavy on her chest. What if she couldn’t handle them? She didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of the lawyers. “I’m going to see the lawyers tomorrow.”

  Chapter 8

  Lou Barnard lived in a small bungalow in the older section of town, where the houses had been built in the seventies and before. Children’s toys lay strewn across the un-mowed lawn. A tabby cat ducked into the bushes beside the road as Jared parked outside the once-white picket fence.

  He wished Lou would keep better control of Kaitlyn as he turned and smiled at her. “We’re home, Katy. I bet your mama is worried about you.” He unfastened her seatbelt on the passenger side seat and she wriggled free and pulled the door handle.

  Jared went around and followed her to the front door. She tried to open it before he got there but it was locked. He rang the bell and stepped back.

  “Just a minute,” a shrill voice called. A child cried somewhere inside the house.

  After a few moments, the door opened and Lou, a short, thirty-something woman with freckles and her blonde hair in a high ponytail stared down at Kaitlyn. “You’ve been a naughty girl running away like that again. Go to your room.” She wore faded jeans and a blue T-shirt, and a harassed expression on her face.

  “Thank God she’s okay. Where was she? I suppose she was at the Taurus Center again.” She opened the door and waved him in. “I only discovered she was gone a little while ago when I went to wake her from her nap. I know that makes me a bad mother, but I’m doing the best that I can. Come in and have a drink, Jared. And thank you so much for bringing her home.”

  “I don’t want to get in your way,” he said, knowing how busy she must be trying to control al
l those kids.

  “It’s the least I can do and I could use some adult company. Skunk’s probably at Mad Dog’s again. I swear he should own shares in that bar, the amount of time he spends there.”

  He followed her to the kitchen where she took two wine glasses out and poured white wine into them. “This is all I have. Hope it’s okay. It’s chardonnay. We’ll sit in the dining room. It’s about the cleanest place at the moment. Sit.” She indicated the chair beside her.

  A child screamed from another room and then another one yelled. Lou stood up and excused herself.

  Jared sipped his wine and looked around at the cluttered countertops and sink piled with dirty dishes. He wondered about Kaitlyn and how dangerous it was for her to be running around on her own. Lou was a nice enough person. Her heart was in the right place, but she wasn’t a good mother.

  Roberto had texted him to let him know that Copper had calmed down and he had put him back in his stall, so that was one less thing to worry about for the moment, but he wished he could find out who was doing this to the horses and why.

  Lou came back and flopped into her chair. She held up her glass. “Cheers,” she said and clinked it with Jared’s glass. She took a large gulp. “This is the only thing that keeps me sane,” she said. “I only allow myself one glass in the evening. Some days I wish I could drink myself into oblivion, but I can’t and I wouldn’t.”

  She reached out and laid her hand over Jared’s. “What would I do without you? You’re like Kaitlyn’s guardian angel.” She squeezed his hand and leaned toward him.

  Women liked him—were drawn to him all the time and he didn’t know why. It didn’t seem to matter what age they were. From twelve years old to sixty or more, they often seemed to need to touch him—a light caress of a shoulder, or a momentary grip on his arm. He patted her hand and took another sip of wine. “How did she get out this time?” he asked. He wondered how often Lou’s husband came home sober enough to make love to her. She clearly needed to be held and told she was beautiful.

  He liked sex as well as anyone and often took advantage of the opportunities presented to him, but he never got in the way of other people’s marriages. And now Tara was home and everything had changed. Just the thought of her and his heartbeat quickened.

  He glanced at Lou’s face and wondered what she was thinking.

  Disappointment flashed in her eyes and was gone. She removed her hand and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I wish I knew. We had burglar bars put on the windows because of her, but she snuck out of the door when I wasn’t watching. I’ve already called Jim Turner at Hardship Locksmiths. He said he can change the locks on the doors so we’ll need a key to get out, but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. If we have a fire or some other emergency, we can’t go around searching for keys.”

  “I don’t know how you handle all these kids, and I wish I had an answer for you.”

  She laughed. “Me either. Sometimes I think I’m crazy, but I just have a thing for special needs children that no one wants. They’re desperate for the security—to know that someone cares.”

  He knew the state paid for their upkeep, but he wasn’t sure how much. He looked down at his drink, and when he looked up, Lou’s eyes were filled with tears. A loud sob escaped and she threw her arms around him. He held her and tried to comfort her, but he never really knew what to do when a woman cried and carried on.

  “I don’t know what to do with her—with Kaitlyn,” Lou cried into his shoulder. “She’ll probably have to go back into the system when they find out she ran away again. She’ll hate that.”

  Jared waited until she got a hold of herself and pulled away. “I’m so sorry.” She sniffed. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. “It’s just so horrible to think what’ll happen to her.”

  Jared drained his glass and stood up. “You’re a good woman, Lou, and I’m not gonna report this to anyone, but you have to do something. She was in the stall with a horse again and she could have been trampled or kicked. And what about her being alone on the streets? I know this is a small town and most people are pretty decent, but it just takes one crazy person. Think about Tara’s parents. Anything could happen to her out there.”

  Lou stood up and reached out as if to touch his shoulder but pulled her hand back. “And you’re a good man, Jared White.”

  He could still see the sadness in her eyes as she let him out of the door.

  Chapter 9

  Tara fetched her luggage from the SUV and carried it upstairs. She wished she knew more about Kaitlyn. Jared had said she had a foster mother, and she was an orphan. Like Cassie, she appeared to be autistic. She certainly had no fear of horses, and Tara couldn’t understand why her foster mother wouldn’t want her to get therapy at the Center.

  The equine therapy had worked wonders for Cassie, who had learned to talk and to live a normal life. But the murder of their parents had been too much for her to handle. Tara hadn’t seen her little sister since a week after her parents’ funeral when she had found her in her room packing a suitcase.

  “Where do think you’re going, missy?” she had asked.

  “I’m leaving here and never coming back,” Cassie had said.

  “Don’t be stupid. You’re only sixteen. Where will you go?”

  “Hollywood. I’ll find a job there, acting in movies. Jared said I’m pretty enough.”

  “Jared?” What was he thinking telling her that? He knew how vulnerable she was. “You’ll end up as a junky prostitute on the streets with nothing. Is that what you want?”

  Tara and Aunt Lacey had tried to stop her from going. Cory, who was back in Florida had tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. In the middle of the night when everyone was asleep, she had snuck out.

  The missing persons bureau of the FBI had gotten involved and Tara and Cory had spent a week in California, mainly around Hollywood and Venice Beach putting up flyers and talking to people on the streets and showing them Cassie’s picture. They both knew it was like looking for a needle in a haystack that could quite possibly be the wrong haystack, but they couldn’t sit around and not do anything.

  The Feds searched for her and kept in contact, but eventually, the case went cold, although they assured Tara they never stopped looking for anyone who had gone missing.

  Every year for five years after that, on the week of Cassie’s birthday, Cory had met up with Tara in Los Angeles and repeated the process of asking questions and putting up flyers. Then Cory got married and they adopted the twins. His business demanded more time and attention, and they had stopped physically searching.

  Tara had never given up, though, and did whatever she could to try to find Cassie. She spent hours on the internet looking for Cassie’s face on porn sites and databases of missing persons, and Cassie’s friends on social media, but nothing had ever come of it. It was as if Cassie had disappeared off the face of the earth.

  She blew out a long breath,

  Cory had told her he figured the only way a person like her could go off the radar so effectively would be if she had died. Tara refused to believe that. She pushed the door of her old room open. It hadn’t changed much. The full-size bed was still where she used to have it in the corner, and the white-painted dresser and chair were the same ones she had used as a child. Even the bright rose-patterned comforter was familiar. Didn’t those things ever wear out? She bent and sniffed it. It smelled the same as it had always smelled. Sweet and pleasant.

  She was thankful Mrs. Pocket had the presence of mind not to expect her to sleep in her parents’ bedroom. Aunt Lacey had moved from the guest cottage into the big house and into that bedroom after her parents had been killed, but for Tara, the room held the aura of unspeakable dread forever. She couldn’t possibly stay in there. She hadn’t stepped foot into the room since that god-awful day.


  She went back downstairs and poured another glass of wine. Jared would be back soon to fix the pump. She wasn’t sure if he would come to the house or just do the job and leave, thinking it was late to rouse her. She sank into an easy chair in the living room. So much had happened in such a short time.

  Ten years ago, someone had murdered her mom and dad. Why? And if Jared didn’t do it, that person was still out there someplace. Could Cory be right? Was the killer long gone? What if he wasn’t? She consoled herself with the thought that no one had ever attacked Aunt Lacey when she had lived in the house.

  She made her way upstairs and gasped when she entered her room. Curled up on her pillow in her bedroom was an orange cat.

  “Slugbug.” She smiled.

  The cat looked up and then dropped its head back ono the pillow, unperturbed as if Tara had never been away. Jared had brought the tiny, wet kitten he had rescued from a storm drain during a tempestuous rainstorm He had handed it to Cassie, who had yelped with joy. “Oh, my God. This is mine?”

  A tear escaped from Tara’s eye as she stroked the cat. It started to purr but didn’t uncurl itself. She wiped her cheek and yawned. Then she pulled her T-shirt off and threw it on the floor, followed by her bra, her jeans, and her panties. She climbed under the sheets, enjoying the smoothness on her naked skin. The cat moved over and pressed himself close to her leg.

  What a fucking day. And what the hell was she going to do with the Taurus Center? How long would she have to stay? If she found a buyer, would they keep the Center going? Cory was right. Her mom and Aunt Lacey would expect her to take over. What if she sold it and someone split up the land and built a development on it? They would roll over in their graves.