Broken Pieces Page 3

  He’d learned a valuable lesson since that first night with her. He’d learned that dead girls couldn’t tell; especially dead girls whose bodies were never found.

  Chapter 3

  Mariah was up before dawn and in the kitchen to tackle the mess. Sleep had been a long time coming the night before. Along with the storm came the haunting of ghosts to keep her awake.

  Many nights she’d fallen asleep listening to her father practicing his Sunday sermon, his deep voice booming from the basement of the house to the rafters overhead.

  Even though she knew that he was dead and in his grave, his voice had filled her head until finally she’d slipped from her bed and gone downstairs to the foyer.

  She’d grabbed the willow sticks from the umbrella stand and snapped them into pieces, then thrown the pieces out the front door and into the storm. She’d gone back to bed then and slept the rest of the night through.

  It had been strange this morning to awaken to the silence of the house in the bed she’d slept in for the first seventeen years of her life. Despite her lack of sleep, a warm shower had invigorated her. She was ready to kick this old house into shape and get it on the market.

  She pulled on an old pair of denim shorts and a navy blue tank top, yanked her long hair into an untidy ponytail, then found cleaning supplies beneath the kitchen sink.

  She’d always found cleaning cathartic. She’d done a lot of cleaning of this house when she’d been young. Cleanliness was next to godliness, as her father had reminded her a million times. But she’d never minded her chores, found the act of taking something dirty and making it clean strangely fulfilling.

  Her best friend, Janice, thought that her enjoyment of cleaning was nothing short of psychotic. “If you ever decide to jump back into the relationship game, you’ll make some man a great wife,” Janice often said, then laughed. “Hell, I’d marry you if you could cook as well as you clean.”

  Mariah smiled as she began to scrub down the countertops, her thoughts filled with the woman who had, in all probability, saved her life.

  Janice Solomon had been a twenty-nine-year-old nurse and trained midwife when she’d come to the shelter to talk to a very pregnant Mariah. That day Janice had taken a chance. She’d taken Mariah into her apartment. It had been Janice who had risked her career to fudge the dates of Kelsey’s birth. She was the only person on the face of the earth who knew the truth about the rape.

  Over the years she’d become like an older sister to Mariah and a favorite aunt to Kelsey. She’d encouraged Mariah to go back to school to get her teaching degree at the same time Janice had returned to school to get a degree in psychology.

  Janice now had a private practice and worked as a life coach and counselor for troubled teens. She’d never married, although over the years she had often dated. Now at forty-five years old she believed she was far too set in her ways to ever entertain the idea of marital bliss.

  Mariah lost herself in the cleaning, occasionally stopping only long enough to write down something on a list she’d begun to keep of what needed to be done.

  The kitchen floor was hopeless. The old tiles not only dated the house horribly but also looked just as bad after she cleaned them as they did when they were dirty. She definitely needed to find a handyman who could do the work she couldn’t.

  “Wow.”

  Mariah jumped at her daughter’s voice and whirled around to see her standing in the doorway. She threw the rag she’d been using to scrub the floor in the sink, then smiled at her daughter. “Better, yes?”

  “At least now I won’t be afraid to touch the countertops.” Kelsey scratched her stomach, then hitched up the pajama bottoms that hung precariously low on her slender hips. “The floor still looks gross.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to have to find somebody to replace it. Now that I have everything clean, I think it’s time we make a trip to the store to stock the fridge and pantry.”

  “Cool, I’ll go get dressed.” Kelsey disappeared from the doorway and a moment later Mariah heard her climbing the stairs. The fourth and fifth stairs still creaked just like they had when Mariah had lived here.

  God, how she’d hated the creak of those stairs when she knew her father was coming up to confront her about some sin or another. She’d hear that first creak and her stomach would tie into a million knots.

  Mariah washed her hands, hoping all thoughts of her father would go down the drain with the dirt. Then she headed up the stairs to get herself ready for a trip into town. She cleaned up, considered putting on makeup, then decided it was too hot. Besides, she’d be coming right back here to get some more work done.

  She refastened her hair into a neater ponytail and then grabbed her purse and car keys from the bedroom. Kelsey waited for her at the front door.

  “We’re not just buying frozen junk, Mom,” Kelsey said as they got into the car. “We need to buy stuff that I can cook with, too.”

  Mariah smiled. Kelsey was her budding chef. After watching several reality shows focusing on cooking competitions, Kelsey had decided she wanted to become a chef and eventually run her own restaurant.

  “Whatever you think we need, we’ll buy,” Mariah replied.

  It was almost ten when they pulled up in front of the Bag and Save, the only grocery store in town. The parking lot was half-full and Mariah regretted not putting on at least a dab of lipstick in case she ran into somebody she knew.

  Too late now, she thought as she got out of the car. She spent the next thirty minutes chasing after her daughter, who drove the shopping cart like it was a sports car.

  With her ATM card singing the blues, they were back in the car. Mariah pulled out of the grocery-store parking area and back onto Main Street, her thoughts once again on all the work that remained ahead of her.

  “Mom, look out!” Kelsey screamed just as Mariah caught the flash of something dark running in front of her car. She slammed on the brakes, but not before she heard a sickening thump and a high-pitched yelp.

  Kelsey jumped out of the car before Mariah could peel her shaking hands off the steering wheel. A horrible feeling filled her as she got out of the car and walked to the front, where Kelsey was crouched down by a scruffy little dog who lay just to the right of Mariah’s tire. The dog whimpered and didn’t even try to get up. One of his legs twisted unnaturally.

  “Mom, we’ve got to do something,” Kelsey said, tears streaming down her face.

  Mariah looked around wildly, wondering where the dog belonged. Seeing nobody in the immediate area, she got back into the car, grabbed an old sweater from the backseat and returned to Kelsey. “Let’s see if we can get him into the car. I remember seeing a veterinary clinic as we drove into town.”

  Kelsey took the sweater from her mother, then gently wrapped it around the hurt animal. Mariah worried about the dog biting, but he allowed Kelsey to pick him up into her arms.

  They jumped back in the car and Mariah headed toward the clinic. She still felt shaky, sickened by the fact that she’d hurt the poor dog. “I didn’t see him. He darted out of nowhere,” she said as much to herself as to her daughter. “I couldn’t stop in time.”

  Tears coursed down Kelsey’s cheeks as she murmured soft words of comfort to the whimpering dog. He licked her hand and that only made her cry harder.

  “He’ll be okay,” Mariah said. “It looks like it’s just his leg.” She hoped that’s all it was. A broken leg could be fixed. She prayed there weren’t any internal injuries. She’d hate to be the reason that somebody lost a beloved pet.

  The veterinary clinic looked like a new building and a small sign out front indicated that Dr. Jack Taylor was the practicing vet.

  Jack Taylor. The name was vaguely familiar, but Mariah didn’t have time to place it as they scrambled from the car and into the cool interior of the clinic.

  There was no receptionist behind the desk and only a low deep bark from someplace in the back heralded their arrival. “Hello?” Mariah called out.

 
; A dark-haired man in a white lab coat came out of a back room. Despite the situation that had brought them in, Mariah felt an immediate jolt at his attractiveness. His green eyes widened slightly as if in recognition as his gaze landed on Mariah. But when he looked at Kelsey and the dog in her arms, he quickly waved them into an examining room.

  “I didn’t see him,” Mariah said. “He darted right out in front of me and I couldn’t stop the car fast enough. I didn’t mean to hit him.”

  Kelsey laid the dog on the steel table, then backed away as the doctor took over. “He’s been running the streets for weeks.” His voice was deep and pleasant. “I’ve tried to pick him up a couple of times, but he wouldn’t let me get near him.”

  As he spoke, his fingers roamed over the dog’s body. The dog quivered beneath his touch, but didn’t protest. “It’s okay, little guy,” he said as he came to the twisted front leg. “Nobody knows where he came from. I have a feeling somebody passing through town might have dumped him. I’m going to have to get an X-ray on this leg and see what I can do.” He scooped up the dog in his arms and flashed them a reassuring smile. “This will take a few minutes.”

  As he left the room, Mariah sank into a chair and Kelsey paced back and forth on the tiled floor in front of the examining room steel table.

  “He’s going to need some tender loving care,” Kelsey said, and moved closer to her mother. “Poor little thing was dumped and probably hasn’t slept in a bed or had anything good to eat for who knows how long. And now he’s hurt and it’s our fault.” She looked at Mariah expectantly. “You know I’ve always wanted a dog.”

  “Kelsey, we don’t know anything about him. We don’t know if he’s sick or mean. Besides, what would we do when we go back home?”

  “Mrs. Ellis on the third floor has a dog. You’d probably just need to make a pet deposit or something. You know I’m responsible and he’s not sick or mean. He just needs me, Mom. I could tell. It was in those big brown eyes of his.”

  Mariah sighed, unsurprised by her daughter’s plea. Kelsey had always loved animals and over the past year had been asking if they could get a dog or a cat. It seemed the Fates were conspiring to attempt to grant her wish.

  “Let’s wait and see what Dr. Taylor has to tell us when he’s finished,” Mariah hedged.

  It took thirty minutes before Dr. Taylor returned to the examining room with the dog sporting a plaster cast on his front leg. “Almost as good as new,” he said as he handed the docile dog to Kelsey. “I’ve got him sedated. The break was clean, so I don’t anticipate any problems with the healing process.”

  There was no denying it—the man was a hunk, Mariah thought, and there was something about his voice, something familiar, that niggled in the back of her mind. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” she asked.

  He flashed a smile that warmed her to her toes. “Junior year, second-period English. I sat behind you, but there’s no reason why you would have remembered me. I was one of the nerds, barely seen and rarely heard.”

  For a moment Mariah didn’t know what to say. It was difficult to reconcile the confident and very hot man in front of her with the vague mental picture she got of the shy, skinny boy who used to sit behind her in English class.

  “Don’t worry. It’s okay if you don’t remember me. But I do remember you, Mariah. Are you back in town to stay?”

  “No, just for as long as it takes to settle my parents’ estate.”

  “Yeah, I heard your father passed away. It’s always hard to lose a parent.”

  She nodded and opened her purse to withdraw her checkbook. “How much do I owe you?”

  He leaned back against the table and cocked his head to one side, a lock of his dark hair falling across his forehead in charming fashion. “Here’s the deal. My receptionist took the day off today and she’s the one who takes care of all that.”

  He reached out and gave the dog a scratch beneath his chin. “I’ve been worried about this little guy and it looks like maybe he’s going to get a home?” He exchanged a conspiratorial glance with Kelsey and then both of them looked at Mariah.

  “Yes, I guess he’s going to get a home,” she replied reluctantly. What else could she do? Besides, maybe the little dog would make the summer away from home and her daughter’s friends more palatable for Kelsey.

  Kelsey grinned and held the dog close to her chest. “Did you hear that? You’re coming home with us.”

  “Don’t worry about any bill,” Jack said. “Use the money you would have paid me for all the things you’ll need to buy for your new pet.” They walked out of the examining room and into the lobby. “Call tomorrow and make an appointment with my receptionist to bring him back in for a checkup in a couple of weeks. I’ll give him a round of shots at that time.”

  “Thank you,” Mariah said. “And it was nice seeing you again.”

  He smiled at her and a faint flutter stirred in her stomach. “Oh, we’ll see each other again.”

  As she and her daughter walked out of the clinic, Jack went to the front window and watched them. Mariah Sayers. He’d been stunned by the old feelings that had rushed back to claim him at the sight of her.

  She’d been his high school obsession, the girl who had stirred every teenage hormone he’d possessed. Day after day he’d sat behind her in class, smelling the clean scent of her long dark hair, wishing he had the nerve to reach out and touch the shiny strands, wanting to summon the courage to talk to her.

  It hadn’t been just pure lust that unraveled him at the very sight of her. There had been something in her eyes, a hint of darkness, of pain, that had both intrigued him and called up a protectiveness that made him want to fix whatever needed fixing in her life.

  On the day he’d finally worked up the nerve to speak to her, she’d vanished.

  And now she was back and he was surprised that she still stirred a touch of that old youthful lust. She’d looked amazing.

  Maybe it was just his imagination. But he thought there was still a shadow of sadness that clung to her. He turned away from the window and shook his head ruefully.

  The young girl had obviously been her daughter. Most likely Mariah was happily married and couldn’t wait to get back to whatever life she’d built for herself elsewhere.

  Rescue complex, that’s what his best friend, Josh, told him he suffered, and that desire to play the role of hero protector was what had gotten him into a heartbreaking mess with his ex-wife.

  He wondered where Rebecca was now. It had been almost four months since she’d called him wanting money. That was the longest she’d gone without having contact with him since their divorce four years ago.

  He’d learned his lesson with Rebecca. Working with animals was far less complicated than dealing with human beings. And Jack had come to enjoy uncomplicated.

  Chapter 4

  “I can’t believe you went to school with him and you didn’t remember him,” Kelsey said a moment later as they got into the car. “He’s so hot.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that,” Mariah replied. There had been little hint in the boy of the man he would become, she thought. She dismissed Jack Taylor from her mind as she pulled into the parking lot of a discount store. “You can wait here with the dog and I’ll run in and get what we need to welcome him into the house,” she said.

  As Mariah raced through the pet-care aisle of the store, she wondered whatever had possessed her to agree to take the dog. Maybe it had something to do with Jack Taylor’s gorgeous green eyes looking at her so expectantly.

  She still found it hard to believe that the skinny young man who had sat behind her in English class had matured into a hottie like Dr. Jack Taylor. She didn’t remember any of the girls in school paying attention to Jack. She’d bet there were plenty of women paying attention to him now.

  Dismissing thoughts of the handsome vet, she got busy and filled her basket with necessities. Dog food went into the basket along with a bed, a leash and collar, food and water bowls and a cute little kerchief t
hat read TOP DOG.

  By the time she got back into the car, she was more than eager to get home and hoped half the groceries they’d bought hadn’t been ruined by the unexpected delays.

  Kelsey greeted her with a beatific smile. “He’s so sweet, Mom. He’s just been lying here licking my hand. I think he knows that I’m going to take care of him.”

  “If we’re going to keep him, then you need to come up with a name for him,” Mariah said.

  Kelsey frowned. “I’ll have to think about it. I need to pick the perfect name for him.”

  As they drove home, Kelsey chattered about the kinds of meals she intended to cook for them. “Since I don’t have any friends here, I’ll have plenty of time to try out new recipes. I was thinking maybe tonight we’d have steak smothered in a sauce of portabella mushrooms and scallions,” Kelsey said.

  “Sounds good to me. I have a feeling I’d better enjoy whatever you’re cooking before you meet some of the local kids. Once you find a band of friends, I’ll be back to eating frozen Salisbury steak dinners.”

  Kelsey frowned, the gesture doing nothing to take away from her prettiness. “I can’t imagine what I’d have in common with anyone here.”

  “You’re probably right. I’m sure none of the other almost fifteen-year-old girls in town are interested in boys, fashion or music. They’re probably all into milking cows and making their own candles and sewing clothing for the poor.”

  Kelsey giggled. “Okay, I get your point.” She sat up straighter in her seat as the house came into view. A red pickup was in the driveway. “Who is that?” she asked.

  “Beats me,” Mariah replied. She pulled up next to the pickup, then spied the man sitting on the front porch. Although she didn’t initially recognize him, there was something familiar in the way he sat, with long legs sprawled carelessly in front of him.

  As she opened her car door, he stood and stepped out of the shadows of the porch. She certainly didn’t recognize the bald head that gleamed in the sunshine, but the blue eyes that twinkled and the open smile that curved his lips to expose a chipped front tooth were achingly familiar and she raced for the arms that he opened wide.