Searching for a New Home by Karen Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

out.
    After lunch in the truck stop restaurant,
Jacob takes Dani and me to the same hotel along the interstate in
Casper and gets us rooms. He then goes back to the quarry to see
what develops while I carry Dani to the pool to swim.
    The divers find Cybil's car just before dark
that same day. Cybil's body is still inside and it is obvious she
was strangled to death. But no money is found in the car. Someone
must have stolen the $70,000 she had withdrawn from the bank the
day she disappeared.
    Jacob drives back to the hotel in a daze.
Cybil left Dani alone in the truck stop that night. Thank God!!
Whoever killed Cybil probably wouldn't have hesitated to kill Dani
too, if Cybil hadn't left her at the truck stop. He had been so
furious with Cybil for leaving Dani alone, now he is thankful she
did. Maybe the old saying is true, everything happens for a
reason.
    After having a quiet dinner at a local steak
house and putting Dani to bed, he knocks lightly on my door at the
hotel.
    "Hey," he says when I answer.
    "Hey yourself."
    "I thought you might want to know what we
found at the quarry. Let's walk down to the pool." Jacob
offers.
    Once we are seated in the indoor pool
enclosure, Jacob tells me about finding the car with Cybil's naked
body inside. Then he tells me it was obvious she had been sexually
assaulted because she had bruising between her legs. He also tells
me they believe she was strangled to death because of bruising on
her neck but they won't know for sure until they receive the
autopsy results. He doesn't mention the missing money.
    A cold chill slides down my spine. Frank
Gibbons killed Cybil. I'm not sure how I know that, I just know.
That could easily have been me in that car. I slept with that man
on numerous occasions. He lived in my home for six months. Once
again I feel blessed relief that I escaped from that relationship
unscathed with only the financial loss.
    Jacob watches the emotions play across Jana's
face. He notes shock, fear, revulsion, and then relief. Without
thinking he reaches out and tenderly strokes a finger down her
cheek. The zing of sexual attraction roars through his veins the
minute he touches her face. Steeling himself against it he asks,
"Are you all right?"
    I am shocked by the electrical charge that
streaks through my body at Jacob's touch. It has been months since
the day we first met and I felt that zing for the first time. I nod
and gaze into his chocolate brown eyes. I see warmth and
understanding and something else I can't identify.
    "I'm just thankful it wasn't me in that car.
It could have been you know. Oh God, Jacob, I lived in the same
house with that man!"
    "I know," he says. Jacob feels as if he is
drowning in the stormy blue pools that are her eyes. She is so
beautiful, so vulnerable, he wants to wrap her in his arms and keep
her safe forever. He wants to kiss those luscious lips until they
are both breathless ... but he won't, he can't. He jerks his gaze
away. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your room."
    Long after Jacob leaves me at my room, I am
pacing back and forth across the floor. I can't erase the images of
a faceless Cybil, her lifeless naked body being pulled from that
car. Visions of what might have transpired between her and Frank
Gibbons flash across my mind causing shivers to race down my spine.
I think back to the time Frank Gibbons lived in my home. I never
personally experienced violence from him, but I know he was capable
of it. His threats to me are all the proof I need. Once again I
thank God that I got out of that relationship unscathed.
    ******
    Damn! What was he thinking? That is the
problem, he wasn't thinking at all. He came so close to kissing
her. It took every bit of his self control to stop himself.
    She is counting on him to save her life, to
keep her out of prison and he is finding it harder and harder to
keep his hands off her!! She probably thinks he is some kind of
pervert. Damn, damn, damn!! She is so easy to talk to, to be with.
They have