Hot On Her Trail - Hell Yeah 2 Read online

“There’s one more thing. I’m doing this to protect my brother; you’ve got to understand that. He’s hasn’t been thinking clearly. He was already so infatuated by the idea of that baby that we were afraid that he would propose to you at any time.

  Jessie almost stopped him to tell him about their engagement, but she was beginning to realize that Jacob must have changed his mind about that, too. Noah was still talking. She tried to listen.

  “And you have to realize that it was never you that he was attracted to…” Noah raked his eyes up and down Jessie’s body. He didn’t say it out loud, he didn’t have to. Noah told her with his eyes that she wasn’t pretty enough to attract Jacob under normal circumstances. “It was the baby.”

  “Oh.”

  Jessie’s one word response struck a sympathetic chord in Noah. Pushing it aside, he put what was best for the family in the forefront. “You know it’s true, Jessie. You should see the women that Jacob is used to dating.” Sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind. Even without the bomb he was about to drop with the photos, a marriage between Jacob and Jessie wouldn’t have lasted. Soon, Jacob would realize that a child, especially one that he had no decision in creating, wasn’t enough to cement a relationship.

  “Now that we’ve got that out of the way; let’s deal with this.” He pulled some photographs out of the envelope and spread them out. Jessie was horrified. They were of her! And she was naked in every one of them. One was in the shower and it caught her soaping herself between the legs. Another was a close up of her breasts, and her expression looked like she was turned on. She didn’t remember being turned on. There was also one in the bed where she had been touching herself after reading an erotic romance novel. Someone had invaded her privacy, and she knew who it was. The McCays!

  “Where did you get these?” Jessie was very near to tears.

  “They were sent to me by Rachel McCay. She thought that we ought to know what kind of person you were. The letter was very informative. Did you really think that you could waltz onto Tebow and ingratiate yourself in our lives? The name of McCoy is a good name. We have a reputation to uphold. Jacob is one of the most respected men in the whole state. He doesn’t want or need a woman like you dragging his name into the mud!” Noah had stood and spread the obscene photos out all up and down the dining table. Jessie wanted to die.

  “But, I don’t know anything about these pictures. I didn’t pose for them.” Suddenly, she was sick; knowing that Keith had taken them without her knowledge. He had promised her that he would ruin her if she didn‘t cooperate with him. When she had turned down his repeated requests for sex, he had said that he would get even. “Has Jacob seen these?” Jessie’s voice was small and defeated.

  “Of course.” Another lie. “He wants you off the property before he gets home.”

  “What about the baby?” She knew it was a dumb question before she asked it, but she couldn’t help it. Jessie felt lost and desperate.

  “What about the baby? You just signed a paper saying that you were one hundred percent responsible for your own child.” Walking to the end of the table, he waited. “If you’ll get your things together, I’ll see you out.”

  Chapter Eleven

  With leaden steps, Jessie went to Jacob’s room. Noah stood at the door of the suite and watched her gather her few items and put them in the duffle. She stepped into the bathroom and pulled off the pretty new clothes and put back on her own jeans and the pink camisole. Folding the document, she put it in her back pocket, a sad memoir from her precious time with Jacob. It only took a few moments, and then she was escorted to the door and Noah stood on the front porch and watched until she was completely out of sight.

  Jessie avoided any of the guests, clinging to the shadows. She didn’t know what she was going to do. It was nearly midnight and she had ten dollars to her name. This time the McCoy’s barn couldn’t be her refuge. The only thing that she could think of was to walk into Kerrville and ask around until she could find a homeless shelter. After that she would have to rethink everything. Where would she go? One thing was for sure, she wouldn’t be making her home in Kerrville.

  Keith McCay watched everything as it unfolded. What a wise investment these night vision goggles had been. “Come on, Jessie. I’m waiting for you.” He would let her get out of sight of anyone who might be watching from the ranch house before he snatched her. He had to hurry, though. When guests began departing from the party, there would be too many people on the road. It wouldn’t be hard. Jessie wasn’t a small woman, but with the syringe that he had, she wouldn’t give him much trouble at all.

  Roscoe was frustrated. He was tired of waiting on the McCoy’s to take his phone calls. He had information that they needed to hear. That’s why he had taken it upon himself to drive to the Tebow Ranch and deliver the report in person. Aron McCoy kept his firm on retainer and he knew that one of the other PI’s had been called out to help them with yet another problem. When he and Vance had compared notes, Roscoe had realized that their two cases might very well be connected.

  When he turned off on Ranch Road, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. For a minute, he thought he saw a woman walking alongside the fence line. Roscoe hated to see a woman walking alone at night. He always made a habit of trying to help women in trouble, but most were afraid to accept help from a passing male motorist. A couple of times he had tried to help a woman and found out she was a working girl, out on the street for a reason. Slowing down, he debated whether to back up and check it out, or not. “Hell!” His conscience wouldn’t let him drive on, so he applied the brakes and put the car in reverse.

  Looking over his shoulder, he backed up about fifty feet. He didn’t see anything. Making sure, he got out of the car and looked up and down the road, on both sides. But there was nobody there. Must have been his imagination. A shiver ran down his spine. This reminded him of one of those scary shows where a man stops to help a hitchhiker, only to find out that she is a ghost. Shaking off the creepy feeling, he got back in the car and headed on to the McCoy’s.

  Jessie hid in the ditch until the big man got back in his car and left. He hadn’t looked like a criminal, but it was hard to tell these days. Sighing, she picked up her bag and began walking. It seemed that she had been wrong; she was making the journey back to town on foot. Maybe it was for the best. The long walk into town would give her time to sort things out. Jessie could feel her legs moving, but her body was numb. It seemed that one didn’t automatically die of a broken heart. Instead, it was a slow, agonizing process. Jessie had hurt before, but this was a whole new level of pain.

  She tried to reason with herself. In actuality, she was no worse off now than she had been at the beginning. She had come to Tebow to inform Jacob of the pregnancy and make sure that he wouldn’t try and take the baby from her. She had hoped that he would want to maintain ties with the child. But that was not to be.

  What hurt the most was the fact that Jacob had been so good to her. And making love to him had been more wonderful than she had ever expected. Jessie tried to dredge up regret that she had made love to Jacob. But, she couldn’t. It seemed right. She was glad that she had been allowed to make love with the man whose child she carried. Despite the humiliation and shame of dealing with Noah, she had accomplished what she had set out to do.

  What killed Jessie was that Jacob now thought that she was – that she was – Jessie didn’t even know what to call it. He had firsthand knowledge that she hadn’t slept around. But those pictures! Now he would think that she had sold nude pictures of herself for money. To make matters worse, Noah and other members of the family now knew that she couldn’t read! If Jacob changed his mind about wanting their baby, he would have no trouble convincing a judge that she was an unfit mother.

  If Jessie had been looking up, or if she hadn’t been in such a deep state of despair, she might have seen it coming. But she didn’t. A sharp jab in her neck caused her to slap at the pain. She whirled around to see Keith McCay’s maniaca
l grin as he waited for her to hit the ground. Jessie tried to run but the effects of the drug were almost instantaneous. She crumpled at his feet. Her last thought had been one of regret; she would never see Jacob again.

  “Excuse me, ma’am.” Roscue tipped his hat to Miss Libby. He had met her when Aron had him trying to locate a missing piece of his sculpture that had been sold in error. Following a series of leads, Roscoe had discovered that Libby Fontaine had purchased the piece at a rodeo when she had been in college. Now, she was about to marry the head honcho himself, Aron McCoy. “I hate to bother you so late, but I have some critical information to share about Keith McCay. I think he might be the one that’s causing all your troubles.”

  Libby recognized the name. Keith McCay had been the husband that had contracted Jessie to be his and his wife’s surrogate mother. “Come in, Mr. Roscoe. We were still up. It’s been a long night. If you’ll have a seat in the den, I’ll get Aron for you.”

  “I know this sounds crazy, but I think he may be your man,” Roscoe handed Aron several more documents. “Keith McCay is quite a character. He was diagnosed as being bipolar as a child. There are three documented cases of animal abuse in his past, which is not an uncommon side effect of manic depression. To give him credit, he pulled himself together enough to get through medical school. But, as with many, he racked up a slew of student loans and went in business with a medical group that is on his back because he’s not bringing in enough business, nor is he pulling his own weight.”

  Aron didn’t say anything, but he wasn’t getting it. Why would Keith McCay be slaughtering his cattle? “Roscoe, do you want some coffee? Libby probably put a pot on when you got here.” If he was gonna stay awake, Aron was going to need some caffeine. Last night he had been on patrol, only coming back to the ranch in time to make love to Libby and then help with the final preparations for the dance. Tonight had been his night to actually sleep.

  Noah who was sitting strangely silent on the couch followed his brother’s raised eyebrow sign and went after a round of coffee.

  “I guess I could drink a cup,” Roscoe muttered. He wished that Jacob were here. He would have a greater interest in this part of the case than Aron did. Not waiting for an invitation to continue, Roscoe started back in on his findings. “McCay used to be a pretty boy. He drew the eye of Rachel McQuery, only daughter of Felix McQuery of Goldpoint Oil. Her worth was valued in the hundred million range.”

  Aron caught the tense. “Was? Has something happened to Mrs. McCay?”

  Roscoe accepted a cup of coffee from Noah. “That’s why I’m here, Aron. Mrs. McCay is missing and so is Mr. McCay. I’ve got a buddy in the Austin PD and he let me in on a whole passel of findings. It seems that after Mrs. McCay failed to talk Jessie Montgomery into an abortion, things went downhill in the McCay household.”

  The caffeine was waking Aron up, and what Roscoe was saying was beginning to resonate. “Jacob said that Mrs. McCay offered Jessie money if she would abort her baby.”

  “That’s right, but Jessie refused. The McCay’s cook said that Mr. McCay became furious when Jessie left. He and his wife had some loud fights. Apparently, Rachel McCay realized that her husband’s interest in Jessie was a lot more than it should have been. The cook also said that Mrs. McCay found a lot of porn in his office. He even had pictures of Jessie.”

  At that, Aron abruptly sat up in his desk chair, almost spilling coffee on himself. “What did you say?”

  “My police friend let me do a walk through the apartment. Knowing Mr. Jacob like I do, I decided to dig a little deeper. From what your brother has told me about Jessie, it seemed out of character. So I looked close. Mr. McCay had drilled holes in the guest room shower and installed cameras there and in the light fixtures over her bed. There was even a web cam that he kept live in the computer that sat across from her closet. We got into his hard drive and he had hours and hours of footage of Jessie. We even have proof that he would steal in her room at night and watch her sleep. Keith McCay is a psycho.”

  From the couch Noah audibly groaned. Aron glanced sideways at him, wondering what his problem was.

  “Explain to me why you think McCay could have anything to do with our current situation?” Aron was beginning to suspect, but he wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

  “By all accounts, McCay is obsessed with Jessie. He hasn’t been to work in ten days. He’s cleaned out their bank accounts. Mrs. McCay hasn’t been seen in over a week, and they found traces of her blood in the Master bathroom.” Roscoe flipped through his notepad, not wanting to leave out any details.

  Noah was up and off the couch, pacing like a caged panther. Aron gave him a funny look, but decided to deal with him later. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah,” Roscoe shot him a level glance. “One of the neighbors heard Mr. McCay threaten Jessie and her baby as she was trying to leave. He told her that there was no where she could go that he wouldn’t find her. And that it was supposed to be his child that she bore, not a McCoy. He told her than if she wouldn’t get an abortion, he would cut the baby out of her himself.”

  “Aron,” Noah walked up to the desk and stood by Roscoe’s chair. “I think I may have messed up.”

  Jacob was dead tired. He had met with Kane and the vet. The vet had confirmed that Sultan had been poisoned with feed that had been laced with ground up oleander leaves. Oleanders were deadly to man and beast. Jacob wondered what kind of a messed up fuck went around hurting innocent creatures? Now, all he wanted to do was see Jessie.

  He looked at the time. Jessie wouldn’t be asleep. She would be waiting up for him.

  “Jessie! Jessie, honey! I’m home!” He stood still for a second, expecting to hear her little steps running to meet him. Walking to his room, he opened the door with his foot, hoping to find her taking a nap or soaking in the tub. The room was disturbingly empty. Throwing his hat and jacket on the bed, he went out to find her. “Jessie?”

  Hell! He could hear yelling. Something was definitely wrong. Heading to Aron’s office, where the confusion seemed to be coming from, he walked in on a meeting already in progress. As soon as they noticed him, all talking stopped – dead silent – mid-sentence. Every eye turned on him. He looked at Aron, Noah and Roscoe. They all stared at him. “What? Did somebody die or something?”

  Aron picked up a good sized book and flung it across the room. Jacob was stunned. In all of the years since the death of their parents, he had never seen Aron react like that. “Jacob, you’d better sit down. We’ve got something serious to tell you.”

  A blast of cold air rammed into Jacob’s heart. “What’s wrong? Is it Jessie? Is it the baby?” God, what would he do if something had happened to them?

  When no one answered, Jacob literally bellowed. “For God’s sake, tell me. Please!”

  Noah bent over, putting his head in his hands.

  “Tell your brother what you’ve done, Noah.” Aron’s voice was as cold as steel. “We’re a family, and by God, we’re going to be honest with one another if nothing else.”

  Jacob went as still as death. “What did you do?” Walking to his brother, he knelt down in front of him. “Tell me, Noah. I can make it right, if you’ll just tell me. Did you say something to Jessie? Did you make her cry? Where is she?”

  Aron’s heart hurt for his brother. He had never seen Jacob like this. Jacob loved Jessie, it was as plain as the nose on his face. “Jacob, we’ll help you find her.”

  “She’s gone?!?” Jacob jumped up. Noah still hadn’t said a word. “Where did she go? Did you take her somewhere?”

  “Noah, man up! Have the balls to tell your brother the truth.” Aron would do anything to save his family, even whup their ass if need be.

  “I had her sign a paper absolving you of all responsibility toward the child,” he finally said.

  Jacob tossed his beloved black Stetson across the room. “That’s easy fixed. The law said a paper wasn’t necessary anyway.” He didn’t understand what was going on. “So
, I just won’t sign it or file it. Besides, Jessie has been willing to do that all along, anyway.” He was grasping at straws, frantic to make this better than it was.

  “I told her it was your idea,” Noah raised his face and looked at Jacob. “I told her you wouldn’t give the baby your name.”

  “Shit!” Jacob slammed his fist down on Aron’s desk.

  “I’m going to go look for her,” Jacob started out of the room. Jessie belonged to him. It was his right.

  “Wait, Jacob.” Aron’s voice was stern. “There’s more.”

  Something in his voice made Jacob sick at his stomach. “You need to see these photos of Jessie.” Aron handed him an envelope. He slowly took them out, not understanding how photos could be so serious. But, when he saw her – naked and vulnerable, he wanted to kill somebody.

  “Where did you get these? Who’s seen them?” The idea that they had all looked at his Jessie made rage boil up in him like a volcano.

  “Noah got them out of the mail. Keith McCay’s wife sent them. She said that Jessie had given consent for them to be taken.” Jacob bowed his head, trying to calm down. “Noah confronted her with them. She denied it, of course. But, they’re already on the internet.”

  Jacob ripped the pictures in half and then in half again. “It was McCay, the bastard!” There wasn’t a doubt in Jacob’s mind. “Couldn’t you tell by her face? She didn’t know she was being photographed.”

  “You’re right. I found the concealed cameras,“ Roscoe spoke up.

  Noah decided to put the last few nails in his coffin. “I told her that you wanted her off the property.”

  Jacob gritted his teeth. “Where did you take her?”

  Noah looked up at him in anguish. “I didn’t take her anywhere. She left on foot.”

  Unbelieving, Jacob asked in anguish, “You made her walk back to town, Noah? She’s pregnant for God’s sake!”