Another Chance Read online

  When they first moved to Poplar Bluff, they lived in a small apartment, but as a wedding gift, David’s parents were having a small block house built for them on five acres of land in the country.

  Even before the house was finished, Sheriff John Davis had called to tell her that both her parents had been killed in a traffic accident. Jordan’s world fell apart. David drove her home and Mac and his wife insisted that they stay with them instead the house she grew up in. She lived for a while in a fog of heart break and pain. Her memories of the funeral and the days that followed had been obscured in a blurry haze.

  After the funeral, David had to return to his job, but Jordan had to stay a while longer to take care of insurance, funeral expenses, dispose of the livestock and other things that fall on the shoulders of an only child. Mac, his wife and Jordan’s parent’s friend Sheriff John Davis, helped her get through all that. There were also friends she had grown up with offering help but after about three weeks; she too was ready to return to Poplar Bluff. She wasn’t sure she could ever go back ‘home’ again.

  She had decided to keep the house and land, at least for the present. Mac would see that it was looked after. She had her father’s pick-up truck and the horse trailer, so she loaded Tempest and all her tack and with Mac going along to share the driving, drove straight through to Poplar Bluff.

  They found a stable that would board Tempest and allow her a place to park her trailer. It wasn’t far from the apartment she and David were still living in. She insisted that Mac stay in the spare bedroom for a goodnight’s sleep, and then the next morning, he caught a bus back to Lake City.

  Jordan hated to see him go. It was like losing the last connection to her parents. She held her tears until the bus pulled out, but then she went back to the apartment and had a good long cry. David was at school and it was really the first time she’d been alone since her parent’s deaths. She needed the time to try to accept what had happened.

  David’s mother had wanted Jordan to spend the day with her, but as much as she loved David, Jordan found his mother stiff and distant so she politely declined the invitation and remained in the apartment.

  David’s father was friendly, but seldom around because his business kept him busy and when David was present; his mother seemed to genuinely try being open and accepting of Jordan, but there just wasn’t any warmth there. Because they both loved David, the two women got along, but just barely. Jordan had hoped things would change with time. She truly wanted to have a warm friendship with her mother-in-law. She even hoped it would bridge the gap losing her own mother had left in her life, but it just didn’t work.

  She and David had their first disagreement over her bringing Tempest to Poplar Bluff. He knew she owned the horse and loved him, but he just assumed that horses were a part of her past. He had thought she would go to all the football games with the team and be like a team mother, but that didn’t fit in with the person that Jordan was. She loved David, but she had no intentions of playing mother for his football team of high school boys. They were too close in age, and where it gave David and the team a sense of camaraderie it made Jordan uncomfortable. It took them several weeks to work things out, and by then they were moving into the new house. Jordan would go to all the home games, unless they were on the same night when she was scheduled for a horse show, and when she was at a show and David was free, he accompanied her to the show. To his surprise he discovered he knew a lot of the people she had met and even though he hated to admit it, he enjoyed watching her in the ring. He was impressed with her poise and grace and was astounded by her knowledge of horses and horsemanship. His chest puffed with pride when she placed high in a big class.

  Once they were settled in the new house, Jordan made arrangements for a pasture to be fenced and a small barn with a tack room and a hay room to be built. It took several weeks to get that done, so Tempest stayed at the boarding barn.

  It was buying horse feed at the feed store that Frank Lambert came into her life. He was an employee there and loaded her feed. Jordan had become acquainted with the store owners at a horse show and spent a few minutes chatting with them. When she returned to her vehicle, a man was just dropping the bag of feed into the back of the truck. She smiled at him, thanked him, wished him a good day, then she got in her truck and drove away.

  She didn’t look in her rear view mirror and see the way he stood transfixed and watched until she turned onto a distant street and disappeared from his view. In fact, she didn’t give him a second thought.

  When she stopped by the feed store again the next week to pick up some paste wormer for her horse, she smiled and spoke to him again when she saw him near her truck as she was leaving. That became the norm when she had to go to the feed store. Whenever she returned to her truck, Lambert seemed to somehow always be near-by. It was a small business so it didn’t seem unusual for the employees to be solicitous of the customers. Jordan assumed they were encouraged to be customer friendly.

  She and David had been in the new house for a few months when his mother began to question them about when they planned to start a family. David was an only child and she wanted a grandbaby to spoil.

  Silently Jordan wondered what her reaction would be when they did have a child and it started calling her grandma. In her imagination, she could just see Mrs. Larson cringing. Thankfully, David stood up to his mother and affectionately told her that they would have a baby when they decided it was time and it wouldn’t happen before he and Jordan made the decision together.

  He knew there was some strain between his wife and mother and had hoped it would change, but it hadn’t. He made sure his sometimes over bearing mother did not push Jordan around, not that Jordan wouldn’t have stood up to her. David was thankful they at least managed to be social for his sake.

  Jordan had made a point of having her in-laws over for supper at least once a month. She enjoyed cooking a good meal for them and wanted to make sure Mrs. Larson knew her son was not being neglected. It was also her chance to show her gratitude to her in-laws for the wonderful gift of the house.

  Mrs. Larson hadn’t disguised her displeasure when she saw the barn and the horse in the field behind the house, for the first time.

  “I had imagined this piece of land with a big yard, a pool with landscaping behind the house and just acres of beautiful lawn. I don’t understand why anyone would house a farm animal so close to their home.” She had daintily placed a tissue over her nose as she spoke.

  Jordan felt her anger beginning to surface as David took her hand, but they were both relieved when David senior spoke up.

  “Peg, stop acting like a meddling mother-in-law. This is David and Jordan’s home and you don’t tell other people how they should live. Jordan loves her horse, just like you do that little piece of fluff of a dog that you call your baby.”

  His wife practically gasped at being scolded by him in the company of their son and daughter-in-law and having her precious pet referred to as if she were a common dog. “My little Sparkle is an AKC Champion Maltese! She is not livestock!”

  Again Jordan was opening her mouth to speak when this time, David cut her off. “And Jordan’s horse is a registered American Quarter Horse and has a few championship titles of his own, Mom. You aren’t a horsewoman, so don’t be so quick to judge what you don’t understand.”

  Jordan squeezed her husband’s hand in gratitude as his mother turned to look at Tempest grazing quietly in the field. “Well, if he’s a show horse, that’s different. I’ve always admired competitors and the people in this neighborhood shouldn’t object to a show horse.”

  Jordan heard the phone ringing and stepped back inside to answer it. “Hello,” she spoke into the receiver. There was no answer, so she hung the phone up and rejoined the family as they came back inside. David looked at her expectantly.

  “Short call?” He said.

  Jordan shook her head and shrugged. “Wrong number, I guess. We’ve had several of them lately. We must have a
number that’s one digit off from Pizza Hut or something.”

  They all laughed.

  The calls kept coming. At first they were occasional, then they became more frequent and at uncommon times. If David was at school, Jordan could sometimes hear breathing and knew there was someone there. She felt the caller knew that David was at work. It irritated her and for the first time, she became concerned about it.

  They had the number changed and for a while there were no calls, then somehow, they started again. It was around the same time that she began to notice the man at the feed store was getting more personal when she had to stop by there. At first, it was the way his eyes wondered over her body if she came to the truck while he was near it. Then he started using her first name, as if they were friends. She began to stay inside talking with the owner’s wife until she saw that Lambert was busy helping someone else. Then she’d cut the conversation short and hurry to drive away before he could approach her. She even considered changing feed so she wouldn’t need to go in that store, but she finally decided to just handle it head on and not allow herself to be intimidated by some pushy excuse for a would-be Casanova. If worse came to worse, she could always complain to the owners. They were good people and she felt confident that they would not sanction the man’s behavior.

  The next time she needed feed, she made no effort to avoid him while he loaded her feed and hay, and when he offered to come out to her house and unload it for her later, Jordan gave him a stern frown. “I don’t need help unloading my supplies, thank you.” She replied coldly. “And if I did, my husband would be more than glad to help me.”

  “Your husband? You mean the school teacher?” Lambert sneered. His tone seemed to hint that David was something less than masculine.

  “My husband, the football coach,” she snapped back at him. Then she snatched the door to the truck open and stepped up inside. She grasped the door intending to jerk it shut, but he held it in one big hand.

  “You’re too much woman for him, Jordan. You need a man who knows how to take care of you,” he almost whispered, before letting the door swing shut.

  Her anger overcoming her shock, Jordan lowered the window quickly. “And you think my husband isn’t man enough?” Her voice was cold with fury.

  He smiled confidently. “I know he’s not, because I’m the only man who can do that. Don’t you pretend you don’t know it either. I’ve seen the way you smile at me, always watching where I am when you come here, Jordan. I know that I’m the reason you come here. We just need to have someplace to meet. Some place private.”

  Shocked, her eyebrows arched and her brown eyes flashed with yellow sparks of anger. “You’re out of your mind! I watch where you are so I can try to avoid being near you! Get away from me and don’t ever come near me again!” She started her truck and roared away from the store, vowing never to go there again. She intended to tell David about the incident, but later decided to just change feed and feed stores. There was no point in stressing David out about some jerk that she would never see again anyway.

  As she returned from a late, relaxing trail ride two days later, she had dismounted and was talking to her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Swartz. The older woman was showing her a new shrub next to their driveway that her husband had planted. Jordan knew the two took a lot of pride in their yard and had even gotten some helpful advice about growing a beautiful rose plant that her mother-in-law had gotten for David’s birthday. Tempest was resting one hind leg, his eyes droopy from the warm sun, when Jordan’s attention was drawn to the sound of a car, creeping slowly along the highway toward them.

  “That man must be lost,” Mrs. Swartz said softly, standing up straight and rubbing her back with one hand. “I bet he’s passed here six or eight times in the last hour.”

  Jordan looked at the driver and her blood ran cold in her veins! It was Frank Lambert! He flashed a big smile at her, raised his hand in a friendly wave and drove slowly on.

  “Do you know him?” Mrs. Swartz asked curiously.

  Jordan shrugged. “Not really. He works where I’ve been buying horse feed. I wonder what he’s doing out here.”

  Mrs. Swartz shrugged, returning her attention to her plants. “I don’t know, but he gives me the creeps.”

  Jordan glanced again at the car continuing down the highway at a crawl. “Me too,” she agreed. Inside she was seething with anger. How dare that man come into her neighborhood and act as if they were friends! This was too much! She would have to tell David about this and maybe even the police. She excused herself and led Tempest to the barn behind the house to unsaddle him and turn him loose.

  All the athletic coaches had been called to a dinner meeting with the Athletic Director of the school that evening and she knew David wouldn’t be in until around nine o’clock, so she took a quick shower, had a sandwich and settled in to watch a movie on the television in the den.

  The ringing of the phone shattered the subtle quiet of the room and her frayed nerves sent a shot of adrenaline surging through her veins. She picked it up and managed a calm “Hello.”

  There was the sound of deep breathing, and then a coarse whisper burned her ear. “We’ll be together, soon.”

  Jordan didn’t understand the muffled words the first time. “What?” She asked.

  The whispered voice repeated itself. And then she knew who it was!

  Terror like nothing she had ever known flashed over her. She slammed the phone down. It rang again. She let it ring a couple of times before she snatched it up again. “You leave me alone!” She hissed, and then slammed it down again. When it rang the third time, she turned the ringer off.

  Fighting panic, she turned on every light in the house and every one outside, hoping the lights would make her feel more secure and when David arrived at nine fifteen, she practically knocked him down when she fled into his arms for safety.

  Amid tears of fear and shame, she told David about Frank Lambert. “I don’t know what I might have said or done to make him think I was interested in him! I swear I didn’t do anything intentionally.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “I know that, sweetheart. It just sounds like this man is some kind of nut job. In spite of being the most beautiful, sexiest woman alive, I can’t see a reason for him or any other man to be attracted to you.”

  She frowned up at him. “This is serious, David. I’m scared.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. “In the morning, we’ll go have a talk with the sheriff. I won’t have something like this upsetting you. We aren’t going to put up with it.”

  His strong arms held her close and there, against him, she felt her fears slip away. David would take care of her. It was a little later that she went to bed, while David looked over some paperwork he had brought home from his meeting.

  The shattering of glass woke her as the bedroom window burst into thousands of pieces and the rest of that night was always her nightmare. The breaking of the window was the beginning of David’s death and her life as she had known it.

  Chapter Two

  He was lying in the bed, not quiet asleep, not quiet awake when he heard the almost undetectable sound of a key, slide into the lock of the door to his darkened motel room. His senses were instantly alert and he silently rolled off the bed onto the floor away from the door. His Glock was in his hand as if by magic. The door had not yet begun to open, so he slipped silently across the dark room and flattened himself against the wall behind the cheap motel dresser. It didn’t offer much protection, but an intruder would expect to find him still lying asleep in the bed.

  The door creaked softly as it was pushed open. He saw vague shadows silhouetted in the doorway between the dim hallway light and his dark room and knew there was more than one intruder as they slipped warily into his room. At the moment they realized he wasn’t in the bed, he stepped from against the wall and spoke, his voice soft and menacing, the sound of him cocking his pistol filling the silence of the room.

  “Lo
okin’ for me?”

  They whirled and one of them fired the 45 Magnum he was holding. The bullet shattered the window three feet to Wolf's left. His hand jumped and his Glock spit fire in the direction of the two intruders. The one with the 45 cried out and turned, knocking the man behind him off balance as he too fired his weapon. This time the bullet sliced into Wolf's leg, burning the flesh and knocking his leg out from under him. There was scuffling and confusion as Wolf fired off three shots instinctively, to protect himself as he fell. Pushing with his uninjured leg, he managed to dive behind the bed.

  His dive carried him further than he intended and his head hit the nightstand, almost knocking him out. Dazed for the moment, he didn’t hear the two men cautiously approach the end of the bed and study his still form.

  “You think he’s dead?” one of them spoke in a whisper, his hand dripping blood from the bullet hole in his shoulder.

  The other man shrugged, pointed his hand gun at the still form and pulled the trigger. “Now he is. Let’s get out of here! This place will be full of cops in a few minutes.”

  Wolf heard their words faintly and felt the stabbing fire in his back as the bullet tore deep into his body. His body jerked spasmodically, then a thick fog of blinding pain filled his brain and he slipped into merciful unconsciousness.

  His next thoughts were confused and frightening. Bright lights glared down into his sensitive eyes, he felt like he was lying on his back on a bed of fiery hot bricks, with one raised above the others, near the middle of his back, just to the left of his spine. Unfamiliar voices came and went. Sometimes he picked up a word, and he knew there was movement around him, but none of it made any sense. His back and chest burned like an inferno and every breath was agony. I must be dying, he thought. His mind jumped back in time to his boyhood on the reservation. He was with his grandfather and they were talking about his grandmother who had passed away before the old man had brought him and Feather home to the reservation.