Blood of the Rainbow (32 page)

Sara started to cry again. “No, Jared, you didn’t do it.”

Jared put his arm around Sara, pulling her against his body. “No Sweetheart, I would never do that,
never
, but from the law’s point of view, I would have to be investigated like everyone else whose prints are on my card.”

Dave did the math in his head. “Considering your weight, your state of mind, and the strength of the drug, I would say that it would take about twenty minutes for the drug to take effect. You said you put the card in your pocket. Unless you rubbed your eyes, put your fingers in your mouth or had some kind of cut on your hand, where you handled the card, you would have started to feel odd about twenty to twenty-five minutes later. Can you remember if you rubbed your eyes or anything like that?”

Sara sighed, exasperated. “Not that I can remember.”

“Did you wash your hands before you had lunch?”

“No.”

“How about afterwards?” Jared suggested.

“No!”

“Ok, so this is how I see it,” Jared said. “Joel sprays the card, making sure he only gets the drug on one end of it. He hands it to you, making sure not to expose himself. Unaware that anything shifty is going on, you take no precautions and
are
exposed. You get it on your fingers. It starts to soak in the upper layer of skin and, chances are, it wouldn’t have affected you for a long time if at all, but it didn’t stop there. Each time you used the credit card, you were re-exposed again. Then when you had lunch, you would have ingested it through your food.”

“That would explain why there was so much still in your bloodstream. I thought she was only exposed the one time,” Dave sighed.

“No!” Jared commented. “She was continually exposed. What I don’t understand, is why I wasn’t affected when she gave the card back to me?”

“Could have been blind luck Jared. She may have handed you the end that didn’t have the drug on it.”

 “I suppose,” Jared responded, scratching his chin in thought.  
But what about the other people that handled the card? Every time she used the card to buy something, that person should have been exposed too. What is going on here? Dave, what are you up to?
“What do you think, Dave, have we got enough to have him picked up?”

Dave sighed. “Probably, but if Joel did this, isn’t it logical to assume he will have tried to dispose of any evidence already?”

“I’m not just going to let this go Dave!” Jared growled.

“I don’t expect you to. I don’t blame you. Your girlfriend has been assaulted; of course, I would expect you to do something about it. I’m just pointing out, it’s not going to be easy to prove it, especially if he got rid of the evidence, which I would have expected him to.”

Jared glanced at Sara. “Ah, Dave,” he smiled. “Sara’s not my girlfriend anymore.”

Dave studied Jared’s eyes. “Oh – she’s not?”

“No Dave. I asked Sara to marry me – she’s my fiancée now.”

“Really? Wow! That’s great. I’m happy for you. Now about Joel….”

“Oh sorry Dave,” Jared said and turned to Sara. “Angel, it’s your call. If we do this, you’ll have to file charges. His attorney will do everything he can to either pin it on me or prove you did this to yourself. It would have been easier to prove if you’d only used the credit card the one time.”

“But that’s not the case, Jared,” Sara replied. “What do you suggest?”

“Sara, I don’t want to seem like the villain here, but I have to play devil’s advocate,” Dave said. Sara and Jared turned. “Have you ever used any kind of recreational drugs before? By recreational, I mean taking anything that would make you high.”

“I was always the one who said no,” Sara replied.”

“In that case,” Jared said. “What I suggest is we talk to the DA. Tell him your story and see if he thinks we have enough to go on. But, again, that’s your choice. I can’t make the decision for you.”

“Better still,” Dave suggested. “I know somebody who works for the police. You could at least talk to him and tell him your story. Maybe he would be able to tell you if you have any chance at a conviction.”

Jared turned to Dave. “Do you trust this person?”

“Yeah, I’ve helped him with other cases before. He’s good, and he’s open-minded.”

“Sara?” Jared made her name a question.

Sara shrugged her shoulders. “Sure. I want whoever did this to pay as much as you do.”

Dave smiled. “All right then. I’ll contact him, and see if I can set up a meeting for you. I’ll ring you on your cell, and let you know the details. I assume you’ll be going to the funeral tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. It depends on Sara.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Jared! That’s your grandfather. You’ll need to be there for your family.”

Dave leaned forward in his chair. “Do you think Joel is likely to attend the funeral?”

Jared sneered. “Who knows, and who cares?”

“I was just thinking about Sara. If he’s there, it might not be a good idea for her to be there. It might be uncomfortable for her, and seeing him might trigger flashbacks too.”

Jared stood. “Then I won’t go!” Sara stood.

 “All right Jared. I guess I’ll see you at the convention – if I don’t see you sooner. Congratulations again on your engagement.”

Jared took Sara’s hand. “Thanks Dave, and thanks for helping us.”
If that’s what you’re doing….

Dave laughed. “You would do the same for me….”

Jared chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I would.”
Especially if I find out you’re behind this.

Jared and Sara started walking back toward the car. “Jared, am I doing the right thing? What if it wasn’t Joel? By us accusing him, won’t that cause more friction for your family?”

Jared kissed Sara’s hand. “Don’t worry about that.”

“But I do.”

“Well, don’t. My family is important to me Sara. But,
you
are my family now, and
you
come first.”

------------

As they drove back to the ranch, Sara’s mind tried to process everything. She’d never been afraid for her own life, and she wasn’t now. Sara knew Jared would protect her, but who would protect Jared? She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Jared’s proposal had been a spur of the moment decision.

Did he mean it, or was he pressured into it out of pride?Had Jared let himself be cornered into proposing to me by Joel? Is it pride that keeps him from taking the proposal back? Is Jared too much of a gentleman to risk hurting me? Why did I say yes so quickly? I love the idea of being married to Jared, but am I ready to become a wife and mother? Oh God! I’m only eighteen; do I know what I want? Mother would certainly say I don’t.
What am I going to do? How can I talk to Jared about this without hurting him?

Chapter 14

Jared parked the car in the garage. He took Sara’s hand. “You’re awfully quiet….”

“Just thinking….”

“That reminds me. I’d like to give you my grandmother’s ring. When I told her about you, she said if she had died before we got together, she wanted me to give it to you. Mother has been keeping it for me. You’d need to try it on and see if it needs any adjustments. It’s a very special ring that’s been in our family for generations. I’m not even sure how many generations myself….”

“That’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“If you’d rather I buy you a new one….”

Sara sighed, trying to find the right words. “It’s not that, Jared. The ring is not important.”

You wouldn’t say that if you knew how rare this ring is…. What it can do for you…. Where it can take you.
Jared studied the expression on her face. His mood changed.  “Oh – I see. You’ve changed your mind.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” Jared seemed agitated.

“Before we went to the bookstore, had you planned on proposing to me?”

“No, but….”

“If we hadn’t
gone
to the bookstore, and you
hadn’t
confronted Joel, do you think you still would have proposed to me?”

“Maybe, I don’t know – what – what difference does it make – it’s done.”

“That’s just it. I don’t want you to - I mean - I know why you did it at the store. You wanted to gloat to Joel.”

“Yeah, but….”

Sara chuckled. “That part was fun, seeing the look in his eyes. I think he was as shocked as I was. I just didn’t want you to think you had to… you know… follow through because of that.”

Jared sighed dreadfully. “What do you mean, Sara?”

“I overheard you talking to Dave. I don’t need a commitment from you Jared. I know you’re not… going to leave me.”

Jared pushed Sara against the wall. He stared into her eyes, and then kissed her passionately. “Sara, I took advantage of a situation. I saw the opportunity and took it. I didn’t propose under the best of circumstances, but it might have taken me a long time before I got around to asking you. But I would have… eventually. It didn’t mean I meant it any less.”

Sara closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She lowered her head. Jared cradled her face in his hands and lowered his head to her eye level. He locked his eyes with hers. “Sara Foster, I love you. I
want
to marry you. Will you be my wife?”

Tears filled Sara’s eyes. This wasn’t under pressure. This was real, done with real intent. Sara smiled. “Yes….”

Jared kissed her again and pushed some loose hairs behind her ear. “Do you believe me now? Do you
want
to be my wife? Because I don’t want you to say yes, simply because you think it’s what I want to hear.”

“I meant it Jared. I
want
to be your wife.”

“Good. Because, I don’t know how much more of this uncertainty I could take.”

Sara kissed him passionately. “I’m yours, completely.”

Jared kissed her back. “Oh no, we’re not going through this again.” He pulled away. “Knowing you’re mine is going to make it even harder for me to resist you.”

“Then don’t resist me,” she whispered.

The sincerity in Sara’s voice took away Jared’s self-control for a few seconds. He kissed her, and touched her in places he’d never touched her before. By the time he had regained composure and pulled away, they were both panting for breath.

Jared rested his forehead against hers. “No….”

“What about what you said back at Wisteria Hall?”

“That was different, Sara. I wasn’t thinking straight. You were coming on so strong….”

Sara kissed him again, pulling his body tight against hers. “Then maybe I should do it again.”

He moved away from her. “No, Sara.” His cell rang. He glanced at Sara, turned his back to her and accepted the call. “Hi Dave…. No, you didn’t catch me at a bad time…. What do you have for us…?”
More lies?
“Ok, yeah, sure. That will give us a chance to get through the funeral and rites….. Yeah, I guess I’ll go…. All right, we’ll meet you then. Thanks Dave.”

He turned back to Sara. “That was Dave. His friend wants to talk to us the day after tomorrow.”

Sara nodded. “Ok….”

“I need a break, and I’d like to do some sketching. Do you feel like going for a ride?”

“Yeah, sure, but I’ll need to change. I don’t want to go riding in my sandals.”

“All right, you go change, and I’ll get some things together. You might want to take something to do. I might be out there for a while.”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know, my old guitar, a book, whatever – so you don’t get bored.”

“Ok!” Sara kissed Jared and then went upstairs.

------------

When she entered the lounge, Jared was waiting for her. He put his arms around her waist, lifted her off her feet, and kissed her. “Feel like a short walk first?”

“Yeah, sure – why?

“Well, Dad has the truck, and I don’t really want to take his Merck down that road. Mother said it was ok, but I still don’t want to do it. It’s not far but if you’d rather ride….”

“No, I don’t mind walking.”

Jared had put Sara’s notebook and book in his backpack, and then slung his guitar over his back. He handed Sara two full canteens of water. “Here, you take these, unless they’re too heavy for you.”

“Shit!” Sara blurted out when she almost dropped them.

Jared laughed and passed her the guitar. “Here – swap me.”

“I didn’t realize they would be so heavy!”

“No problem. They’re not heavy to me anyway.” He took her hand.”

Sara felt ashamed. “I’m ah – I’m sorry for what I said….”

Jared furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“My - ah – my little slip of the tongue. You know - my colorful metaphor?”

Jared’s face lit with recognition. “Oh you mean when you nearly dropped the canteens….”

Sara scoffed. “I don’t normally say things like that.”

Jared grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve said worse….”

The walk was short but pleasant. Anything was pleasant when Sara was with Jared. He made everyday things seem like something special.

Sara propped her shoulders against the barn, waiting for Jared while he saddled the horses. He placed the reins in Sara’s hand. “You do know how to ride, don’t you?”

“It’s been a while, but I used to ride when I was a child.”

“In that case, you ride Jade. I’ll ride Satan. He can be a bit feisty at times. Here,” he said, taking Sara’s hand and holding it and his under Jade’s nose. Jade sniffed at their hands, whinnied, and shook her head up and down.

“Why did you do that?”

Jared smiled and patted Jade’s face. “It’s an old Indian trick. When she smells my scent, Jade knows to obey. She’ll associate your scent with mine, and obey you now as well.”

“How clever, but what about the colt?”

“Don’t worry about her. She’ll follow alongside her mother.” Jared slung the guitar over his shoulder.

Sara bent down to pet the colt. “Myra said you haven’t named her. What are you going to name her?”

Jared laughed. “Colt?”

Sara stroked the colt’s face. “That’s not a proper name!”

“All right, you name her.”

“Jared – she’s your colt!”

“No, Sara, she’s
our
colt now. And, the honor of naming things mainly goes to the wife.”