Tracie Peterson (10 page)

Strangely, she felt as if she should know the man, but Melissa presumed it was from the earlier encounter when the governor collapsed. Still, it nagged at her, and as the man approached, she planted herself in front of him.

“You look very familiar to me.”

“Probably because you’re in the Capitol about as much as I am,” the man smiled back. “You’re a reporter, right?”

“Yes,” Melissa answered, not used to the open willingness of others to converse with a stranger. Usually people handled her frankness with a bit more hesitation. “Melissa Jordon.”

“I’m Lieutenant Oberlin. Harry Oberlin. I pilot the governor’s plane on occasion and work on his security team the rest of the time.”

“Oberlin?” Melissa tried to put the name and face together and match it to something in her past.

“It’s not a common one, that’s for sure.” The salt-and-pepper-haired man smiled broadly.

“I can’t help but believe I know you from the past. Are you involved in writing or publishing?” she questioned, wondering if the connection had something to do with Peter instead of herself.

“Not since college and that was a long time ago,” Harry assured her. “You said your name was Jordon?”

“Yes, Melissa Jordon. My husband is Peter Jordon.”

Harry laughed. “Well, that explains it. Peter and I go way back. You’ve probably seen pictures of our notorious college days. That was before I settled down and made a few lifestyle changes. I haven’t seen or heard from Peter in probably ten or twelve years. We lost touch after college.”

Melissa was amazed. “Peter is with a publishing house out of New York doing acquisition, and we live in Lawrence.”

“We’ll have to get together then,” Harry replied. “I’d love to catch up on old and new times.”

“Why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow? I know Peter would love to see you,” Melissa offered. “You could bring your wife, if you have one.”

“I’m not married, but dinner sounds great. What time do you want me and where do I come?”

Melissa wrote down the address and time and handed the slip of paper to Harry. “It isn’t hard to find.”

“Seven o’clock, eh? Should I bring anything?” He put the paper in his wallet.

“Just yourself.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” Harry replied. “Thanks.”

“Thank me after you’ve eaten my cooking,” Melissa said with a laugh.

****

It wasn’t until Melissa was nearly to her car that she remembered Cara and Brianna were coming to dinner the same night as Harry.

She moaned and put the key in the ignition.
Cara will be absolutely beside herself if we can’t talk privately,
Melissa thought. She had mentioned the problem to her husband, but Peter had been so preoccupied with business, he’d hardly said two words to her about anything.

Making her way to her next appointment, Melissa had the strangest notion that fate had just intervened. Maybe she could play cupid and take Cara’s mind off her troubles. If Harry got interested in Cara, maybe he could even help her out of the campaign situation.
This mix-up may not be so tragic after all,
she mused to herself. Perhaps it was all intended to be this way.

Fourteen

“The place won’t be the same without you,” Joe told Cara as she packed the last of her things in a cardboard box.

“It’ll probably be better in some ways,” Cara replied. “After all, you’ll get to have Suzanne here and that will give you more time together.”

“For a while . . .” Joe replied hesitantly. “There’s something I haven’t told you. Actually, Suzanne wanted to keep it under wraps for a while, but I can’t see not sharing it with you.”

Cara felt a strange tightness in her chest. “Share what, Joe?”

“Suzanne is pregnant.” His face beamed, but his eyes revealed his concern.

Cara tried to act surprised. “Congratulations! How wonderful!” Then remembering Kerns’ words, she questioned, “Now why in the world wouldn’t you want to share that news with the world?”

“Well, it’s like this,” Joe said, looking down at the floor. “Suzanne has had a couple of miscarriages in the past. We didn’t want a lot of fanfare and such, in case she should happen to lose this baby, as well.”

“Of course she won’t lose this baby. What does the doctor say? Is everything going all right?”

“Yeah, she’s doing great.” Joe looked up with an expression of hopefulness. “In fact, she’s already four months along. That’s about three weeks longer than she carried the other babies.”

Cara smiled and went to where Joe stood. “I just know it will work out,” she said and hugged him. “You’ll see. God has it all under control.”

“I know,” Joe replied, “but He had it under control the first two times, as well.”

“True, but you can’t stop trusting now. Suzanne’s a healthy woman, and I feel confident things are going to be just fine.”

“You’ll be praying for her, won’t you? For me, too?” Joe seemed years younger and very vulnerable.

“Of course. Now how about helping me carry these boxes to my car?”

“Nope, you sit tight and I’ll take them all. Save your strength for unloading them at the other end.”

Cara started to protest, but just then a ragged-looking young woman holding a baby appeared in the doorway. “Yes, may I help you?”

“Are you the lady who’s running with Kerns?”

“Yes, I suppose I am,” Cara replied, feeling less than enthusiastic. She eyed the woman, hardly more than a girl, and wondered what possible interest she could have in the gubernatorial race. “I’m Cara Kessler.”

“I need to talk to you.” Just then the baby started to cry.

“It’s okay,” Cara said, motioning the upset young woman to come in. There seemed to be a desperation in the girl’s eyes. “Have a seat and we’ll talk. Joe, if you’ll excuse us, we can get these boxes later.” Joe nodded and left the office with the one box he already held. Cara noticed that the girl had begun nursing the small baby and offered her a smile. “They do get hungry, don’t they?”

“She seems to eat all the time.”

“What’s her name?” Cara asked softly.

“Jamie.”

“And yours?” Cara wondered if the girl would tell her.

“Teri. Teri Davis.”

Cara felt uncomfortable just standing, so she took a seat and studied the girl for a moment. She was in her mid-teens, Cara decided, and very tired. A look of exhaustion seemed to permeate everything about the girl. She was ragged in appearance, with unkempt dingy blond hair and old stained clothes that had definitely seen better days. But there was something more about Teri Davis. Cara thought she denoted an attitude of bitterness, maybe even hatred. This was one troubled young woman, and Cara’s mind was scrambling to decide how she might help.

“So, what can I do for you?”

Teri looked up. “I’ve come to warn you about Bob Kerns.”

This was an angle Cara had not expected. “Warn me?”

Teri’s expression hardened. “Yes, warn you. Bob Kerns is scum, and you shouldn’t be associated with the likes of him.”

How true you are,
Cara thought to herself. She couldn’t help but wonder what contact this girl had with Kerns. “How do you know him?” she questioned.

Teri laughed in a cynical manner that suggested experience beyond her years. “Let’s just say I know him on a very intimate level,” the girl replied. “Jamie is his daughter.”

Cara’s mouth dropped open. It was impossible to hide her surprise, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “But you’re just a child.”

“I was even more of one the first time he forced his attention on me,” Teri replied.

“I don’t understand,” Cara said, sickened by the image coming to mind.

“It’s not very complicated,” Teri began. “I used to be best friends with Danielle. That’s his daughter.”

“Yes, I know her. Please go on.”

Teri paused long enough to rearrange the now sleeping baby. “I used to spend a lot of time at the Kernses’ house. Both of my parents are dead, so being with a family where everyone was related and lived all under the same roof held a lot of appeal. I didn’t have many friends.” Teri’s voice dropped off and she seemed to consider Jamie for a moment.

“I’m sure you felt very lonely,” Cara offered.

Teri nodded. “Danielle helped me to feel good about myself. She taught me how to use makeup and know what to wear to make myself look good. I used to borrow her clothes because we were about the same size, only I was shorter. Sometimes she’d even give me her clothes when she was through with them.”

Cara looked at Teri’s now slightly overweight form. She could imagine a slender and well-cared-for girl. “I had a good friend like that when I was younger,” Cara said, thinking of Melissa.

“Danielle even helped me graduate from high school and get into college,” Teri offered.

Cara was shocked to find that Teri was old enough for college. She looked to be no more than fifteen or sixteen. “How old are you, Teri?”

“I’m eighteen. I’ll be nineteen in August.”

“And how old is Jamie?”

“Three months.”

Teri seemed at a loss for words past this, and Cara desperately wanted to know more. She had to know the truth of the matter. “What happened between you and Mr. Kerns?”

Teri’s face contorted in rage. “He raped me, that’s what happened. Oh, he says it was all my fault for hanging out at their pool in my bikini, but it didn’t just happen once. It happened a bunch of times, and each time he threatened to make me miserable if I told anyone.”

Cara felt sick inside. “How old were you when . . . the first time?”

“It was a week before my sixteenth birthday. I remember because he kept saying I looked so much older than sixteen.”

Cara couldn’t imagine any truth in his assessment. The girl sitting before her barely looked old enough to drive, much less be a mother.
Dear God,
she prayed,
how can I help?

“Where was Danielle or her mother and brother?”

Teri shrugged. “Gary was already off to college and Debra was busy with one thing or another. She wasn’t usually home in the afternoon, and that’s when we went swimming.”

“But surely Danielle would have had to know what was going on.”

“She was usually changing her clothes or taking a shower. There was always some reason for why she was going to be away for more than just a couple of minutes. I think Bob
usually planned it that way. Once he even locked her in her room and joked with her afterward that she’d accidently jammed the lock herself.”

Cara shook her head. The whole thing was unreal. To imagine this young woman the victim of an animal like Robert Kerns left Cara angry, sick, and determined to help. Grimacing, Cara wasn’t aware of the effect of her silence on Teri.

“I didn’t want to hurt Danielle,” Teri said, her voice growing ragged with emotion. Her eyes were spilling tears. “I was afraid she’d blame me for what had happened.”

“But it wasn’t your fault, Teri.”

“He said it was.”

“What he said isn’t important. Tell me what happened. Tell me everything.”

The young woman appraised Cara for a moment, as if deciding whether or not she could trust her with the information. “The last time he . . . well, you know . . . the last time, I told him I wasn’t going to let him do that to me again. I told him I was pregnant. I think it surprised him, but he didn’t care.”

“What did he say?”

Teri threw Cara a cynical look. “He asked me whose baby it was. I told him it was his and that I’d never been with anybody else.”

“Then what happened?” Cara worked hard to keep her voice from even hinting at accusation.

“He said it wasn’t a big deal. He grabbed his wallet, pulled out some money, and ordered me to go have an abortion. I got really mad. I started screaming and calling him names. I think I even hit him. I don’t remember for sure. I was just so scared and upset.”

“What did he do?” Cara asked, trying to visualize the scene. She’d worked with a great many distressed youths in her time, but the implications of Teri’s situation made hers one of the worst.

“He told me to calm down and promised he’d take care
of everything. He told me he’d even give me money to make up for the trouble.”

“And what did he want in return?”

“My silence and Jamie’s life. He absolutely insisted I have the abortion. He said I was too young to be a mother, and it was just going to mess up my future. He told me he’d give me two thousand dollars, and what I didn’t need for the abortion, I could use to have fun and forget my problems.”

Cara was growing more angry by the moment. She could imagine Bob Kerns thinking it a simple solution. Use the girl up and then throw her aside before things got too complicated. It was just one more example of the Bob Kerns method for getting what he wanted.

“What happened after that, Teri?”

“I told him I wanted five thousand dollars or I’d go to the papers. I’m still not sure why he agreed, but two days later he brought me the cash and the name of an abortion doctor in Wichita. He said the guy was a friend and would do the whole procedure without asking too many questions.” Teri hugged Jamie closer to her. “I just couldn’t kill my baby.” Teri looked at Cara with a pleading expression that begged to know she’d done the right thing.

“You were very brave to bear Jamie alone. You did a wonderful thing giving her life,” Cara confirmed.

“I took the money,” Teri said, as though it made her an accomplice in a heinous crime. “I let him think I was agreeing to the abortion. I dropped out of college and disappeared. I never even called Danielle. I know she must have been worried, but I couldn’t let her know what had happened. I was afraid she’d hate me for what had taken place between me and her dad.”

“A good friend would have stood by you,” Cara replied. “If Danielle was as close as you say she was, I think she would rather have known and helped you through it.”

“But then he would have known I kept the baby,” Teri explained. “I couldn’t allow him to know or he might have tried to force the abortion issue.”

“Yes, I could see that happening.”

“You could?” Teri questioned.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, Bob Kerns has forced me into several unpleasant circumstances.”