Free Til Death Do Us Part by Beverly Barton Page A

hurt?” Elena asked.
    Shaking her head again, Joanna opened her mouth and tried to speak. The sound was a squeaky gasp.
    â€œTry to tell me what happened.” Elena shook Joanna soundly. “Come on, talk to me, Jo. You’re frightening me.” Elena reached out and wiped the tears off Joanna’s cheeks, then slipped her arms around her and hugged her.
    Joanna gulped several times, then groaned. Her body relaxed. She eased her hands off her knees and slid her feet onto the floor. Elena held on tight, continuing to hug her.
    â€œFive—five years ago, I was raped,” Joanna whispered.
    â€œOh, Jo…Jo. I’m so sorry.”
    â€œI left Virginia and came out here to New Mexico to start a new life.” Joanna hugged Elena, then pulled away from her. “I didn’t want anyone out here to know. I should have told you, after we became such good friends, but by then I’d put what happened behind me. I worked so hard at trying to forget.”
    Elena rubbed Joanna’s arms. “What happened today? Did you have some sort of flashback?”
    â€œMy mother called. It seems the man who raped me… Oh, God!” Joanna jumped up off the sofa and paced back and forth. “This can’t be happening!”
    â€œWhat can’t be happening?” Elena asked, standing and following Joanna around the room in her frantic stroll.
    â€œThe man who raped me—Lenny Plott—was what the police refer to as a serial rapist. I was his eleventh victim. After he raped his twelfth victim, the police caught him.”
    â€œThen he’s in prison, isn’t he?” Elena swirled about in front of Joanna, forcing her to halt. “Isn’t he?”
    â€œI testified against him. Claire Andrews, Libby Felton, Melody Horton and I. We made sure he would never rape another woman.”
    â€œI know it took a lot of guts to do what you four did. But you did the right thing.”
    â€œYes, we did the right thing,” Joanna said. “And when our rapist was sentenced to life in prison, we all went on with our lives. Melody stayed on in Virginia and finished college. Claire moved back home to Missouri. Libby just left town. We never heard from her again.”
    â€œAnd you came to Trinidad.”
    â€œElena, Lenny Plott escaped from prison.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHe escaped about forty-eight hours ago.” Joanna covered her mouth with her hands.
    Elena grabbed Joanna’s hands and pulled them away from her face. “What are you not telling me?”
    â€œHe kidnapped Melody Horton and murdered her. The day the judge sentenced him, he swore that somehow he’d get free and hunt us all down. He swore he’d kill us.”
    Elena put her arms around Joanna, hugging her fiercely. “You’re safe here, on the ranch, with us. He doesn’t know where you are. He can’t find you here.”
    â€œBut what if he does?” Joanna, her eyes dry and dazed, looked at her best friend. “I’m scared, Elena. I’m so scared.”
    Elena rubbed Joanna’s back. “I know. I know. But everything’s going to be all right. J.T. will know exactly how to handle this situation. He’ll take care of—”
    â€œJ.T.? No, please, I don’t want your brother to know about this.”
    â€œDon’t be silly,” Elena said. “J.T. knows more about protecting someone than anybody in the whole wide world. He was a Secret Service agent until he got shot in the head and blinded in one eye. For the past six years, he’s been a partner in a private security agency.”
    â€œMother wants me to come home. Back to Virginia. She’s offered to hire a bodyguard for me. I’m sure, if I asked her, she’d hire someone and send him out here.”
    â€œBut don’t you see, there’s no need to hire another bodyguard when we’ve got J.T. It’s what he does for a living.”
    â€œNo,