The Chase (12 page)

“It is now that I’m talking to you.”

Zelda felt a pleasant blush warm her cheeks. “Yeah, I feel the same way. God, I miss you. I don’t know how much longer I can stand it in this hellhole without you.”

“It may be longer than we thought. We’ve got a problem.”

Zelda’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?”

“Cummings is in the hospital and he might die.”

“
What?”

“Yeah, and it gets worse,” Earl said. “It was Zach’s fault.”

“What did he do?”

“He cut the brake line on Cummings’s car. Cummings was hauling the horse trailer over Mount Weather and went off the road.”

“
Shit
. We told him to get Cummings’s attention, not kill him.”

“You ain’t telling me anything I don’t already know, babe.”

“Do you really think Cummings might die?”

“I haven’t heard how he is today, but last night things didn’t look so good.”

“What will we do? That fucks up the whole plan.”

“Ain’t nothing going to fuck up our plan, Zelda. We just might have to take a detour.”

Zelda thought it over for a moment. “There’s still the wife and kid.”

He chuckled. “That’s what I love about you, babe. You’re always thinking.”

She flushed with pleasure. “How’s Zach doing, other than the fact that he screwed up big-time.”

“He’s fitting in fine. He says they all act like they like him.”

“No problem with his work papers?” Zelda didn’t trust Daryl, the guy they’d gotten the fake IDs from.

“Nah. They never took a second look. I told you, Daryl’s a pro. Our alibis will hold up.”

“What’s it like, using a fake name? Do you forget and not answer when folks are talking to you?”

“Nah, it’s a piece of cake.”

“What about the tags for my car? Did Daryl come through with those?”

“Stop worrying, babe. It’s no problem. Besides, I gave your car to Zach.”

She frowned. “How are you getting around?”

“I got me a truck. It fits better with my story.”

“Don’t tell me you went and stole a truck!”

“It’s all under control, babe,” Earl said coolly. “Look, I’ve got to go. I’m heading over to make friends at the barn where some of Cummings’s buddies ride. I’ll find out more about how Cummings is doing, and I’ll call you back at noon.”

“All right. I miss you,” she said. But he had already hung up.

W
ellington sailed over the last fence on the course, and as Kendall turned him into a hunter circle, she heard the sound of someone clapping from the observation area at the opposite end of the indoor arena. As she completed the circle and brought Wellington back to a walk, she turned and saw Jake leaning against the rail. When she’d dropped him off at his truck the night before, she’d invited him to stop by the barn this morning, but she hadn’t thought he would take her up on it.

“Hi,” she called out, giving Wellington a loose rein and guiding him towards the end of the ring.

“Nice horse,” Jake said.

Kendall reached down and patted Wellington on his neck. “Thank you. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse for me.”

She rode over to where Jake stood, and Wellington stretched his long neck and nosed Jake in the chest.

“Hey, buddy.” Jake reached up and rubbed Wellington’s face. “You’re a mighty fancy guy, aren’t you?”

“And lucky for me he’s also a gentleman. As I’m sure you know, talent and manners don’t always go together.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard,” Jake said wryly. He ran his eyes over Wellington. “He’s sure put together nice. How big is he; sixteen two, sixteen three?”

She slid down from the saddle and rolled up her stirrups. “He’s seventeen hands.”

“Really? He doesn’t look that big. I guess it’s because he takes your leg up nicely. Even though you’re petite, you don’t look too small on him.”

“I’m five foot seven,” Kendall said. “And I have a long leg, so I need a tall horse. It wasn’t easy to find one that didn’t overpower me.”

“How long have you had him?”

She flipped the reins over Wellington’s head and loosened the girth. “Four years. I got him when he was a six-year-old.”

“I heard you talking to Elizabeth about showing him. I’ll bet you’ve got a few trophies with his name on them.”

Kendall smiled. “He’s earned his fair share of trophies.” She opened the gate and led Wellington through. “I’m going to go hose him off. If you want to come with me, I’ll show you around.”

“Sure, this looks like quite a place,” Jake said, following her down the walkway that led to the barn. “Hey, one reason I stopped by is that I wanted to let you know how Chancellor is doing. I went to the Equine Medical Center to see him first thing this morning.”

“Oh, how is he? I tried calling earlier, but since it’s Sunday, I only got a recording.”

“He’s doing great. He’s still hooked up to IVs, but they fed him a little hay this morning, and he was screaming for more when I got there. Doc Carey wasn’t there, but I talked to a nice gal who’s been taking care of him, and she told me he’s been a trooper.”

He paused for a moment and smiled. “She let me go in the stall with Chancellor for a minute, and he nickered when he saw me. It reminded me of that TV show
Fury.”

“I guess you two really did have a bonding experience yesterday.”

As they passed the door to the office, Margaret Southwell walked into the barn aisle with a tall, dark-haired man who was on crutches.

“Oh, Kendall, you’re just the person I was looking for. I want to introduce you to Stephen Lloyd. He plays polo and he’s considering moving to the area. Stephen, this is Kendall Waters.”

Stephen smiled and balanced on one crutch while he extended his hand. “As you can imagine, my polo playing is a little limited right now, but I hope to get this cast off in a couple of weeks, and then I’ll be back in the saddle again.”

“Did you get hurt riding?” Kendall asked, shaking his hand.

“Actually, the riding was fine. It was the fall that did me in,” he said with a laugh.

“Stephen’s from Aiken, South Carolina,” Margaret said.

“Oh, is that right?” Kendall said. “I love Aiken. It’s beautiful down there.”

“That’s what everyone in Aiken says about Middleburg,” Stephen said.

Kendall smiled. “Have you been to polo at Great Meadow yet?”

He shook his head. “No, but I’ll be there this Friday. I hear there’s a tournament going on this week.”

“It’s a lot of fun. I don’t know much about polo, but I enjoy watching.”

“I hope to see you there.”

Jake had stepped off to the side when they began talking. Margaret was eyeing him curiously. “Kendall, aren’t you going to introduce your friend?”

“Oh, sure. I’m sorry. This is Jake….” Kendall realized she didn’t know Jake’s last name. “He’s the one who helped rescue Chancellor yesterday when Doug had his accident.”

“So, you’re the mysterious Jake.” The crow’s feet around Margaret’s eyes crinkled as she broke into a broad smile. “I’ve already heard all about you. The talk around town is that you’re a real horse whisperer.”

Jake removed his cowboy hat. “Hello, ma’am. Jake Dawson. Sounds like someone blew things out of proportion with the horse whisperer talk, but I was happy to help out. Chancellor is an amazing horse, and it’s real tragic what happened to Mr. Cummings.”

Margaret pursed her lips. “Isn’t it, though? Kendall, do you know how Doug is doing today?”

Kendall shook her head and glanced down at the cell phone she had clipped to her belt. “I haven’t heard from Anne yet this morning.” She checked the phone to make sure she hadn’t missed a call.

“Please give her my best when you talk to her, will you? And tell her we’re praying for Doug.”

“Of course.” She patted her horse on the neck. “I’d better get Wellington to the wash stall and hose him off. It was nice to meet you, Stephen.”

“The pleasure was all mine.”

After they were out of hearing distance, Kendall turned to Jake. “Margaret is the owner here.”

“It’s sure a nice farm.” Jake gestured at the thick oak boards in the aisle and the exterior stone walls in the stalls. “I guess this barn has some history. It looks pretty old.”

Kendall nodded. “The farm has been in Margaret’s family for several generations. This was the original barn on the property.”

“How many horses do they have here?”

“Around fifty, I think.”

He whistled. “That’s a full-time job, and then some. I hope she has good help.”

“Margaret has a pretty decent staff this summer, but they always seem to drop like flies during the winter, once they have to break ice in the water buckets and change the horses’ blankets twice a day.”

“Yeah, horses are high-maintenance work; there’s no denying that.”

They rounded the corner and saw a tall, muscular young man mucking out a stall. “Hi, Todd,” Kendall said as they passed by.

The young man grinned at her and tossed his blond hair out of his eyes. “Good morning, Miss Waters.”

“Todd’s a cute kid,” Kendall said to Jake. “Margaret just hired him a couple of weeks ago. He doesn’t have a whole lot of experience working with horses, but he’s reliable and a quick learner, which sometimes is better than experience.”

She led Wellington into the wash stall and put the reins over his neck while she unbuckled his bridle and slid it off. Jake reached out and took the bridle from her and handed her a grooming halter.

“Thanks,” she said, a little taken aback by his helpfulness.

“No problem. Here, let me help you with the saddle.”

Jake moved past her in the narrow wash stall, lifted the saddle flap, and unbuckled the girth. He was so close to her that Kendall could smell his aftershave, and the proximity made her uncomfortable. His arm brushed against her shoulder as he lifted the saddle off Wellington’s back, and she stepped to the side.

“Pardon me,” he said, sliding past her again as he carried the saddle out of the wash stall and set it on the saddle rack.

Kendall clipped the cross-ties to the grooming halter. As she reached to turn the hose on, she heard the clattering of hooves in the barn aisle.

“Uh-oh,” she said, grabbing Wellington by the halter and leaning out into the aisle to see what was happening.

A gray horse galloped towards them, fully tacked, and a girl ran after it, yelling, “Whoa, Cloudy.”

Jake stepped into the middle of the aisle, directly in the path of the loose horse, and stretched his arms out to the side. “Whoa, boy, easy,” he murmured as the horse neared.

The horse continued towards them at full speed, but Jake didn’t flinch, and at the last minute, the horse skidded to a stop on the asphalt surface. The horse’s sides were heaving, and it eyed Jake warily.

“It’s okay, good boy, just take it easy,” Jake said softly, easing his hand out to grasp the dangling reins. “There you go.”

The girl reached them and Kendall saw that it was Elizabeth Carey. “Elizabeth, are you all right?” she asked, stepping out of the wash stall.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

Elizabeth made a face as she brushed some dirt off her breeches. “Cloudy bucked me off.
Again
. He’s developed a real bad attitude. Whenever I ask him to do something he doesn’t want to do, he tries to dump me. I thought maybe he was getting sour from always being ridden in our small ring at home and a change of scenery might help, so Dad trailered me over here to school him.”

“Is your dad here?” Kendall asked.

“No, he had to go to the EMC for a while. He’s going to pick me up later.” Elizabeth took the reins from Jake. “Thanks for catching him for me. I’m so embarrassed you saw that happen.”

“No need to be embarrassed. We all fall off on occasion,” Jake said, smiling at her.

Todd had been watching from the nearby stall and he leaned his pitchfork against the stall door and walked over to them. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah, pretend you never saw that, okay?” Elizabeth said.

Kendall laughed. “Elizabeth, this is Todd.”

“Hi,” Elizabeth said glumly. “I wish we’d met under better circumstances.”

“Aw, come on, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Jake said. “Why don’t you get back on and work him some more?”

“That’s the problem,” Elizabeth said. “I can’t ride him through it. I guess Cloudy’s figured out that he can avoid work by bucking me off. I’m sure if a professional rode Cloudy a few times, he could straighten him out, but I’m afraid to tell Dad. He paid so much for Cloudy. I don’t dare ask him to pay for training.”

“Want me to hop on him?” Jake asked.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Would you?”

He nodded. “Sure, come on.”

“Thank you so much,” she said, giving him a big smile. “Miss Waters, do you want to come and watch?”

“You go ahead,” Kendall said. “I’ll be there after I finish hosing Wellington off.”

Kendall watched Jake and Elizabeth walk down the aisle towards the ring, and as she turned back to Wellington, she saw Todd watching them as well.