Kentucky Flame

by Jan Scarbrough

  If Dreamcatcher or Royalty didn’t win tonight, Royalty Farm was in jeopardy. Tears blurred in Mel’s eyes as she thought about failing the people she loved.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have the results of the class.” The announcer paused deliberately to drag out the suspense.

  Mel dropped her gaze to find Jake watching her, a look of love in his eyes. She nervously rubbed the warmth of Royalty’s neck.

  “The new Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion is...number 640, Royalty’s Dreamer, owned by Royalty Farm of Simpsonville, Kentucky, and ridden by Melody O’Shea!”

  * * * *

  Watching the whirlwind of activity surrounding Royalty Farm’s stable, Jake slouched in the shadows against a vacant stall some distance away. The lights and noise from the midway on the west side of the fairgrounds filtered over the mammoth exhibition buildings to the horse barn complex, even as a strange mixture of manure and corn dogs wafted in the air.

  Almost midnight, the air was hot and sticky. Even with the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled, Jake felt warm. Yet the agitation within his stomach made the palms of his hands sweat.

  Mel had won. She deserved it.

  Jake shoved a nervous hand into his tousled hair. In fact, both horses had won, Dreamcatcher being called out as reserve champion. One and two. A clean sweep. Hopefully now Royalty Farm was saved and his daughter and Vanessa had a future there.

  Thoughtfully, Jake scuffed the red dirt with his boot. From his vantage point, he sensed the excitement around Mel and Pop. Camera bulbs flashed and several reporters scribbled on pads of paper. Well-wishers shook hands and slapped high-fives.

  Because of the commotion, Jake avoided the post-show celebration. He needed time to think. And after all, this was Mel’s time in the spotlight. He didn’t want his presence to overshadow her.

  He planned to ask Mel to marry him. Would she listen? As he pushed himself away from the stall and walked to join the party at the stable, Jake clenched his fists.

  “Where have you been?” Mel asked, coming to welcome him.

  “Just cooling off.”

  Her eyes were wide and glowing. She had accomplished a lot, and she had to know it. Her career was made. Mel had entered the ranks of famous Saddlebred trainers, something he’d once dreamed of accomplishing but something that didn’t mean much to him any longer.

  He reached out a finger and touched the tip of her nose.

  She smiled up at him. “Everyone’s been asking for you. Come talk to Pop.”

  Jake allowed himself to be drawn to where Pop sat like a reigning king in front of the championship trophies and ribbons.

  “Damn me, boy, we did it!” Pop exclaimed and raised his hand in salute.

  Jake grabbed the old man’s gnarled fingers and shook his hand. “We sure did,” he said with a grin. “We blew them away.”

  Pop squeezed his hand before he let it go, and Jake knew he was saying thanks.

  Vanessa broke away from a group of friends. “I’ve already been offered enough money for Royalty’s Dreamer that will pay for a new barn,” she announced to them, “and three people are shipping their horses to us tomorrow instead of sending them home. They want Jake and Mel to train them.”

  “A team,” Pop said with a knowing look. “What did I tell you? And you thought it was just the prattle of an old man.”

  Jake glanced at Mel who had flushed becomingly.

  “I even had an offer for Royal Tiara, but I told them he wasn’t for sale. Cory would kill me if I sold her horse.”

  “Where is Cory?” Jake looked around. He wanted to share the celebration with her.

  “I don’t know. She was here a minute ago,” Vanessa said.

  “Probably went to get something to eat,” Pop suggested.

  Vanessa looked exasperated. “But I told her not to leave.”

  “I’ll check the stalls,” Dave offered.

  An unfamiliar pain shot through Jake’s stomach. He stared at Mel, who stood quietly beside him. The look of triumph had left her eyes and the blush had paled in her cheeks. She reached out and touched his forearm, her fingers cold on his bare skin. In some immutable way, her touch communicated her fear. He knew what she was thinking.

  The way things had been going lately Jake wasn’t surprised when Dave returned, puffing from exertion. “I can’t find her anywhere.”

  “Lenny!”

  The name of her ex-husband slipped like a curse from Mel’s lips.

  Chapter Twenty

  She was tumbling from the back of a galloping horse. Tumbling and tumbling, Mel spiraled into an open abyss, never seeming to hit the bottom.

  With a start she opened her eyes to find the glare from the picture window throwing a cadence of light across her face. Blinking, she adjusted her gaze. The remnant of the old training barn showed through the window, its charred wood and ash a grim reminder of the summer tragedies.

  In the bottomless pit of her heart, she wondered again if she’d caused Cory’s abduction because of her divorce from Lenny.

  “Four days without a word.” Mel turned to see Vanessa circle the walnut desk and sit down. “I can’t believe it.”

  “What? That Lenny took Cory or that the FBI hasn’t found her yet?” Mel couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.

  Vanessa glanced at her wiped away tears with a tissue. “Both.”

  Hands clenched, throat aching from unshed tears, Mel watched the movement of fear and anger shift across Vanessa’s face. She wondered if her own terror was as blatantly exposed. Did she look as haggard and disheveled as her friend?

  “They’ll find her,” Jake spoke softly from where he sat facing the desk.

  “I’m glad you’re confident,” Mel snapped.

  “How else should I be?” he retorted. “It’s hard enough as it is.”

  Their gazes caught and held. Unspoken emotions of guilt and blame and fear passed between them. Mel longed to snuggle safely into his arms. Like a child seeking a parent’s comfort, she wanted to be held and cuddled and told it all would be better.

  But the adult part of her knew it wasn’t to be. No manner of cajoling and positive words would cover the truth. Cory was gone and she was in the clutches of a man who had already killed another human being.

  “Arguing won’t help,” Vanessa cautioned.

  “I’m sorry.” Mel’s shoulders sagged, and she turned back to the window.

  Hours of interviews with the authorities had drained them all. After this length of time, it was not surprising they found themselves at each other’s throats. Throughout the interrogation, Jake had kept the secret of Cory’s parentage. Mel was proud of him for that, but it didn’t matter in the large scope of things. What mattered was Lenny’s crazed attack on her and Dreamcatcher, and the alarming fact her ex had a gun just like the one that killed Sam.

  Mel rubbed a fingertip across her temple. Lenny was crazed. It was senseless of her to feel any sort of guilt when she had done nothing wrong. Lenny had done it all. Lenny with his sick view of the world and reality.

  “At least we know who’s got Cory,” Jake commented as if he wanted something more to say.

  “At least we think we know.” Vanessa’s voice was weary.

  “Who else could it be? Lenny’s missing and his behavior the night of the show was criminal.” Jake paused a moment, and then went on. “It’s better to know something, however intangible. I’d hate to be like some poor families whose kids disappear without a clue.”

  “But Cory did disappear without a clue,” Vanessa said, unable to suppress a sob.

  Mel’s heart ached. At the same time, the uselessness she felt sat in her soul like a dead weight.

  “Why would Lenny do it?”

  “Revenge,” Jake speculated.

  Mel turned once more to find his gaze on hers. Her heart erupted with anger.

  “Lenny didn’t care about our divorce,” she said coming forward, a new certainty awakening in her. “About losing me, at least. He o
nly cared that the divorce hurt his pocket book.” She took a labored breath and glared at Jake. “All I was to him was an entrance to the Saddlebred community. A window dressing.”

  Mel knew what they were thinking—blaming her arrival for bringing this horror down on the farm, on Cory. Heck, she blamed herself. Mel clutched the back of a chair to keep from toppling headlong into the chasm of her fear.

  “Why would he take Cory?” Vanessa asked once more in a weak voice.

  Mel cast Jake a defensive glance. “My best guess is that it has something to do with his gambling debts. As Pop once said, greed causes people to do funny things.”

  The two of them looked at her as if she’d said it all. Mel’s glance shifted between them. Jake’s gaze seemed to be a confirmation of the love and respect he felt for her. He wasn’t blaming her. She lowered her eyes in confusion. Things were so complex. She wished the slate could be wiped clean. She wished for a new start and for a happy ending.

  The ringing phone jarred them all. Vanessa pounced on it. Her hopeful look said she expected news from the police. Mel watched with mixed emotions as Vanessa’s face spiked with apprehension. She touched a button and a low voice came across the speaker phone.

  “You owe me.”

  “Lenny,” Mel mouthed. Jake stood up. They both converged on the desk and the phone.

  “Bitch, if you’d just sold the property to Bishop none of this would have happened.”

  “What does the realtor have to do with it?” Vanessa asked.

  “You had your chance. Now I’ll take mine. Tell Mel to bring five hundred thousand dollars and come alone. No cops. If you bring the cops, the kid is dead.”

  “Where?” Jake shouted, lunging toward the speaker.

  Lenny must have heard him because he laughed. “She’ll know. And she’d like hell better come alone.”

  The click that severed the connection boomed like artillery across the room. They stared at each other.

  “My God, what next?” Still holding the receiver, Vanessa sat down hard in the chair behind the desk.

  Hope slipped wordlessly into Mel’s heart. “We know where Cory is now.”

  “Where?” Jake touched her arm, the blue of his eyes filled with questions.

  “The only secluded place Lenny knows. His father’s fishing cabin near Branson.”

  “I’ll call the police.” Vanessa began to dial.

  “No!” Jake warned. “Do you want to sign Cory’s death sentence?” His fingers left Mel’s arm as he placed both hands on the desk and glared across it at Vanessa.

  “Jake’s right,” Mel said. “Lenny has killed once.”

  “But what do we do?” Vanessa laid the receiver back into its cradle.

  “Like Lenny said, you give me the money and I’ll take it to him.”

  “He will kill you too,” Vanessa whispered.

  “I’ll have to chance it.” Mel couldn’t explain to Vanessa that it would be a mother bear protecting her cub. She’d do anything to get Cory away from that monster.

  Vanessa searched Mel’s face. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “It’s something I have to do and it’s better than waiting here,” Mel assured her.

  “And she won’t be alone.”

  Mel glanced up into Jake’s eyes to see a look of determination there.

  “I’m going with her,” he said.

  * * * *

  Mel swallowed hard. Her head throbbed and her eyes were dry and scratchy. Somewhere in the darkness of the night lay Lenny’s cabin. She waited alone in her Jeep, searching the shadows for any sign of Jake, who had gone on foot to take a look.

  Her mind seesawed with mirthless abandon. What control did she have over the future? Surely not of her emotions. They vacillated like a squirrel trying to cross the road between hope and abject fear. Like that hapless squirrel, she had zigged when she should have zagged and felt as if she lay flat dead on the pavement. A road kill. A victim of some large, looming vehicle that was Lenny’s madness.

  Dispirited, her mind plunged toward thoughts of Cory. Had Lenny hurt her? Was she afraid? Mel took a careful breath. Nothing mattered now, not until they rescued their daughter.

  Her future with Jake was something Mel didn’t want to think about. She didn’t want to think about his boyish smile, wayward dimple and clear blue eyes. A sudden flush of heat rippled through her as she tried not to recall the way his arms felt. Secure and loving, not controlling and loathsome like Lenny’s arms had been.

  A tiny prick of light gave Mel her first indication that Jake was back. Her hands curled in her lap as she tried to quiet the fear throbbing in her heart.

  “Someone’s there.” Jake opened the passenger side door and looked at her, his eyes bright with excitement. He flicked off the flashlight. “It’s about a half mile away. I didn’t get close enough to look inside, but the lights are on and there’s a car in the driveway.”

  Mel nodded. “It has to be Lenny.”

  Jake covered her hands with his. Their warmth somehow conveyed concern as well as a deep, abiding trust. Unsettled, Mel sought confirmation in his eyes, but the darkness surrounded them like an enveloping blanket.

  “I hate to let you go,” he whispered.

  “I have to. You know that.”

  “But I’ll still worry.”

  Mel felt like that squirrel not knowing which way to turn. Part of her wanted to free Cory but the other part was afraid. She’d have to trust herself—trust the person she’d become, the one who saved horses from a burning barn and rescued a foal from a swollen creek. If Jake trusted her after all they had been through, she certainly could embrace his faith.

  “Lenny wants the money. I’ll give it too him and take Cory. It will be simple,” Mel told him, her voice hushed.

  Jake squeezed her linked hands. “I’ll hide in the woods.”

  “Yes.” Mel clutched the thoughts of his trust and her strength like a rider gripped the saddle with her knees.

  “I wish you’d take this gun,” he urged, holding up the weapon.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know how to use it. I’d shoot myself or Cory. Let me do it my way.”

  “Okay.” He sighed. “You know how I hate this.”

  “I know.” What more could she say? Do? With a rush of carelessness, she kissed his forehead. “Remember, I never stopped loving you.” The admission swelled her heart with trepidation as she wondered what he would think.

  “And I never stopped loving you,” he repeated as he shut the door.

  Even in the darkness, she read the truth of his confession in his eyes.

  And felt a sense of peace.

  Gathering up her courage, Mel slid into the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition. That’s all she had—her confidence in herself and their love. She had to use that to get Cory away from Lenny and get back to Jake.

  Mel stopped in front of the cabin, her heart pounding and her stomach churning. A yellow rectangle of light from the open door fell heavily into the black Missouri night. To her dismay, the dark shadow of a man blocked the doorway.

  “You took your sweet time,” Lenny growled as she opened the door and turned off the head lights.

  “It’s a long way from Louisville.” She tried to bolster her courage with loud bravado.

  “Did you bring the money?”

  Mel left her keys in the ignition and climbed out. “Do you have Cory?”

  “What do you think?” His tone was surly.

  “I think you’d better have her.”

  Mel shrank from him as she entered the cramped log cabin that smelled of cedar and dead fish and someone’s wet socks. There wasn’t much to the cabin. Just an open area that combined as a kitchen, living room and bedroom. Cory sat cross-legged on the double bed, her eyes wide with delight at Mel’s entrance.

  As Lenny closed the door, Mel smiled at the little girl, sending a message of courage and silence.

  Trying to play it cool, she turned back to Lenny. “Here’s you
r money.” She tugged a packet from her jacket and tossed it on the coffee table.

  Lenny came slowly into the room. His face was grim. Lines Mel had never seen before assailed the corners of his eyes. Lips drawn, he settled onto the well-worn sofa. Glancing up at her, his gaze stabbed her with so much loathing that it alarmed her.

  “I’m going to count it first.”

  “Sure, but you’ll find it all there.” Mel shrugged. She remembered where the bathroom was and walked toward it.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have to pee. Do you mind? It was a long drive.”

  She saw that her crude words disturbed him. She’d never talked like that to him before, but right now she felt vulgar and bitchy. He’d done too much to her. Mel’s stomach turned as she shut the bathroom door.

  Five minutes later when she pulled it open, Lenny blocked her exit. “It’s all there,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.

  Mel frowned and pushed past him, knocking her shoulder against his. “I told you it was.”

  She kept moving, avoiding him like a horse avoided a loud noise. “I’d like some coffee before the drive home.”

  Lenny grunted something akin to assent as she went to the makeshift kitchen and pulled an aluminum pan from a cabinet shelf. After running tepid water into it from the faucet, she set the pan on one of the two burners.

  The water boiled quickly. Mel watched the rolling water and the film of slowly rising steam. Her heart twitched like the tail of a squirrel. Something was wrong here. She could feel him look at her. Just from the edgy way he was behaving, Mel knew Lenny wasn’t going to let Cory leave.

  Struggling to remain calm, she brought out a jar of instant coffee and two mugs. Filling two mugs with dark granules, Mel took a mug to Lenny. “Want some?”

  With narrowed, malevolent eyes, he stared at her. Her breathing shallow, she thrust the mug into his hands.

  “Thanks,” he said. “Too bad you weren’t more domestic when we were married.”

  Turning from him, Mel went back to the stove. “You didn’t want a domestic. You wanted to be married to a trainer who could win the World’s Grand Championship.”