Kill Me If You Can

23

Puppa, Joel, Samantha, and I walked past the detached garage. From behind a clump of cedars emerged a red barn with white trim and black roof. A cupola complete with a rooster weathervane topped the structure. The bronzed iron squeaked, lazy in the breeze. Next to the barn, white fencing circled the corral, then led off to green pastures. Evidence of horses greeted us on the warm spring air.

Puppa pointed me toward an enclosure past the barn. Joel and Sam wandered off in their own direction.

“There’s that fine filly,” he said, looking at a pretty palomino. As we approached, the horse joined us at the fence. She nuzzled my hand.

“She likes you,” Puppa said, smiling.

“Her nose is so soft.” I leaned my face against hers, drinking in the comforting smell of her warm coat. “How old is she?”

“Ten,” Puppa said. “She’s a Kentucky Mountain Horse.”

“I like her size.” Her back came just below my shoulders.

“She’s a little over fourteen hands high,” he explained.

“What’s her name?”

“I call her Goldie, but her papers say Heaven Hill Gold.”

“That’s a pretty name.”

Puppa chuckled. “It’s a type of liquor. Goldie comes from a dry county down in Kentucky. The old-timers like to name these smooth-riding gaited horses after the thing they love most but can’t have: whiskey.”

I laughed. “Grandpa Amble would have related to that.”

“She’s yours, Patricia.”

My smile faltered. I looked at Puppa. “What do you mean?” My hands ran through Goldie’s mane, instinctively working out the knots and snarls.

“I got her for you.” He patted the horse’s neck. “She’s the right age and height for a new rider. And her temperament is as heavenly as her name.”

My eyes stung as his words sank in. “You got me a horse?”

He nodded. “I used to love riding with your mother. She was a very special lady. I hope we can enjoy the same friendship.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you, Puppa.”

His hands held me in a tight embrace. “You’re welcome.”

When he released me, I wiped at my eyes. “I’m so happy to have family around. I was so alone before. I feel like I finally made it home.”

“You are home. And I hope you’ll never leave us again.”

My heart twisted with emotion as I recognized the tragedy of my profession. I had doomed myself to a perpetual fresh start. I could never settle down with family or form roots that lasted through generations. I was destined to move away time and time again from the very people who could bring stability, love, and meaning to my life. I’d left Brad, hadn’t I? Was I really going to leave my grandfather, great-grandmother, and cousins too?

I choked on the ball in my throat. “I hope I never leave you again too, Puppa.” I’d have to be creative, but I could figure out a way to stay in Port Silvan, and a way to stay in my family’s log cabin where Mom and I spent those beautiful summers together with Puppa and Jellybean. Now if I could only get Candice back in the picture, it would be almost as good as the old days.

“Tell me about your friend,” Puppa said, done with all the mushy stuff.

We started walking the fence line. I was charmed by the way Goldie stayed alongside us. “Samantha? Hmmm. She’s younger than me, beautiful, gutsy, already has Joel by a nose ring . . .”

Puppa laughed. “I noticed all that. I meant tell me about her past. Sounds to me like she’s on the run.”

“I don’t know that she’s on the run so much as her brother Brad is just ultra-paranoid. He’s a cop, you know.”

“What’s he paranoid about?”

I flipped a hand in the air. “I don’t know. Something about Sam’s ex-husband getting out of prison.” I downplayed the man’s vengeful, destructive, and insane attributes.

He stared at the ground as we walked. “What brought her to Port Silvan?”

“Oh, Brad just figured the ex would never connect the dots and Sam would be safe in the woods up here.”

“How do you know these Walters siblings, anyway?”

“Ummm, Brad was my neighbor back in Rawlings. He looked in on me every now and then.”

“Uh-huh.” My grandfather’s voice carried a note of suspicion.

I snapped a look at him. “No, he was not my boyfriend. We were friends. That’s it. We walked, we talked, we skied with the church group. Then I moved up here. End of story.”

“End of relationship?” Puppa asked.

“Yes.”

“But now Sam’s up here.”

“Yeah. So?”

“I wonder if she’s really got an ex to hide from or if big brother just sent her up here to keep an eye on you.”

“Brad? No way. He sounded extremely shook up about the ex-husband. He really loves his sister.”

“He might have been pretty shook up about your shed getting burnt down too. I’d say timing is very coincidental.”

“Well, what’s Sam supposed to do if the bad guys come back? Run over them with her Volkswagen bus?”

Puppa grinned. “Samantha looks like she’s half Amazon. I bet she can take care of herself.” He looked at me. “And watch out for you too, I imagine.”

“Please. I have been taking care of myself practically my whole life. I do not need a babysitter.”

“But having a bodyguard can’t hurt any.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m supposed to be keeping Sam safe. Not the other way around.”

“Having a roommate at the lodge is a good thing. I feel better knowing you’ve got company. I’m sure your friend Brad feels the same way.”

I thought of my new roomie’s VW, orange shag comforter, and lava lamp. Those items didn’t really affect my life in a negative way. But if she started blaring Elvis, the Beatles, or even the Beach Boys, I’d have to draw the line.

Puppa turned around. I realized we’d walked all the way to the main road. My golden horse pranced a circle on the other side of the fence, then accompanied us back toward the barn, which was barely visible through the thick row of cedars that cut the barnyard in half.

“So, what’s going to happen with Melissa Belmont?” I asked him.

“Drake’s sending threats from his cell to scare her into staying at the house. His dealer buddies have practically moved in to keep an eye on her and the kids.”

“That’s awful. I had no idea. What can we do to help her?”

“The tricky part is to get her and the kids out of town without anyone seeing them leave. Then she’ll have to go somewhere Drake and Company won’t think to look for her.”

“Kind of a layman’s witness protection program?”

“Pretty much.”

“Just like Samantha has going.” I cringed at the thought of Sam’s ex tracking her down in Port Silvan.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“If her life is in danger, why not get Melissa into the real program?” I asked.

“Too small of potatoes, too much red tape. The feds don’t really care about prosecuting a dealer like Drake. All Melissa might do is put an insignificant player behind bars for five to ten years.” Grandfather bent down and uprooted a pricker plant. He flung the carcass toward the fence. “Now, if Melissa were willing to testify against bigger potatoes . . . but I can’t imagine she’d do that.” He kicked dirt to fill in the hole. “If Drake came forward to inform on his network, like identifying the big shot running the drug supply lines in and out of the U.P., then Drake could very well earn himself immunity and a new life.”

“What? That’s not fair. Melissa and her kids are the ones that deserve a new life. Doesn’t anyone care if they get killed?”

“We live in a backwater county where there’s only one murder a year, Patricia. Witness protection isn’t a high priority. Besides, more often than not, these women go out looking like suicides.”

My heart beat in my ears. “What do you mean?”

“The suicide rate is off the charts around here.”

“Then my mom . . .” My voice petered into silence.

“May not have been a suicide.”

I stared at him. The breeze lifted a piece of his gray hair. His blue eyes were rimmed with red.

“You didn’t have anything to do with Mom’s death, did you?” I couldn’t forget Candice’s accusations.

He shook his head. “Not directly. But I’ll always wonder.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I should have never let her go that night. It was foolish of me even to mention it.” He shook his head and wiped a hand across his forehead, back in another time.

“Tell me what happened. Please. You have to.” I grabbed his hands. Up in the cedars, birds chirped. My horse reached her nose over the fence and whinnied. Puppa opened his mouth to speak.

From the direction of the barn, I heard Samantha’s voice. “Hey, Tish! Come and see!”