Past is Present
Warning: Deathfic, but I’m not saying who.
* * *
* * *
“You think you’re riding high now, Ramsay? You’re riding for a fall and
you can take that to the bank.”
* * *
A couple of weeks later things had settled down a bit more. Henry had a
string of their horses running races at Belmont and things were scheduled as far
away as next February out in California and Florida. Alec had gotten back into
the routine of racing when he was supposed to and then spending as much time as
he could up at the farm to relax a little and work the youngsters they had in
training. He was also dealing with the breeding mares and the ones who were due
to drop their foals any time now. It made for a lot of back and forth, but that
as fine.
* * *
“Things looking pretty good from where you’re sitting, are they?”
* * *
“Alec, who was that guy hanging around here this morning? Tall, brown hair?”
* * *
“Hey Alec, did you get your mail?” Alec paused on his way over to Hopeful Farms
assigned stalls at Belmont.
He held up a couple of envelopes he was carrying. “Yeah, I was just over at our
box.”
Lenny shook his head. “Nah, not just that—the rest of it; your mail. Some
guy from the front office brought it around a little while ago—hey, you win your
second Triple Crown, a lot of people want to be your friend, y’know?”
“Tell me about it.” Alec laughed; that was an understatement. A couple of weeks
ago he’d brought Raven home in the Belmont Stakes for the Farm’s second triple
in five years. First they’d had the big win with Satan, now another of Black’s
son’s was making them proud and it was a little hard not to let it go to
anyone’s head. Sure, they had a good horse, but Raven was just a horse and as
far as Alec was concerned he might be terrific and as well trained and willing
as they come, but no animal would ever match the Black. Not for him, anyway.
He went into the extra stall they’d been allowed to use as an combination office
and tack room, seeing the US Mail tray sitting on a tack trunk and Henry Daily
reading today’s Racing Form.
“That just came for you a few minutes ago. I’m going to get some lunch—you okay
holding down the fort?”
“Sure, Henry, take your time.” It looked like there were at least a hundred
letters and cards there and he sighed as he sat down to start going through
them. Most were well-wishes from strangers, either horsemen or girls wondering
if he was happily married or not and which he found embarrassing since they’d
usually include pictures of the girls either on the back of a horse or in
bikinis. He knew there’d be crayon drawings from school children who’d seen the
race on TV. Another large group would be job seekers hoping to get lucky and
most of the rest had something to sell.
He’d try to answer the letters from the kids, send a polite form letter to the
people wanting jobs and ignore the rest. Then he reminded himself that if the
time ever came when he didn’t respond to fans, he’d need a reminder that bettors
and racing fans funded a lot of the purses that paid Hopeful Farm’s bills.
And besides, years ago he’d been one of those eight years old writing to a
famous jockey, disappointed at never getting an answer. Steve Cauthern was a
close friend now and one night, over a few beers he’d told Steve about the
letter and signed picture he’d asked for that never arrived. Steve had seemed
genuinely upset and insisted that he always tried to make a point of responding
to kids. He’d actually apologized and probably still felt badly about it. Alec
remembered and so now he made an effort not to disappoint people. Sighing a bit,
he pulled out some stationary and publicity pictures and got started. The Triple
Crown was a month ago—the publicity and attention would die down soon enough.
“’Think you’re hot stuff? You’re not.”
“Riding a horse isn’t exactly what anyone would call curing cancer, now is it?
You got how much money for winning a few races? You think you’re going to be
able to hold onto it? You keep thinking that.”
“Watch your back, Ramsay.”
“Horses break their legs all the time in horse racing, don’t they?”
The quiet and peace of the farm did more to sooth him emotionally and physically
than just about anything—with the exception of Pam.
Unfortunately for Alec, she wasn’t around right now. She’d taken off—with his
blessing and best wishes, for a month long trip to visit her family and friends
down in Florida and to spend some time with old friends. They spoke on the phone
daily and he missed her more than he had words to express, but she was his wife,
not a possession and he wanted her happy. Just because he couldn’t get away
right now was no reason why she couldn’t see her family for a while.
The fan mail was still coming in but the volume was starting to decrease and
that was a good thing as far as Alec was concerned. Yes, he enjoyed most of the
letters and they were usually a highlight of his day. He got a kick out of them
and had tacked a few of the kids’ drawings on the wall of his office but he was
too busy to devote hours a day to the stuff. Taking pity, his mother was helping
and sending a lot of the responses now, but still...
“Alec, is everything all right up there? I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too, Pam and everything’s fine—except for…you know. It’s kind of
lonely. I keep finding me on your side of the bed hugging a pillow and I keep
having these dreams...”
She smiled at the slightly suggestive remark and knew exactly what he meant. She
was having those same dreams. “I’ll be home in a couple of weeks—can you wait?”
“Can you?” He sipped his coffee, his mind on Pam and how much he wished she were
with him. “Are you having a good time, though? What have you been doing?”
“Just visiting friends, seeing movies—we went to the beach yesterday. You know,
just stuff; I’m having a great time but I wish you’d been able to come with
me—my parents keep telling me that I look like I’m mooning around the house all
day. If I hear one more comment about what we’re doing to the phone bill I think
I’ll scream.”
He laughed; he was getting the same comments on this end. “I’ll meet you at the
airport next week; God, it will be god to see you.”
“I love you, Alec. Be careful, okay?”
“Of course, always. I love you too.”
“I’m guessing you know the statistics about how often jocks get hurt, right?”
“I heard you fractured your skull falling off a horse a few years ago. You think
lightning never strikes twice?”
“I read your farm lost a barn a couple years ago in a fire. Damn, I love how
straw burns.”
“I didn’t see anyone. Another reporter maybe?”
“I don’t think so. Well, never mind. I want you to take the filly out. Marv said
it was okay with him if we work her with his string this morning.”
“Okay, fine.”
He was back down at Belmont for a few days and Alec went to get the Black Lady
out of her stall. She was built almost exactly like her damn, Black Minx who was
large and muscular, except that she had a white blaze down her nose and four
white stockings on her leg. The markings made her look striking and people
commented on her appearance almost every time they took her out. She was being
aimed for the Kentucky Oaks next year if she worked out as well as they hoped;
so far she was coming along well and with any luck she’d make them all proud. He
was just clipping the lead shank onto her halter when he stopped.
There. In the corner.
He grabbed it without thinking seconds before anything could happen and moved it
out of the stall fast enough to startle the horse.
“Henry!”
The old man turned around, his eyes going wide when he saw what Alec was
carrying…a lit cigarette stuck into a full pack of matches. When the thing had
burned down enough it would have ignited the matches and started a fire in
Lady’s stall and the cigarette only had about another half inch or so to go.
“What the…?” Alec stuck the thing in a bucket of water then went to the stable
phone and called track security. The horses housed at Belmont were valuable
animals with any number of breeding and training operations dependant on their
well being. If there was someone out to cause damage, a barn fire was an
efficient way of doing it.
“Have insurance?”
* * *
“Well, we’ll up the security, that’s for sure but it’s probably just a
one-shot. You know, some nut getting his jollies and then moving on—sort of like
a hit and runs. I wouldn’t worry about it happening again, Henry.”
* * *
“Got you running scared now, do I? Bet you’re going to be running home to
Mommy, Ramsay—am I right?”
* * *
The big horse van pulled into the main driveway at the farm about nine that
evening with Alec’s parents expecting them and the outdoor lights on as a
welcome. They stopped the van by the training barn. The farm hands having been
told that they were coming and the stalls ready for the five horses they had
with them. The van was unloaded inside of an hour, the van parked behind the
stallion barn. Alec and Henry had walked through all the barns checked every
stall and every horse to make sure everything was all right and found everything
just as it should have been.
“Let’s just count, shall we? Four barns at your farm. Over a hundred horses
there. Then there are the nags you keep moving from track to track—which takes
poor you away from home and hearth for weeks at a time. Hard to keep an eye on
it all, don’t you think?”
“I hear the little woman left you already for a ‘vacation’. What a shame.”
“Are you out of your mind? If Alec hadn’t found that thing that barn would be
charcoal right now and most of the horses in it as well. You’re calling the
police in on this, aren’t you?”
The head of Track security was trying to calm Henry down, without success.
“Sure, sure but you know as well as I do that they aren’t going to find much. No
fingerprints and people are coming and going all day around this place. You know
we’ll do what we can, just don’t count on much, that’s all. You don’t have any
idea about who might have done this, do you?”
Henry shook his head. “No, no I don’t—maybe Alec has some idea, have you asked
him?”
“He said he might have an idea, but he doesn’t have any proof or anything. I
guess we could have the NYPD bring the guy in for questioning, try to scare him,
but since Alec doesn’t know for sure who the guy is or how to find him our hands
are pretty tied. You know how it is, Henry—‘probably some fired groom getting
even or something like that. It happens. I wouldn’t worry all that much about
him coming back, if I were you.” The man left, promising to be back soon,
leaving Henry and Alec facing each other in the tack room.
“I want to move all the horses back up to the farm where we can keep an eye on
them.”
“We can’t do that, Alec and you know it—we’re committed to half a dozen races
this month alone.” Henry looked at Alec and admitted to himself that he’d like
nothing more than doing just that but they simply couldn’t. No now, anyway.
“Forfeit the entrance fees, then—they’re cheap races anyway.”
“Alec, you know the horses need the training.”
“The horses need to be protected so that they’re not harmed.”
“Alec, calm down. You heard Barney—he’s upping security and this stable is going
to get round the clock protection. They’ll be fine.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying thing—what about the horses up at the farm? We
can’t be two places at once. You can’t tell me that Back and Satan and the rest
are safe there with just the farm hands to watch them.”
“And you think that if you go back up there you can stand watch all day and all
night with a shot gun? Get serious, Alec—hire extra security of you want,
install more alarms but you know as well as I do that we have to run these races
or those animals won’t get the seasoning they need and then they’ll be useless
to us.”
“They’re useless to us if they’re killed, Henry.”
“Stop being melodramatic.” Henry stood up, finished with the conversation.
“I can’t believe how lightly you’re taking this.”
“I’m not taking it lightly, I’m just not flying off the handle like you
are—that’s not going to accomplish anything and you know it as well as I do,
Alec.”
Alec took a few breaths, trying to take the conversation down a few notches.
“There’s something else; I’ve—we’ve—been getting threats. I thought they were
just, I don’t know, I thought they were nothing; now I don’t think so.”
This got Henry’s attention. Alec opened the large tack trunk and pulled out the
pile of letters—all addressed in the same block printing and mailed from a dozen
different cities. The first few, maybe two or three of then arrived almost six
months ago, stopped for a while and then picked up again a few weeks ago.
Henry’s hands started trembling as he read through the stack.
“Why didn’t you tell me about these?”
“I thought they were just empty threats. I didn’t think they were really
dangerous.” He’d been wrong to not say anything and he knew it but there wasn’t
anything to be gained by arguing about it now.
Putting the letters down Henry said, “I’ll let the track management know we’re
leaving and show them these to let them know why. Then we’re taking the horses
back up to the farm this afternoon—get the big trailer ready and pack up
everything. As soon as we get there I want to call the local police and let them
know that we have a potential situation they need to be aware of.” He looked up
at Alec, still holding the letters. “Who knows about these?”
“You and me.”
“Pam? Your parents?”
“No one. Just us.”
Henry nodded. “Let’s keep it that way for now. ‘No reason upsetting them if we
don’t have to.” He headed for the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I’m finished
with the front office and then we’re going home.”
“So the Black is worth how much?”
“And Satan?”
“Your parents live up at that isolated farm, right?”
“You know what I hate? When my brakes fail. I hate that.”
They had a strained dinner with Alec’s parents in the main house, Alec and Henry
filling them in on what was going on. Alec’s mother was upset, of course and his
father looked a little shell-shocked. “Do you have any idea who it may be?”
“I think it’s that old boyfriend of Pam’s—remember he was here for a day last
summer? Pam told me he was pretty upset when he found out that we were together,
made some comments about how he’d break us up.”
“Oh, Alec—why didn’t you two say anything?” His mother was getting more and more
upset.
“Pam told me and I just thought he was blowing smoke, that he was harmless and
just trying to scare us would be enough for him. I guess I was wrong.”
His father poured another cup of coffee. “Have you told Pam about all this?”
Alec nodded. “I spoke to her before dinner. She said that Chris has been down
there in Florida with his parents and that he’s been following her around,
stopping over at the house without warning. He hasn’t threatened her—or she says
he hasn’t, anyway—but she said he was making her nervous so her father asked
Chris not to come around anymore. She said he was pretty angry about that and
somehow blamed it on me being possessive or something.”
“If he’s in Florida, obviously he didn’t try to start a fire in New York today.”
“That’s what I thought but his parents told Pam’s parents that he left the day
before yesterday to visit his brother in Vermont. They called and asked the
brother—he never arrived.”
“What about Pam?”
“She’s coming home tomorrow. I tried to talk her out of it but she insisted,
said that if there’s a problem, if he shows up here she may be able to talk him
out of anything crazy.”
Around eleven Alec had the cot made up in his office. “I’m going to stay out in
the stallion barn tonight.” Henry knew there would be no point in trying to talk
him out of it, so didn’t try. If Alec was more comfortable keeping a close eye
on his horse, then fine.
Hopeful Farm spent the night with all the outdoor lights on, every door locked,
every farm hand on edge and every alarm on the place set. The local police had
been advised that there was a potential problem and assured Alec’s father that
should they get a call from the farm they’d be there as fast as possible.
Nothing happened, the night passed quietly and everyone was on edge, waiting for
the explosion.
During breakfast they got a call from Pam’s father—a notebook was found by
Chris’s parents in his room. It outlined, in diary form, his romance with Pam
and how she’d tried to break it off with him, finally leaving the state to find
work and adventure. It talked about her getting the job up at Hopeful Farm and
her talking about how she was ‘seeing’ Alec Ramsay and how she’d written Chris
that he should move on as well. The first entries went back to their dating in
high school:
I think I’m going to ask her today at lunch and maybe she’ll finally agree to
go to the dance with me. I know she broke up with Snelling so maybe. Jesus, I
hope she doesn’t laugh at me…
I can’t believe it! She’s going with me. Me! The prettiest, smartest, nicest
girl in the school and she’s going to the dance with me.
The dance was amazing. She was the most beautiful girl there—but I knew she
would be. We even slow danced…
I watched her ride that horse of hers at the beach. I took pictures and she
didn’t mind, she even asked me if I’d like to ride with her, sitting right
behind her. I could feel her against me and, God, it was incredible…
He skipped a couple of months—
I asked Pam to marry me this afternoon and she looked kind of surprised but
said she’d think about it…
She turned me down. Christ! I mean she turned me down and you want to know why?
Because she thinks she needs to ‘grow up’ and wants to ‘see things’. Yeah,
right…but first she wants to travel around, see the world and all that garbage.
Dammit—what’s wrong with me? I’m not enough for her? I’ve been writing her a
couple of times a week but she won’t answer. Her parents say she’s on the road
but c’mon…
Pam finally wrote and said she got a job at some fancy horse farm up north. She
said she likes it and that the people are all nice. I bet she’s found some guy
there—some guy who rides or owns lots of fancy horses. I bet she has…
I saw her sister in the store and she was saying that Pam is ‘seeing’ some
famous rich jockey—can you believe it? A damn jockey? What is this guy, a dwarf?
A midget? A troll? Aren’t they all like four feet tall and weigh like thirty
pounds? I wrote to her and said this was stupid and she should come home, enough
is enough, right? I mean, I’ve been pretty patient but c’mon. I’m getting fed up
with this. I sent her pictures of flowers I thought she’d like for her bouquet
and the table arrangements for the reception and some sample invitations. She
didn’t say anything so I guess she didn’t like them but I’m putting the
announcement in the paper so that should help move things along…
She still hasn’t answered my last letters…
She married this guy, this Ramsay dwarf. I can’t believe she’d do
something like this to me, after she promised that we’d be getting
married ourselves and even said how much she liked the wedding dress I
bought for her and had sent up to that stupid farm. It had to be fitted, right?
I know about these things but she sent it back to my parents and asked them to
give it to me. And she goes off and elopes with the dwarf? It won’t
last…take that to the bank. It won’t last…
I looked the dwarf up, googled him and I get why she married him—she’s going
to take him for some huge divorce settlement. He’d got lots of money and all
these fancy race horses and is in all kinds of magazines and books and all of
that stuff—but Pammy never cared about that stuff so I don’t get it. Maybe she
just wants to have a fling or something before we tie the knot but, damn—she
married this guy…
I keep thinking of ways I can help her get away from him, so he can’t ever make
her stay with him or make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. I keep
thinking about them married and how they live together and
sleep together and I know that’s not what she really wants because
she wants me. She told me so…
Chris’ journal was frightening and had pages and pages of drawings with imagined
tortures detailed involving his revenge against Alec—drawings of burning barns
with him tied inside, drawings of horses with broken legs. There were pictures
of Alec torn from magazines, cut and mutilated with unspeakable things written
across them. The police had been alerted in Chris’ hometown and there was now a
warrant out for his questioning. And no, he couldn’t be arrested until, or if he
made a direct threat. The notebook didn’t count. The letters Alec had received
might if they could be definitely tied to Chris somehow but with no signature,
well. Yes, a few had fingerprints but they’d been handled so much that most were
obliterated.
Alec was warned to be careful and report anything suspicious immediately.
By lunch the next day Alec was on his way down to JFK Airport to pick up Pam.
Having been apart for almost three weeks and still being newlyweds, they raised
a few eyebrows and a number of smiles with their greeting at the terminal. She’d
seen him before he’d spotted her and flung herself at him at a dead run, her
arms and legs all going around him and their mouths glued together for a bit
longer than public displays of affection usually allow. Finally parting amid a
few snickers from strangers, holding hands, they headed out to the parking lot;
she’d come in with just carry on luggage and so the two of them were headed back
home quickly. They talked about themselves and what they’d been doing for the
first hour of the trip, caught up and finally Pam admitted that Chris had also
been sending her notes and letters all along, in addition to the ones he’d been
sending to Alec. He’d also been sending her presents like the wedding dress,
matching shoes, jewelry, books, CD’s and all kinds of things he thought that she
might like.
“Pam…?”
“Oh God, I’m sorry, Alec. I thought he was harmless, I really did. I never
thought—none of us ever thought he was capable of doing anything really
dangerous or this nuts. He was always so, I don’t know, gentle. He never hurt
anyone. I know he was upset when I broke up with him and when he found out about
us but I still didn’t think he’d ever actually do…”
“Something like try to set a barn on fire?” Alec gave her a sidelong glance as
he drove.
“I didn’t think he would.”
“What were the letters he wrote you? What did he say in them?”
She was looking out her window at the passing countryside. “About what you’d
expect, that he still loved me, that he’d wait for me and that when I realized
we were supposed to be together that he’d be there. They were pretty romantic.”
Okay, that was too much. “Pam, c’mon. He’s romantic?” She just shrugged.
“Are you serious?”
“Well it was kind of flattering at first.” She saw the look on his face. “At
first, anyway. Then it was weird and then it got scary but at first it was kind
of…”
“Flattering? Incredible.”
“Alec, come on—I didn’t think he was dangerous. If I had, you know I would have
said something.”
Finally, they were at the farm, headed down the driveway. “…I know. None of us
saw this coming.” He parked the jeep in it’s usual spot and leaned over to kiss
her before they both got out while Henry was approaching. Alec pulled Pam’s bag
out of the back seat. “Everything all right here?”
“Everything’s quiet but we got another one of those letters and it’s got me kind
of spooked. You’re at the track, the letters go there, you come home and they
arrive here. I think you’re being watched.”
Alec had wondered about the same thing but hadn’t said anything, hoping he was
wrong. “What did it say?”
“More of the same garbage. I took it over to the police and they’re going to
increase their patrols in this area but I want everyone to stay on their toes.”
Henry turned and walked back to the broodmare barn, barely glancing at Pam.
“He blames all this on me. Doesn’t he? God, I’m so sorry—I really thought Chris
was harmless. Maybe he is; that thing at Belmont may have just been nothing…”
Alec shook his head and carried her bag up to their apartment. “Henry thinks you
should have said something when this started but we’ll deal with it—we are
dealing with it. Does he really think that you’re going to leave me so you two
can live happily ever after?”
She was getting annoyed—“Yes, I know I should have said something about Chris
but I had no reason to think he’d flip out like this. The letters he sent me
were just love letters, and he kept saying how much he wanted us to be together
and that, well, that he doesn’t think you’re good enough for me. That was why
I’d kept them to myself; I didn’t want you to start getting jealous—and you
know you would. I love you, that’s why I married you. I want to spend my
life with you and have our children and I thought you felt the same way.”
“You know I do. You know I love you and you know I want us to have kids and all
the rest. C’mon, Pam—don’t turn this around.”
They didn’t argue all that often but that night it took them a good two hours to
sort themselves out and go to bed without turning their backs to one another.
The feeling around the farm was like waiting for an execution or a battle, not
knowing where the attack would come from or what form it would take but knowing
it was just a matter of time before something happened. They all tried to behave
as normally as possible, extra caution and a sense of dread notwithstanding.
Alec and Pam worked the racehorses they had in training like they would
normally. Alec dealt with the business end of the farm, arranging matings and
answering mail and phone calls like he usually did. Henry watched the young
horses, deciding on the best course of training for each one and Alec’s parents
maintained their normal day to day routine.
A week went by and then a second one passed with no word from Chris. Pam called
back to Florida so they knew he hadn’t turned up there and his brother in
Vermont claimed to not having seen him since last Thanksgiving. Slowly they
started to relax, hoping that maybe they were empty threats and that nothing
would happen. Everyone was staying close to home and they slept with all the
alarms and outdoor lights on, but nothing happened. With any luck Chris had
given up.
Okay, Alec didn’t really think this was the case, but maybe…
Another week passed and Henry was starting to believe they could resume their
racing schedule and started renewing contacts with the tracks they’d been
expecting to compete at. He took a fresh look at the upcoming races over the
next few months and made some tentative decisions about which horse might enter
which race.
It was early on a Thursday morning when Alec found out that Chris had been
there.
Going into Satan’s stall to turn him out for the day, Alec found seven razor
blades mixed in with his feed and in his water trough. Every stall on the place
was searched and more razor blades were found embedded in several saddle
blankets. The police were called, fingerprints were taken and, a day later,
matched with Chris’.
A search was held; all the farm hands, the family and the police walked the
entire property, all four hundred acres. They found the remains of a take out
meal from the local Kentucky Fried Chicken, complete with a receipt showing the
address and the time the food was bought. The kids working yesterday’s late
night shift were questioned and shown pictures. They made a definite
identification. It was Chris, without doubt.
A search showed that some of the alarms had been disabled. The police insisted
that he’d had to walk in since a car would have been heard and seen. That meant
there was a good chance that he was still somewhere around on the farm property
or not too far away.
Local, county and state police were called in to help search and post warrants.
Hopeful Farm was one of the local attractions that brought money, taxes and
business into the area. On top of that it was a high profile operation and if
anything happened to either the physical plant or any of the incredibly valuable
horses, there would be hell to pay in the press. They had to catch and stop this
nut. Fast.
The search was extensive and lasted for hours, but—nothing. Tired, hungry and
discouraged, Alec left the others to finish looking and went back to the
stallion barn to see if anyone had called, since not everyone had his cell
number. He checked the answering machine and scrolled through his e-mail;
nothing of interest.
It was almost like Chris was playing them, making them jump and run around
hoping for a sighting. He imagined that he could hear Chris laughing, just out
of reach, while he lulled them into a false sense of security and them—when
least expected—would strike.
He had a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling. The razor blades were bad
enough but he didn’t think that was where the main attack would be simply
because if Chris wanted to hurt him then harming Satan wasn’t where he’d cause
the most pain. To really hurt Alec the attack would have to be his family—Pam,
his parents or, of course, Black. But he wouldn’t harm Pam, he was pretty sure
about that. He wanted Pam with him.
However, those were who he loved the most and anything happening to any of them
would be the way to tear out his heart. He knew this, it was obvious, and he
realized that Chris would know it too.
Black or his parents, they were the ones Alec expected to be the targets. One of
them would be the attempted victim. The more he thought about it the more sure
he was and then it became a certainty.
The Black was the most likely target.
But Black was under heavy guard, locked in his stall with two stable hands close
by at all times.
Suddenly Alec froze, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up—he’d heard a
couple of popping sounds that sounded like gunshots. He was sure of it. Everyone
was still out searching the fields except for him and the men with Black but he
knew what he’d heard, just like he knew he had to get there fast—right now.
He ran to the stallion barn, going cold when he saw the main door ajar.
The lights were on inside and he saw the two farm hands on the concrete floor of
the main corridor, unconscious or worse with blood seeping from under them.
Ducking behind a stack of feed, he crouched low and pulled out his cell phone,
dialing 911 and whispered to the operator, asking her for help as soon as
possible. He was assured that the police would be there in minutes.
“Ramsay? That you? I’ve been wanting to meet you, c’mon out and say hello.”
Alec didn’t move.
“C’mon, Ramsay. I said to come out. I’ve got your horse here, but you know that,
don’t you? I’ve got a gun on him, but you now that, too, don’t you?”
Alec stayed where he was out of sight, much as he wanted to charge the guy. The
police would be here any minute. A single gunshot rang out, making him jump and
causing the horses to panic, scream, whinny and crash around in their stalls and
Black—God, Black…
“I just wanted to get your attention, Ramsay, let you know I was telling the
truth—the horse is okay for now but you’re starting to really annoy me. Come
out—now, or I think I’ll have to kill him.”
Alec believed him. Slowly he stood up and moved from behind the feed bags,
knowing that he might be shot but not having much choice. He couldn’t let him
kill Black.
“Chris?”
He stepped made a mock bow. “At your service.” He gave Alec the once over. “I
was right, you are a dwarf. What are you, about 5’6”, maybe 110?” Alec was
slowly walking closer to where Chris was standing beside Black’s stall, the
horses in the barn still in a panic after the gunshot, but starting to quiet a
bit.
“About that. And you’ve got at least six inches and about seventy or eighty
pounds on me.”
“But you have Pam and that trumps anything else, don’t you think? But that’s
okay—she told me that she’s just with you so she can use you to get her hands on
some of these horses—and your money, of course. You turn up dead and she
inherits your stuff and I figure that after all the races you’ve won, you should
be worth some serious folding cash.”
Alec feigned calm, “Not really. I’m just an employee here. I get a weekly
paycheck just like the guys who clean stalls. I mean c’mon—if I took the usual
percentages I’d be working against myself, wouldn’t I? The more I get paid the
less the farm has and the more likely it’ll go under. I don’t want that.” He was
still moving closer, Chris still holding the pistol. “I’m not rich.”
“Sure you are. You’ve been riding for other stables, too—you get money from
them, don’t you?”
“I lose more races than I win. You only get any real money if you make the top
three.” Alec could hear cars coming down the driveway, probably the police.
Unfortunately, Chris heard them, too but, surprisingly, he didn’t seem to care.
“So you really got Pam to marry you? I mean you’re not just living with her or
engaged or something? That’s so weird—she said she was going to marry me and she
even asked me to pick out a dress for her. I mailed it up to her a few months
ago so she could have it fitted but I guess she was kind of busy or something.”
He seemed to be drifting off the subject of killing either the Black or Alec
himself. “Did you know that we started dating back in high school? She was so
pretty—I’d sit in class and just look at her.”
“Yes, Pam’s very pretty.” Alec heard footsteps outside, and voices. He could
hear the crackle of police radios. He didn’t turn around but he saw Chris look
at the still opened main door out to the yard and he looked sad at the
realization.
“So I guess this is it, huh?” He pointed with the gun, “You, me or both of us?
Pam wouldn’t have to choose then.”
“Or you could put the gun down and walk out of here. That would be the end of
it.”
He gave Alec an angry look. “That’s the problem with people like you—you all
think I’m stupid and I’m not—I’m smart. I’m smarter than any of you, way smarter
than everybody!” He swung the gun again, suddenly aiming straight up, firing
into the ceiling and causing the horses to start screaming and whinnying shrilly
again as he turned and aimed the pistol straight at Alec from less than ten feet
away.
Alec could feel his heart pounding, hear his blood in his ears and suddenly knew
that he could be killed standing in this barn and there was nothing he could do
about. He was too far away to get the gun before Chris shot and he was too close
to try to make a run for it. He saw Chris tighten his finger on the trigger.
Alec saw the muscles in his arm tense as he started to pull…
The shots were deafening, over and over again for what seemed long minutes but
later proved to be less than ten seconds. Alec threw himself to the side and
flat onto the floor as the police opened fire, hoping against hope that none of
the horses were in the line of fire as Chris first looked surprised and then
smiled as he slumped against Black’s stall, three bullets in his chest.
The shooting stopped and amid the chaos of screaming horses, police running in
and shouting, their radios making a static roar and striking hooves against
wooden stall walls, Alec crawled the few feet between them, finding Chris still
alive. He watched Alec and even managed a half smile, barely whispering “You
won…she’s yours.”
“The police are here, they’ll call an ambulance. Just stay quiet, okay? They’re
getting help.” By now half a dozen police, guns drawn, surrounded them but
knowing that Chris wasn’t a threat anymore.
“Alec, you okay?”
He nodded to the Captain, not turning away from Chris, leaning close to hear
what he was trying to say.
“Is Pam here?” Chris’ breath was coming in small gasps, he was
losing consciousness.
Alec didn’t want her to see this; there was so much blood. “I think she’s still
out searching the fields. Chris almost nodded; he probably knew why Alec wasn’t
going to let her see him like this.
“Just…she’s too good for you…for me, too…take care of her…okay?…Make her
happy…Promise me that.”
Blood was starting to drip from his mouth, there was an ominous rattle in his
breathing and Alec could hear what was probably an ambulance pulling up outside.
“I will. I promise you that.” As he spoke those words, Alec realized that Chris
was dead.
The stable door slid further open, the paramedics rolling in the gurney and some
of the searchers tentatively wandering in to see what was going on, stable hands
going into the stalls to check and try to calm the horses. Alec stood as they
lifted Chris’ body, checked his vital signs, covered him with a sheet and rolled
him out as he watched them go.
He slipped into Black’s stall, making sure the horse wasn’t harmed, finding that
he was fine, if agitated. He’d personally check the other horses as well, of
course, but Alec didn’t think anything would be wrong with any of them. Chris
hadn’t come to hurt the animals, not really. He’d come to try to win back Pam
and, deluded, thought that he was rescuing her from some imagined unhappiness or
forced marriage.
She was all Alec wanted, all that mattered; everything else was secondary.
He saw Pam in the Black’s doorway and opened his arms to her, holding her when
she came to him. Despite what Chris had tried to do, this had made them
stronger; the bond between them was stronger. He kissed her forehead and
tightened his hold on her, feeling her arms pull him closer in response.
“You’re all right?” She looked up at him.
“I will be. ‘You?”
She nodded. They both knew that this wasn’t over, that this would reverberate
for a long time and the memory would be there for the rest of their lives. All
Chris really wanted was to be happy with Pam and it wasn’t his fault that she
simply didn’t love him enough to make a life with him.
Grateful, Alec knew how lucky he was.
7/20/07
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