The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty (20 page)

“Even more important, given the gender inequity in your line of work, I would imagine.”

If his sensitivity to her plight surprised her, she didn't show it. “You would be right. It's fine to nurture the million-dollar studs, but you'd better not allow the ones that climb on their backs, much less the ones who sign your paychecks, to assume that extends to anyone other than the livestock.”

“Pineapple theory.”

“Which is?”

“Tough and prickly on the outside, sweet and—”

“I get it.”

Rafe glanced over at her, and saw from the slight twitch at the corners of her mouth that her attitude was more a front at this point. He liked that most about her. She bounced back. “So, he had a life insurance policy, and some kind of insurance on his ability to procreate. I'm guessing the latter didn't come into play in terms of his premature death.”

“I don't think so. At least, not in any of the buzz around the farm.”

She'd said it calmly enough, but he noticed, in his peripheral vision, that she was fidgeting a bit, as if unable to get comfortable. She was probably only rarely a passenger in her own truck…but just as likely it was the topic at hand. “How much did you know? I mean, how much did the average employee know about what was going on with the investigation?”

“A lot. But no more than you or any other Joe Q. Public who watched any of the major news networks. They were all camped out along the road to the farm for weeks after it happened. Every last little detail they ferreted out was played and replayed, analyzed to death.”

“No insider info?”

“It was speculated, when the media endlessly debated the whys and wherefores of the tragedy, that the relationship between Gene Vondervan and his third wife, Kami, might have been somehow related to Geronimo's death.”

“Trouble in paradise?”

“To the outside world? No. The Vondervans were very good about putting on a good show. Gene demanded it. He was a tough nut to work for, very demanding, wanted everything to his exact specifications. But to the world at large, his peer group, he wanted to be perceived as the jovial, beloved, benevolent philanthropic guy who happened to own a few million dollars' worth of racehorses. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd had it put in the prenup. Kami definitely complied, but then it was in her best interest to do so if she wanted to maintain the status quo.”

“In public. But you're saying in private it was different?”

“Not that anyone saw, but when the wife is young—very young—and blond, and the husband is old, balding, and very, very rich, there's always speculation. And when the networks have hours and hours of airtime to fill and there's the tragedy of a beloved icon dying in a horrific fire, it doesn't take them too long to go in that direction.”

“Being that she was wife number three, I guess that plays. How long had they been married when it happened?”

“Over three years, for sure—almost four, maybe. I was there for close to three years and they were still considered newlyweds when I started.”

“What happened to wives one and two?”

“From what I heard, his first wife died after a long illness, though I'm not sure what. He remarried almost right away, and it seemed a popular opinion it had just been a rebound reaction to losing his wife. He and Maryann, his first wife, were well known in horseracing circles and she was very well liked. They were married a long time. He had the second one annulled, but I don't know all the details, or even her name, except it was over almost right after it began.”

“And Kami?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? It was a few years later, I understand, when they met. I'm not sure where or how. It wasn't the whirlwind wedding the second one was, but pretty much everyone seemed to agree it was a quick romance. I think in their circles she was tolerated more than accepted, mostly because no one wanted to piss Gene off.”

“So, what was the public verdict? How does the May-December nature of their marriage have anything to do with Geronimo's death?”

She lifted a shoulder. “How the hell should I know? I really tried to stay out of all that. Gossip was second nature around the barns, so I heard it—it was impossible not to—but I didn't get caught up in it. I was more worried about my future, both on the ranch and in the business.”

“Not to mention a pregnant horse.”

“I didn't know that, then. I was hoping that all the public cries of negligence wouldn't tarnish the names and careers of everyone who worked there, despite the fact that very few, if any, of us had any direct contact with Geronimo, or his care and maintenance. With the exception of that one incident, Charlotte Oaks had an impeccable reputation, which is why many of us had sought to work there, so we all took it personally when they tried to tear the place apart looking for signs of negligence or worse.”

“Did they find any?”

She shook her head. “But the damage had been done, to a degree. In time, it would all be water under the bridge, but my time there was already sort of over. I'd worked my ass off to try and climb the ladder to head trainer, did all I could to get promoted, and was passed over time and again. I knew it was because of my gender—Gene is very old-school when it comes to women—”

“Then why hire you in the first place?”

“I was well qualified, had impeccable references, and they had no clear reason not to. But that didn't mean they had to promote me. I guess I just thought they'd see my skill and dedication and sort of get over the female part. Of course, I couldn't prove anything. The guys promoted over me were also qualified, so what was I to do?”

“Must be incredibly frustrating.”

He saw her shift and look directly at him. “If you're even remotely thinking of going the bitter, disgruntled employee route, don't. I would never—ever—intentionally do harm to any animal. Or person, for that matter.”

He knew that, but it was good to hear her flatly state it as well. “When did you find out, anyway, that Springer was pregnant? In relation to Geronimo dying, I mean. Had you already bred her when it happened?”

Elena shifted her attention back out the front window, but when she spoke, her voice was still calm, straightforward. “She'd been bred, yes, but I wasn't sure if she was pregnant at that point.” She fidgeted in her seat a little then, looking out the side window. And as far away from him as she could get. “You were asking about Gene and Kami and what inside information I had. I don't know what their marriage could have to do with Geronimo, but there was trouble. In private, anyway.”

Rafe hadn't missed the less-than-subtle way she'd refocused the conversation. “Was that the basis for the media speculation?”

“I don't think it was public knowledge at that point.”

“But it is now?”

She glanced at him. “It was after I left, but there were news stories about papers being filed. I think there was speculation that all the stress of the horse's death and endless investigations had taken a toll, but by then the media had mostly moved on.”

“But you're saying there was trouble in paradise before all that?”

Again, she lifted a shoulder.

“I'm surprised no one blabbed that to the media.”

“As I said, we were all worried about our jobs. If word got out who the ‘anonymous source' was, and it always does, no other owner would hire us. Loyalty is everything in this business.”

“I can understand the more highly placed employees not risking it, but more than a few lower-ranked employees left. I'm surprised none of them were paid to talk.”

“There wasn't much to talk about. Just the sort of general knowledge that there was greater tension than usual between the two. Maybe that's why the media was digging in that direction to begin with, I don't know, but as I said, Gene was scrupulous about maintaining a tight public image, and they always appeared together in public, seeming supportive of one another about the tragedy and all the investigation speculation. Since the papers weren't filed until much later…” She shrugged. “I don't see where any of it really matters, in terms of Geronimo, anyway. I didn't then, and I don't now.”

“You mentioned loyalty…did your leaving hurt you? In terms of being hired again?”

“The longer the speculation wore on, the more we worried that staying was worse than going. No one at Charlotte Oaks held it against those of us who opted out. In my case, I had extenuating circumstances with Springer, so no one was surprised. I had good recommendations, as Kate knows, and, I guess, you. I don't think it hurt me to leave. In fact, it was probably better to leave when I did, with everything else going on, than to just leave on my own terms.”

“So, when the baby is born and everything is okay, the plan is to return to the sport and go back to building your career as a trainer.”

“That's the plan.”

“You said you were using this time to figure out your next step. Do you have prospects lined up?”

She surprised him a little by smiling. “You gonna call and harass them, too, and cost me the job before I even get it?”

He took the pointed jab. He'd earned it. But he grinned and teased her back. “Well, if it would keep you around Dalton Downs longer, who knows? Maybe I have my own ulterior motives now.”

They glanced at each other, connecting gazes for a long moment. It was nice to know that, even in a situation like this, where a lot was at stake, they had already built up enough trust to be able to tease like this and know it was just that, teasing.

“I'm not asking for specifics,” he said, though the idea that she was planning to leave in the fairly near future started to sink in a bit more realistically than it had before. “I'm just asking, now that the time is drawing near for Springer, if you've lined anything up.”

“I wouldn't leave Kate in the lurch, if that's what you're getting at.”

“But you've talked about it.”

“I was up front about all of it when she hired me, but we haven't discussed it recently. It's not like I'm going to bolt the minute the foal's feet hit solid ground.”

“She's going to try to get you to stay.”

Elena smiled again. “She was up front about that when she hired me, too.”

“So, you still haven't answered my question.”

“Which one?”

“Do you have a job lined up?”

“I've had feelers out all along.”

“Nothing concrete?”

She huffed a sigh. “You're such a pit bull.”

“Which, knowing that, you'd think you'd just save yourself the time and aggravation and answer me.”

She sighed, but there was no animosity in it. “No, nothing concrete.”

“And the other?”

“What other?”

“The insider info. Nothing more to the Gene and Kami story? No juicy speculation on what was really going on in paradise?”

She looked over at him. “You know, I wouldn't have pegged you as the
National Enquirer
type.”

“I'm not. Far from it.”

“Then why all the interest in them? What difference does it make if they're happily married or getting divorced? Do you know something I don't?”

He lifted a shoulder and kept his eyes on the road. “I did know about the papers being filed, but I hadn't had time to do any digging where they were concerned.”

“What could it possibly have to do with Geronimo?”

“Well, high-profile divorces between people with a lot of money can get quite nasty. Especially when it comes to splitting assets.”

Elena gasped, and Rafe had to smile. For all her straightforward, no-bullshit style, she was still remarkably and quite sweetly naïve about some things. Despite spending most of her adult years in a male-dominated world where women were definitely second-class citizens, being raised in a loving home had apparently managed to shield her from the reality of just how nasty the war between the genders could get.

“You honestly think either one of them would have done anything intentionally to Geronimo, just because of some kind of divorce settlement?”

Rafe shrugged. “People in love have done worse for less. So, what was the lowdown about those two? How ugly was it behind closed doors?”

Elena huffed and sat face-forward again, folding her arms across her waist. “This is incredibly distasteful.”

“Divorce usually is.”

“But they weren't divorcing until later—”

“The papers came later. But marriages don't end overnight. Or they usually don't, anyway. If papers were filed a few months later, then chances are things went to shit long before that. And you've already said there was gossip amongst the employees. What was the rumor du jour?”

She stared out the window for a long moment, then settled back a bit more. Clearly, gossiping was not something she did on a regular basis and it didn't sit well with her. Another thing he liked about her. “The story goes that the head trainer had gone up to the main house one afternoon to have a meeting with Gene and overheard the two of them arguing. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but if you knew those two, and the over-the-top lengths they went to, trying to look like the perfect golden couple, you'd realize how out of character it was for them to be seen anywhere while disagreeing, even in their own home.”