Page 34 of The Breakdown

Tito shook his head. Allen seemed to relax. “I’ll pay you generously, of course, just as I have before. But I need her found quickly. Because I don’t like it when she’s gone. The house feels…” He spread his arms. “Empty.” He smiled. “I feel empty. You feel me?”

Tito sat in silence.

“Of course you do. But you may be saying to yourself, well, Allen, you’re divorced, so of course the house feels empty.” He wagged a finger at him. “But to that I say, bullshit! The divorce was not my choice, and she left without my permission, taking something from me, which in and of itself is…you guessed it…unacceptable.”

Tito leaned forward and deposited the empty tumbler on the glass coffee table. Beyond them, just outside the floor to ceiling windows, the pool light glowed in the growing darkness, turning from aqua to green to purple, making Allen look like a small ogre sitting there in his chair.

“You sure you wouldn’t like another?” Tito shook his head and Allen leaned forward. He slid a large envelope toward him and encouraged him to open it. “For your trouble.”

Tito snatched up the envelope and opened it to eye the contents. He looked at Allen and stood. Allen stood along with him and extended his hand. “When you find her, and I know you will, call the number in the envelope. I trust you won’t let her know she’s been found. And Tito, I don’t just want her found. I have other things in mind for her if you know what I mean.”

Tito took his hand and purposely crushed it in his massive paw. Allen looked like he was trying not to wince before Tito released him and walked slowly to the door.

“Thanks, Tito. It was good to see you.”

Tito opened the door and walked out.

Chapter Fourteen

The day started off with a nice crispness to the air, with temperatures a little below normal for the time of year. Vaughn was enjoying it, not sweating nearly as much as she usually would have doing her morning chores. She’d already mucked the stalls and laid down new straw, and now she was inspecting the horses’ feet for infection or other issues.

She inhaled the cool air and wondered whether or not they were going to get that rain that was promised later as she placed her hand on Holly, one of her broodmare’s shoulders, and ran it down her leg to her foot. She gently lifted it to examine the hoof. She checked the frog, made sure it was intact and no foul odors were coming from the hoof itself, and ran the hoof pick along the sides of the frog to scrape along the edge of the shoe. When she was satisfied that the hoof looked good, she gently lowered the foot, ran her hand along Holly’s body to her back leg and lifted the back foot, careful to keep the hoof along the inside of her body so she wouldn’t get kicked. She was busy examining the hoof when Gram walked up, clearing her throat loudly to let Vaughn know she was present.

Just when the morning was going so well.

“Yeah?” Vaughn said, cleaning Holly’s hoof with the pick.

“You tell me. You’re the one who’s been avoiding me.”

“I’ve been busy, Gram.”

“Bullarkey. You tell me we need to talk and you do nothing of the sort for the next week. So, what is it? Have you let it go, or do you have something to say to me?”

Vaughn lowered Holly’s foot and straightened to walk to her other side, heading back up to her head, careful to avoid Gram’s gaze. She wasn’t in the mood to talk and hadn’t been since she’d nearly lost her temper over Gram’s telling Natalie about Jeanie. She’d calmed since then, her temper tamed, but she was still right mad and she didn’t want to get into with her at the moment.

“Well?” Gram said.

Vaughn trailed her hand down Holly’s shoulder and leg to her foot and lifted it carefully. “You know why I’m upset.”

“I’ve got a good suspicion.”

“Then what have you got to say?”

“I don’t rightly know, Vaughn. Do you want an apology? Fine. I’m sorry. But you know, Natalie knew something was wrong. The way you were acting. She worried she might say something wrong. So what was I supposed to tell her?”

“I don’t know. Tell her it’s none of her business.”

“After all the help she’s given us?”

“Well, it isn’t. It isn’t any of her business, regardless of what she’s done or hasn’t done.” She scraped Holly’s hoof, set her foot down, and moved on to the back leg. She trailed her hand down her hip to her leg and lifted her foot. She heard Gram sigh.

“Child, you’re unbelievable.”

“I’m right though.”

“No, you’re not. Not in your behavior over the whole thing or your behavior now. And why is it exactly that you didn’t want Natalie to know? You don’t seem to mind if anyone else knows, the boys and the folks in town included. Is it because you have feelings for her?”

Vaughn nearly dropped Holly’s foot. But she refocused and noticed a smell. She examined her frog and set her foot down.

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