Chapter 9 #2
“Yeah,” she grumbled. Her gaze searched for Khan but saw no sign of him. Until she heard a bark ahead, as if Khan was saying, Over here and hurry up.
“I’m not asking you to accept my suspicions willy-nilly,” he began, as he followed Khan. “However, I am asking you to give me a little bit of time to prove it one way or the other.”
“You haven’t asked anything of me yet,” she pointed out. “And, honest to God, in a way it would be easier if you did.”
“Then I ask you to suspend judgment,” he stated. “Let me do what I need to do, and then we’ll go from there.”
“As long as what you need to do,” she clarified, “isn’t causing anybody harm.” The look that he tossed her way would have made somebody weaker crumble, but she was made of sterner stuff, at least she hoped so.
“Does it look like I’m hurting anybody?” he asked.
“No, not yet.” She swore. “And yet maybe—because I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with Grandma.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, “that’s a big one. And because you haven’t witnessed that part of her shenanigans over the decades, because she wanted it hidden and because Grandpa wanted to protect her—this seems all brand-new to you, making it seem like no big deal because it’s not the truth to you yet.”
“Well, it is a big deal if she has been stealing money from clients,” she acknowledged. “How the hell is that even a thing?”
“I don’t know. And that’s part of the problem with Grandpa because he’s always just trying to keep her out of jail, and I suspect enabling her habit. I, on the other hand, don’t give a crap anymore and think that jail might be what it takes to get her attention.”
Crystal wanted to say that she was willing to give Grandma the benefit of a doubt, but he raised a hand.
“Yeah, I know. I hear you. … Why would I feel that way when she’s family?” He shrugged. “She’s had multiple chances to fix the mess that she caused. Instead she keeps getting herself deeper and deeper, and that’s what addicts do.”
She nodded slowly. “I have seen several addicts,” she shared, “and they definitely have a challenge when it comes to changing their behavior.”
“Yep. It takes those around them to have the strength and the character to make them stop doing what they’re doing because, whether they’re hurting themselves or not, they are hurting other people. And when is that the priority?”
She could see his point. “How is it that I wouldn’t have seen it?”
“Well, you can thank Grandpa for that,” he added. “He’s been hiding everything, and unfortunately he’s lost almost everything he had because of it.”
Such fatigue filled his words, as if he had been dealing with this all on his own for a very long time. And she realized that he probably had, and nobody was likely on his side over it. And it appeared he had been fighting family members for a very long time too. “Do you think the twins know?”
He looked at her and nodded. “The boys definitely know.”
She winced. “Okay. It’s a little depressing that everybody knew, but I didn’t.”
“They probably wanted to keep you out of it. Too many cooks can spoil the broth, or whatever that saying is,” he said. “And, if you were to know and told somebody, that could put whatever they’re up to into danger as well.”
“What do you mean by whatever they’re up to?” she asked, her voice faint. “You can’t think they had anything to do with this? With Grandpa going missing?”
“I don’t know who had anything to do with what, but they’ve been living here free of charge, not lifting a finger, and acting like they own the place for a very long time,” he pointed out to her. “But the fact is, they don’t own it and their free-of-charge living is about to come to an end.”
“Oh, that won’t make them very happy.”
“No, and I notice they’ve also been avoiding me.”
“I saw Glenn and John yesterday, and John again today, but they asked if you were here for sure, and I told them, yes, and that they should go talk to you. They both gave a mock shudder, like, no way in hell were they doing that.”
“Interesting,” he noted.
“Why? What’s interesting about it?”
“I’m trying to figure out who’s involved and who’s not in a lot of issues,” he shared. “So, from my perspective, anybody not willing to step up and talk to me is suspicious as hell.”
She winced. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like they were guilty in any way.”
“No, but do you see their behavior, their actions, as upright, stalwart, and honest?”
“I think they’re just lazy,” she replied. “They don’t want to work. They don’t have jobs, and they don’t really do anything.”
He just looked at her and laughed out loud. “And who’s covering all their living expenses?”
As she stared at him, she realized that hard truth too.
“You are, aren’t you?” Oh Lord. Ashton had been dealt one ugly blow after another.
Ahead she scanned for Khan, reassured when he was running back and forth sideways in front of them, as if hunting for something.
And she knew what that was. She both wanted it and now was petrified of what they’d find.
Ashton asked her, “And you want to tell me why I should continue to pay for those lazy slugs to remain on this property?”
She didn’t have an answer for that. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You don’t know what to say because why would I?
After all this time, why would I want to continue to pay them to sit on their butts and do nothing?
Tell me that.” She swore softly, then he continued.
“I was going to deal with it quite a few years ago, and Grandpa asked me to leave things status quo, saying he would handle it.”
“And I gather he didn’t.”
“Does it look like he changed anything with those two?” Ashton quipped.
“Anyway, I got injured not long afterward, which stopped me from following up on that sooner.” He urged Mirage closer to Khan.
“The accident wasn’t all that long afterward.
And, of course, Grandpa hadn’t dealt with it.
Not with Grandma. Not with the lazy-ass cousins.
At that point in time, I was no longer physically capable of coming and storming the gates and retaking what was mine.
” He glanced at her. “So, believe me, it’s been fun. ”
“No,” she argued, “I guess it hasn’t been at all.”
“Hasn’t,” he agreed, shooting her a sideways look. “What do you think?”
She winced. “I promise I will get out.”
“No,” he said, “I’ve already told you that’s not an issue. And, if anything, you should have been paid wages for all the work you’ve been doing.”
“The horses are mine,” she blurted out, before it became awkward or before she started overthinking herself to death. He stared at her, and she frowned. “You didn’t know that?”
“No, I sure didn’t,” he began. “I have all the receipts and bills of sale on record. They are under my name,” he shared, “and I sure as hell didn’t sell them to you.”
The color faded from her cheeks as she stared at him, wide-eyed.
He glanced at her several times and noted, “But you obviously believe they are yours.”
“They—” She stopped, feeling like a fool. “Oh my God. Oh my God.” She didn’t know what to say, but she needed to try and get something out. “Grandma told me that they were mine. That, as long as I looked after them, they were mine.”
Ashton asked, “So, did she give them to you or did she sell them to you? Did she transfer their ownership to you?”
She looked at him, his words sinking in slowly, and she shook her head. “No, she did not,” she whispered, and she doubted he even heard the words.
He nodded. “That’s because she can’t. They are my horses. They aren’t anyone else’s to be handed out.”
“Holy Hell.” She didn’t even know what to think.
He suggested, “That is something you and I can work out, but—”
“No, no, no,” she wailed. “Oh God, oh my God—”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “They aren’t hers to dispose of any more than anything else on this property is.
Even with proper titles on this property right now, I’m worried that this place will even survive this shitshow.
If I can’t get together enough money to cover this latest set of client withdrawals, I might be able to save the Nelson homestead but… I might not.”
She nodded, understanding what he said, but still in shock over what she thought were her animals. “Jesus, if I had moved out and taken them with me before you got here, I wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on.”
“And I would have come after you, asking for proof of ownership,” he replied. “Listen. I’m not here to take the horses away. But, as you may remember, several of these horses were my pets.”
She nodded. “I know that, and I was surprised when Grandma told me that I could have them all. But I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.” He gave her a wry look, and she frowned. “Yet you’re right, I shouldn’t have believed her.”
“Honestly, whatever her reasoning was, it could have been simply to get back at me. Or to try and get you on her side.”
“Maybe. I’m so confused, I don’t know what to think.”
“I don’t know either,” he said, “but the horses weren’t hers to give away.”
Crystal felt like her whole world was crashing down.
He glanced at her and whispered, “I can see that this has been more than a bit of a shock to you. And I’m trying to explain to you that I’m not here to take them away, but obviously there’s a whole different question involved here.”
She just nodded, realizing she had been a fool to not ask for any proof or a bill of sale or something.
Yet, even if she had, it wouldn’t have held up, which is probably why Grandma hadn’t given it to her in the first place.
“I don’t even know what to say,” she cried out.
“Everything in my world has become a complete con. And I, … I didn’t even know. ”
“It’s not that it’s been a con,” he corrected, “but it’s definitely been fraught with smoke and mirrors, and you didn’t know enough of the family situation to understand how bad it was. Did Grandpa tell you that the horses were yours?”