Chapter 5
Faith was the one that suggested they head back to New Double and let the men do what they had to, and that if they needed anything more from Myrna, they could call.
It ended up that Pedro gave everyone his cell phone number because Myrna had forgotten to grab hers when she went after Sally.
That was why she had asked to use his to call Jim.
Pedro had his hand on the small of Myrna’s back when they left the area dubbed ‘the meeting room’, and followed Faith to the vehicles.
“We’ll follow you,” Pedro told Faith. “Shay rode over here with me, so I don’t know how he’ll be getting home.” He paused when a woman joined them, and introduced herself as Staci, who lived across from Faith and Shay.
“Tony, my boyfriend, will bring him home. Let’s go get you settled. I overheard you had food to pick up?”
“Yes.” They climbed into their vehicles, and Pedro reached his hand over toward Myrna and nodded when she took the comfort he offered.
By the time they made it to their destination, it was almost two hours.
Pedro opened the door for her, and they both carried in the groceries and took them to the kitchen.
He put them away as Myrna walked around, and by the time he did the same, they were both nodding and met back in the living room.
“I like that the rooms and bathrooms are private, but there’s a common area for everything else. You’re also correct in this being bigger than the cabins. Have you been in one?”
“Only when I dropped off the food and picked it up, I didn’t really look around.” He nodded and pointed to the kitchen. “Hungry? You didn’t eat much earlier.”
“I wasn’t hungry then, but I’m starting to get that way now. What did you have in mind?”
“Do you want steak, burger, or chicken?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Well, it matters because then I’ll know what else to make. With the steak, we can have a quick salad and baked potato. With burger, I can make anything from burgers to spaghetti, goulash, meatloaf. With chicken, I can fry it, or bake it, and we can have a vegetable, and either rice or potatoes.”
“Wow, you really do know how to cook, don’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s easy on the wallet if I cook my meals at home. I’ll let you help tonight, but then we can take turns.”
“Okay,” she said as she pulled up her sleeves and went to the sink to wash her hands.
They ended up making the chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas for their dinner.
Not a lot of small talk was said as they worked silently, but efficiently together.
When they put the food on the table, they ate silently, until they were about halfway through.
“Tell me about what I will be doing at work.”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin, and nodded to her. “First thing will be to talk to Faith. I believe she’s been racing the horses for at least three weeks. I’m going to want to follow her schedule, because the horses will be used to it. I have no idea what horses are here.”
“Okay, but what will I be doing?”
“If Faith is as organized as I remember, then she will have three horses saddled at once. She will race one, one will be on deck, and if the third isn’t already saddled, it will be getting that way.
When she’s done racing the first one, the stable hand, in this case, will be you, will bring the third horse out, take the first one back to remove the saddle, rub them down, and get the fourth one ready. ”
“What happened to the second horse?”
“Faith will ride that around the track as soon as she’s done with the first one.
As she races, I will be the one that watches to see how the horse runs, and try to understand its characteristics.
” He ate some more, and nodded as he did so.
“Faith and I will then see what the horse needs to get to its potential.”
“Oh, so I’ll be saddling horses, rubbing them down, and calming them?”
“Yes.” He sighed heavily. “What I’m about to say is speculation on my part, but it’s my understanding that New Double is in desperate need of help. I don’t know if they have enough hands for what we need.”
“Which is?”
“One stable hand per horse. See, in a well-run barn, each racehorse would have their own stable hand, trainer, and jockey. Faith is the jockey for all the horses being run. Don’t quote me on this, but I think it might be close to twenty horses.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of horses, and a lot of people. It will be just the three of us?”
“I think, again, don’t quote me.” They finished eating, and cleaned up together. By the time they finished eating, and cleaning up, Myrna could barely keep her eyes open. At one point, Pedro looked at her intently, then asked quietly.
“Would you like to borrow one of my shirts to sleep in?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“I don’t, let me go get one, tee or button up?”
“Either will be fine.”
He nodded and walked away, only to return in a couple of minutes before he went to her and handed his shirt over. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thank you, and yes, I’m exhausted.”
“Call out if you need anything, I’ll leave the door to my bedroom cracked so I can hear you.”
“I should be okay.”
“I know that, I’m not doubting that at all, I’m just asking that if you need anything to call out.”
She studied his expression and nodded. “I will.”
“Thank you, I’m going to get the coffee pot ready for the morning, unpack, and look over some notes. I’ll be up for another couple of hours. Go, I’ll lock up.”
“Thank you, Pedro.”
“You’re welcome, and good night, Myrna.”
He stood there and watched her slowly turn on her heel to head to the other side of the room.
He nodded, though she didn’t see it, when she left the door open about four inches.
True to his word, he walked around to lock up, went to his bedroom and started unpacking the clothes he’d brought in.
He had to go back out to his truck for his papers, but returned quickly and before he did anything, he prepared the coffee pot for the morning, and grabbed himself a bottle of water to drink while organizing his thoughts and papers.
He didn’t have a lot of paperwork, just stuff to get ready for the morning.
As he sat there, he thought about all Myrna had been through, and felt his hands tighten into fists.
He wasn’t a violent man, but if he ever got the chance to have a face-to-face with either of the Godwin brothers, he just might have to change his mind.
By the time he made it to his own bed, he was exhausted, but decided to take a shower to wash off the day.
He crawled into bed later and fell asleep quickly as soon as he relaxed.
When Pedro came out into the kitchen the next morning, he paused for a few seconds when he spotted Myrna standing there at the stove.
The smells radiating from the room made him pause, then come forward to inspect what she was doing at the stove.
He poured his first cup of coffee for the day, and glanced over.
With a grin, he reached out and snatched a piece of bacon from a plate.
Without saying a word, he started looking in the cupboards for plates, and set the table for them.
He had purchased some juice with his groceries, and poured them each a glass, then refilled both their mugs.
By the time he had finished, Myrna had food on the table. Neither of them spoke during this time.
“I hope you don’t mind I cooked. I’m not saying I’ll do it for every meal, but I woke up hungry, and craving pancakes.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” he said with a grin as he reached out with his fork and took four of the cakes from the plate. He had made sure she had taken hers first. “I love pancakes. I usually have them for dinner though.” He took the plate of bacon she passed him, and took his share.
“Any reason why?”
“I know I should, but sometimes I don’t always eat breakfast. I’ll grab a cup of coffee, get out the door, and down to the stables.
I’m usually starving by the time I get home.
” He shook his head. “I know it’s a bad habit.
I need to improve.” He fixed his pancakes and began eating.
They ate in silence, and when they finished Pedro insisted on cleaning up.
While he did that, she went to her room, used the bathroom, and stood there to look around.
She jumped when Pedro called out to her.
“Yes?” she asked as she started back toward the kitchen area, and saw Laurie standing there with a laptop in a bag beside her. “Oh, hey. What’s up?”
“I hope I’m not too early?”
“Not at all, what’s up?”
“I brought my laptop so you can order clothes. I’ll go pick it up.”
Myrna frowned as she looked at her watch. “Are the stores even open?”
“Not yet, but by the time you order and I drive there, they should be. It will be curbside pickup, so I won’t have to go into the store.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“No,” Pedro said. “I’m not telling you what to do, and I don’t know where Laurie’s going to go to get your things, but do you really want to be out and about with Randy and Gus out there?”
“Crap, I forgot about them. Yeah, I best stay here.” She sat at the table, and in no time Laurie had her laptop opened and clicked on the site.
“Go ahead and place your order.” She reached out and placed her hand gently over Myrna’s. “Erin said to not hold back. She will foot the bill until you can get everything from your home.”
“I might have forgotten to grab clothes, but I was able to grab my wallet. I have cash and my credit cards.”
“Okay, but do you think using your card would be wise. I don’t know who Randy and Gus Godwin are, but what if they are monitoring your bank account or something? What if this Avery Mosher is helping them look for you? I’m sure, being a cop, she could flag your cards.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” She shook her head, and it took her several minutes before she was able to pay attention to what she wanted to order.
By the time she was done, she had a week’s worth of clothes in her cart and had even ordered groceries.
She looked at the total, and went into her room.
She came back out and called Laurie over.
“I know you have to give a card number, and I’m at the point where you can input it, however, take this,” she said as she held out the cash.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, don’t worry, it won’t leave me broke.”
They finished their transaction, and as Laurie went to leave, they looked up when Pedro came back into the room. Neither woman said a word when they saw the pistol strapped to his hip.
“I’ll go get this stuff, can you give me a few hours?”
“Yes, call Pedro’s phone.”
“I will.” They walked out together and when Laurie went to her vehicle, Pedro and Myrna went to his.
They drove to the main barn, and went inside to talk with Cole.
They were only there for about five minutes before the others that worked there joined them.
It didn’t take long for Myrna to notice that everyone, even the woman named Ann wore a pistol on their hip.