Chapter 20
“Vandy? Did you sleep here all night?”
Vandy woke, startled.
“Sam, yes, I’m here,” she said. “I’ve been up off and on. How are you?”
“I’m feeling better than yesterday,” he said.
“Good, good,” she said smiling. “I was hoping you’d be up for a talk.”
“Sure,” he said. “Do you think they’ll let me have coffee?”
“They just brought your breakfast in five minutes ago,” Vandy said.
“Eggs and sausage and hash browns with a side of pancakes?” he asked.
“Close,” she said. “Oatmeal, fruit and one piece of dry toast.”
He smiled in faux delight, “They’re spoiling me it would appear.”
“The good news is, there is coffee,” she added. “Plain, black coffee.”
“Is the coffee any good?” he asked.
“I had some earlier this morning,” she said. “If you are looking to remove rust off of old lug nuts, this will do the job.”
She stood and moved the cart to him, poured his coffee and water.
“The men who were after you,” he said. “Did the police catch them?”
She nodded, picking up his hand. She kissed it and rubbed it on her cheek, “You got us to safety before you passed out from the blood loss. I got a cell signal and called 911. As it turns out, the police were one their way already. You were out for only about five minutes before the cavalry arrived. We got really lucky.”
“Really, already on their way?”
She nodded, “They had been trying to reach Sheriff Stone and when he didn’t answer they sent help.”
“We should have stayed put in the cabin,” he said.
“If we had stayed put, we’d have been dead,” she said. “After the police found us, they went to your place. It had been firebombed—burned to the ground. Two of them went to the cabin while two shooters took their position to get us in case we tried to run. I’m sorry about your cabin.”
“I built it once, I can do it again. Who were the men?” Sam asked.
“They were men hired by the ex-husband of my chief of staff, Pam Putnam,” she said.
“You called it,” Sam said. “Nice detective work.”
“Two of the men were ex-military, including a former Army sniper. You called that one. He’s the one who shot you and killed Chief Stone. They were hired to run me off the road, and make my death look like an accident.”
“Hmmm, that’s why they didn’t shoot you when they first ran you off the road,” he said. “They were going to make it look like you lost control of the vehicle and rolled the Jeep.”
She nodded.
“That’s almost word for word what the FBI said. When you showed up, the plan changed. After you winged two of them, the men were going to call it quits. Pam got desperate and upped the ante. She had originally offered them $400,000 to kill me and make it look like an accident. When you shot two of them, she changed the offer to $1 million and told them to kill me and you any way they could. The whole story is all over the news. It’s all anyone is talking about.”
“What about the security detail she wanted to send with you?”
Vandy nodded, “Pete McCutchen and Mike Arnaiz were actually Plan A. Those men had carefully planned that I would have a skiing ‘accident’ that would have left me dead and them very rich. When I refused to let them come, Pam scrambled and put Plan B into action.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“Don’t be,” she said. “If it weren’t for you I’d be dead, and Pam would have gotten away with the whole thing.”
“So, they admitted it?” Sam asked.
“When the FBI offered deals to nail Pam, everyone was singing like little birdies,” she said. “When one started to talk, they all fell in line. They were falling over themselves explaining how it all happened.”
“Pam’s motivation?”
“All for the reasons I guessed,” Vandy said. “She had me totally hoodwinked. She’s been jealous of my success for many years and just hid it from me. It’s also coming out that she had made a couple of bad investments and was deep in debt. I also didn’t know about that. Her financial situation was getting bad. When my company came under investigation and she saw her stock options devaluing, it sent her over the edge. I had no idea the level of resentment toward me she harbored.”
“It just goes to show you that you never really know what’s going on in people’s heads.”
She nodded, “True that.”
“Do you think you’re safe here?” he asked.
“Are you kidding? You should see this place downstairs,” Vandy said. “There’s police everywhere, keeping out the paparazzi, the well-wishers, the reporters. It’s the same at my hotel. Every time I leave here it’s by police escort. This town is a three-ring circus.”
“That sounds like you,” he said, a small smile forming on his lips. “Miss Subtle.”
“You were right the whole time,” she said. “It was someone close to me.”
“I figured it had to be,” he said. “Occum’s Razor.”
She nodded, “The simplest answer is usually correct.”
He nodded, “What now?”
“Pam’s been arrested,” she said. “She’s admitted to the whole thing, but it wouldn’t have mattered if she didn’t. The men she hired were singing like little birds trying to strike a plea bargain. That woman is going to prison for a very long time.”
“That figures. What about the investigation into your company?”
“That’s ongoing,” she said. “As it turns out, Pam was anonymously feeding the FTC bullshit about our accounting methods. My Uncle Randall insists that we will survive scrutiny. He believes that the FTC will dig and dig and come up with some minor irregularities, but will not find a smoking gun, because there is none. We’ll probably have to pay a hefty fine, but it’s likely we will be back at business as normal. The stock should recover before the end of the year.”
“You believe him—your Uncle Randall?”
“I do,” she said. “He’s never lied to me and he’s never let me down. He’s always had my six, including finding Hank Patterson and finding you to watch over me.”
Sam chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“You said, ‘had my six.’ That’s military jargon.”
“I’ve been reading up on the Rangers,” she said.
“So, it sounds like things are moving in the right direction,” Sam said. “What about your daughter, Lindsay?”
“I’ve decided not to fight Cameron over custody,” Vandy said. “I had a long talk with Lindsay. She’s in school in England, now. She wants to live with her father. I’ll see her on holidays and in the summer. Cameron, for all of his other issues, has been a good dad.”
“I’m sure she loves you,” Sam said.
“She does,” Vandy agreed. “I hope to completely win her back and I’m going to make special efforts to do so. Hopefully she will like the new me when my life changes.”
“Changes?”
She nodded, “A lot has happened during the time you were in a coma. After all this shit went down and Pam got arrested I did some serious reflection. I’ve decided to resign my position at PACNY.”
Sam raised his eyebrows, “You’re not going to be the CEO any longer?”
She shook her head, “Nope. As horrific as the experience was with being so seriously injured and men trying to kill me, I have to say I never felt more alive than during the week I spent in Montana. The clean air; the wide-open space; the quiet… I loved it. It made me miss the farm I grew up on. The only thing missing were horses. I was never cut out for life in Hollywood.”
She paused and smiled at Sam, “And I met someone special; someone I’d like to get to know better.”
“Do I know him?” Sam asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
She chuckled.
He took her hand, “I’d like to get to know you better, too,” he said.
“I know we were only together one day, so don’t ahead of yourself, cowboy. Slow and easy. I don’t intend to rush things…”
“Me either,” he interjected, wondering if both of them were lying or if it was just him. He decided not to push it.
“…but I had this idea,” she continued. “I got in touch with a real estate agent. Next week I’m flying to Bozeman.”
“What’s in Bozeman?” he asked.
“Nothing I care about other than the airport. But Bozeman is 30 minutes west of Livingston. Do you know where that is?”
“Sure,” he said. “That’s a beautiful area. It’s about 350 miles from here, just north of Yellowstone Park.”
“That’s right,” she said.
“What’s in Livingston?”
“333 acres of horse farm and nature preserve,” she said. “Like I told you I grew up on a horse farm. I was never happier than I was then.”
“Holy shit!” he said. “Are you really going to do it?”
“I don’t know for sure. Maybe,” she said. “I’m certainly going to check it out. I was hoping to get your lazy ass out of this bed by then to help me evaluate it, but I’m told you are going to require a few weeks of rehabilitation.”
“Great,” he snarked, rolling his eyes. “More rehabilitation. What do you know about this place?”
“So far, only what I’ve seen in pictures,” she replied. She pulled an electronic tablet from her briefcase and opened it, handing it to Sam. It was opened to a picture gallery of the property.
“There’s a gorgeous horse farm on the property with a long-time staff that would like to stay on after the sale,” Vandy continued. “Do you like to fish?”
“Does a fat baby fart?”
She chuckled heartily, “The Blue Ribbon River runs along the north boundary of the property. They say the fishing and rafting there is amazing.”
“I know part of that river well, so I can speak to the veracity of that statement.”
She ran his hand lightly along his arm, “You know, Sam. If this purchase works out, I’m going to want to build a new home there. I want to build a whole new life. This experience has allowed me to really reflect.”
“Reflection is good,” Sam said, unsure of where the conversation was leading.
“I don’t need to make money anymore,” she said. “What I want more than anything is to reconnect with my daughter. I want to be on a farm again. I want to ride horses and I want to do something more meaningful than design Jennifer Lawrence’s next red-carpet gown.”
“Like what?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “Who knows? I could build a hospital; finance cancer research or build a longer-lasting light bulb… I’m not sure. I think I have time to figure it all out. All I know is, I want to make a huge change. I’m committed.”
“You’ll be out of the public eye,” he said.
“That’s the best part,” she conceded.
“Sounds good to me,” Sam replied. “Congratulations.”
She paused, making eye contact with Sam.
“You know, I’m going to have a long and difficult transition with the exit strategy from my business. I’ll need to be in L.A. a great deal during the transition. I’m going to need someone I can trust to watch over things for me at the ranch, while the house is designed and built. I was hoping I could count on you to…”
“Vandy, you don’t even know me,” he interrupted.
“I know you now a little better than you think,” she replied. “As I was hatching this little gem of an idea, I did a little background checking on you.”
“You did?”
She nodded, “Don’t be offended. I trusted you but…”
“A girl can’t be too careful, right?” he said.
“Something like that. At any rate, I had a 90-minute conversation with a Captain Doyle, your former company commander. He told me all about you. I’d share what he said about you, but the head injury already caused your brain to swell. I wouldn’t want to see your noggin actually explode.”
“He’s a good man,” Sam said.
“He sounds like it,” Vandy replied. “I also talked to Danny Kirwan. I believe he was your EMT trainer and supervisor.”
“What did he say?”
“Let’s just say if you start your own fan club, he’d be president.”
“I see,” Sam replied. “Talk to anyone else?”
“Oh yes,” she said. “I did my diligence. I spoke to several people, including a former Ranger under your command, Peter Green. He was one of the soldiers you saved at Haditha Dam that day you were hurt. He was bawling his eyes out describing you.”
“I’m humbled,” he said. “I know what you’re doing and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Still, what you’re asking of me…”
“I’m not asking you to marry me or move in, dipshit,” she said. “I’m offering you a job… a trial run… on 333 acres of wide open space in Montana… with a ranch… that has horses and a river, and fish and wildlife. Trust me cowboy, this would not be a free ride. I’m a tough boss.”
“A ball-buster I hear.”
“You didn’t hear wrong,” she replied. “You’re gonna have to work for it. You’re gonna have to work… for everything. This is a new chapter and I intend to avoid some of the same mistakes I made earlier in life.”
“I need to think about this,” he said.
“You’re unemployed and homeless,” she scoffed. “What is there to think about? The way I look at it, if this doesn’t work out, you can always retreat to your fortress of solitude in the woods.”
“I’d have to rebuild first,” he said.
“The reconstruction project on your cabin starts early next month,” she said. “It’s all arranged. In case you turned me down, I thought this was the very least I could do, given all you’ve done for me. I hope you don’t mind. I did a… minor redesign, and I may or may not have made some other improvements.”
He nodded, “Ahhh, a woman’s touch. Thank you. I trust your judgment.”
“So, what do you say? Wanna give this a shot? Just take the next step and come out and see the place.”
“Why would you do this for an old, scarred up, broken down…”
“You can cut that shit right now, Mister,” she barked. “You’re not old; you’re not broken down and I don’t care about the scars.”
“Still, Vandy...”
“You can do this job. I know you can. Everyone I spoke to thinks you can, too.”
“There’s a lot of guys who could do the job.”
“But none of the others saved my life and almost got killed in the process, you big dumbass,” she interjected, “And I trust you; and I want to get to know you better and…”
She paused.
“And what?” he asked.
“I can’t stop thinking about you.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed it, “Well, when you put it like that...”
“Then you’ll do it?”
He nodded, “What idiot would say no? Fair warning, though. Once you get to know me there may be things you don’t like about me.”
“There are things I don’t like about you, now,” she said. “You can’t even put together a coffee maker. You’re all thumbs.”
“So, you’re gonna throw that in my face,” he jested.
She chuckled.
Sam fell silent.
She leaned forward and kiss him, “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“I was just thinking how life will be much simpler for you…”
“True, she interjected.”
“…and more complicated for me.”
She nodded, “Think you’re up for it?”
“Only time will tell.”