Bluegrass State of Mind (11 page)

"Rumor is, he tried that and failed.
About two months later is when these accidents started
happening."

"Oh," Kenna scrunched up her nose as
she mulled it over, "what do the people who work on the farm
think?"

"They all love him. He pays great,
hires locals, and gives them benefits."

"I think I'll have to reserve
judgment. But I am inclined to agree that he shouldn't be held
accountable until there is proof."

"That's what I think too. I have seen
him a couple of times and he always seems like he's trying to fit
in. Anyway," Paige said, indicated the change of topic, "I need to
head into Lexington to get some supplies for the store. I will
probably head out there in the next couple of days, so give me a
call if you want to come to the big city," she said
laughing.

"Thanks, I will. That may be a good
study break." Kenna stared down at the empty pie plate. She felt
full and tired. The excitement of the day was starting to wear off
and she was ready for bed. "I think I am going to head back to
Lily's and go to bed." Kenna gave Paige a hug goodbye and waved to
the remaining patrons on her way out.

Her thoughts kept returning to Will.
But she redirected them, reminding herself that Whitney was there
for him and she couldn't be drooling after a married man. She
turned her thoughts to what a fun night she had. Paige was turning
out to be a great friend, but that made her miss Danielle even
more. The last time she'd seen her best friend was in a dark
parking garage while they were fleeing the GTH offices. They had
agreed to toss their cell phones and contact each other via web
email so hopefully the GTH private investigator couldn't find
them.

Kenna walked up the hill to the bed
and breakfast, trying to push both Will and New York from her mind.
Instead she filled it with thoughts of how to design her new office
and the best way to prepare for the bar exam. Kenna opened the door
to her room and changed into her pajamas. She washed her face and
brushed out her hair. Her eyes kept darting to the laptop sitting
on top of the dresser. Finally giving in, Kenna grabbed it and sat
in the middle of her bed. She signed onto her free email account
and saw one message in the inbox. She clicked on the new message
and brought it up. It was from Ron Fox, not Danielle. But then
Kenna laughed, "Clever Danielle". Ron Fox was this sweet old man
who had been a client of Kenna's at GTH. He was a low profile
client, so the big wigs wouldn't recognize the name. Kenna looked
to the body of the letter and read,

"Dear Ms.
Mason,

I seem to be in need of
your legal services again. I have recently retired and believe my
company is trying to get me to come back. They appear to have put a
tail on me and are trying to track me. I have moved to using only
cash and tossed all electronics I previously had. But I can feel
that they are getting close to trying to force me to come back to
the company. So far, no direct contact has been made. There have
been shadows outside my door and they have knocked at my new
apartment door. I had to leave through the back once when they were
persistent and found a new place to sleep.

I am hopeful you are not
having the same problems. Please let me know how you are and if you
think you can help me."

Kenna processed the email. It appeared
that Danielle was safe, for the moment. But they were closing in on
her. She hit reply and started typing,

"Dear Mr. Fox,

I am always available to
help such a loyal client. I am happy to report that I still have a
good relationship with my firm. I would advise you to leave the
area immediately. Maybe take a vacation to one of the places you
always wished to travel to. I can wire funds or mail a cashier's
check to assist you on your vacation if needed. Please let me know
if you require anything further and know I am always here to
help."

Kenna took a breath and then logged
off the internet. Neither message gave away a location, but she was
sure that Danielle was still in the City and hoped she'd get out
soon. GTH hired the best and they would track her down in the City
sooner or later.

Kenna got up, put away her laptop, and
turned off the lights. She pulled back the heavy comforter and
climbed into the huge bed. Just an hour ago, she felt love and
support. Now, she felt cold and alone. She closed her eyes and
hoped sleep would come.

Chapter Seven

Kenna looked up from her desk and if
she leaned far enough to the right she could see into the reception
area. Danielle De Luca was sitting at the desk in front of the
elevators answering the phone. Kenna's office was on the ninth
floor of the huge office building. The seventh floor was the lobby
and client conference rooms. Floor eight housed the associates.
Floor nine hosted the junior partners and the attorney conference
room. The tenth floor housed the senior partners. On the sixth
floor, there was a kitchen and a private gym for the members of
Greendale, Thacker and Hansley, GTH for short, to help keep them
sane.

Kenna looked down at the signed
settlement agreement in her hands and smiled. She had just settled
a mediocre pharmaceutical neglect case for five point five million
dollars. It was a good day. Even the fact that GTH was hosting one
of their "guys’ nights" didn't bother her. GTH hosted a poker night
once a month with the equity senior partners who liked strippers.
Or as she was informed by Bob Greendale, the senior partner of GTH,
she was being politically incorrect to refer to them as strippers.
The ‘professional clothing removal experts’ hosted these poker
nights and entertained the private VIPs, including local and
federal judges, as well as certain higher ups in the city and state
offices. Kenna never approved of these events and was pretty sure
laws were being broken. They were undeniably in breach of ethical
rules. But the senior partners made it clear. If she wanted to keep
her job, then she had to keep her mouth shut. In order to do that,
Kenna made sure to be out of the office well before their night
started.

Tonight that was going to be easy to
do. It was her twenty-ninth birthday. Kenna stood up and
straightened her red Armani business suit and slipped her matching
Manolo Blahniks back on. She shut down her computer and carried the
settlement statement out to Danielle.

"Hey, I just finished the Raymond
case. It's ready to be closed. Settled for five point five
mil.”

Danielle turned from the filing
cabinet and gave Kenna a high five. "Congrats girl! I thought you
would only get a million out of them, I don't know how you do it.
Are you sure you didn't sleep with opposing counsel? He was
definitely doable," Danielle winked. "If not, girl, you gotta get
me his number!"

Danielle was a twenty seven year old
knockout, a teen beauty queen. She stood just under six feet and
had the sexiest olive colored skin and piercing blue eyes under her
fashionably cut black hair. Her mother was a professional skier
from Maine and had met her father at an Aspen event. Her mom had
fallen in love, given up skiing, and moved to Italy where her
father owned a small vineyard. When Danielle turned thirteen, they
had moved to New York City where Danielle attended school and did
the beauty pageant circuit. She went to college part-time while
working as a model for car lots and supermarket openings. She
managed to get her degree in paralegal studies when her parents
moved back to Italy. Danielle was the lead paralegal for the junior
partners and in charge of fifteen other junior paralegals. That
meant that she got to pick and choose who she worked for. Danielle
chose to work for the one female breaking rank, and Kenna was
forever grateful.

"You excited about your birthday
tonight?" Danielle asked as she went to file the Raymond case away
in the wall of filing cabinets that sat behind her desk.

"I can't believe I am entering the
last year in my twenties. You're coming to The Zone, right?" she
asked Danielle.

"You bet. That's the only way I can
get into that club!"

Danielle moved to close the file
cabinet and Kenna chuckled, "Yeah, right. All you would have to do
is wink at the bouncer and you'd be in the place so fast, the line
wouldn't have time to moan and complain!"

"So, is Chad going to be there
tonight?" Danielle asked. Chad Taylor was the Vice President of one
of the largest lobbying firms in the City. He was everything a
boyfriend should be: six feet tall, athletically fit, and blonde
hair cut short to show off his perfectly sculpted face. Danielle
liked to call him a pretty boy. Kenna just thought him attractive
and someone who got her schedule. He was friends with Bob Greendale
and had lobbied for special interests for the firm before. Bob had
introduced her to him at the celebration party after winning a
class action lawsuit against a long term care facility in February.
They had hit it off instantly and had been seeing each other once
or twice a week for the past two months.

"Yeah, he is. It will be nice to see
him again. The Raymond case has kept me so busy that I haven't had
time to see Chad all week," Kenna answered as she pulled on her
coat and gloves. It was the beginning of February and that meant
more freezing weather in the City.

"Well, let's not keep him waiting! Are
you heading over to The Zone now?"

"Yup, you need a ride?" Danielle was
notorious for mooching rides off of people. Her own 1997 Chevy
Lumina was starting to rust out and had a muffler that even the
loudest Jay-Z music couldn't cover up. But it was the first thing
she bought with her own money. Being a symbol of her fierce,
independent nature, Danielle just couldn't come to terms with
trading it in yet.

Kenna and Danielle rode the elevator
down to the parking garage and walked to Kenna's M6 parked in her
reserved place by the door. They got in and took off for the
hottest new club in town. She and Danielle were the last to arrive
at The Zone. Cheers went up as Kenna walked in and took a
bow.

"That's right, ladies and gentlemen. I
am getting older and wiser, and so we must drink to my dotage!"
Another round of cheers went up from the associates, junior
partners and a lot of the support staff. However, none of the
partners had bothered to show up. Kenna caught Chad's eye as he
smoothly rose from the VIP table and walked over to plant a chaste
kiss on her cheek.

"Hey, Sweetheart. We were wondering if
you were going to stand us up for that case you have been working
on." He smiled and his straight, dentist-bleached teeth
twinkled.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I was able
to settle the Raymond case just an hour ago." Chad led her through
the crowd where she greeted all her co-workers. Chad ordered her
favorite drink, a sparkling peach martini. As they sat at the
reserved table with Danielle and some friends from the office, they
chatted, laughed, and talked office politics. Kenna finished her
drink and frowned, "The birthday girl can't have an empty drink.
It's against the law. Chad, why don't we both get another round for
the table?"

"I am sorry to do this, sweetie. I got
a text from the office. Something has come up and I need to meet
with a couple of Senators. I am going to ride the late train to
D.C. and will be out of town until Monday." Chad faked a pout and
gave her knee a squeeze. Kenna managed to hide her eye roll. She
hated the pout. It just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Can't you stay longer? I have only
been here an hour and I haven't been able to see you much
recently," she asked with a hint of a whine to her voice. She
stopped and cringed. She was not a whiner, so she decided to blame
that on the sparkling peach martini.

"Sorry, but it can't wait. I will call
you when I get back in town. I only have twenty minutes to get to
the train station, so I have to go, babe." He leaned over and
kissed her goodbye, his hand sliding up her skirt and around her
thigh. "Think of me and miss me".

She watched him slide out from behind
the table and turn to give her a wink, "Happy Birthday" he said as
he put on his coat and left.

Kenna sighed. Maybe it was time to cut
Chad loose. Maybe it was time for her to just have a good time.
Right now was not the time to think about it, though. It was a
Friday night. It was her birthday. She had just settled a big case.
So she was going to have another drink and hang with her
friends.

Kenna and Danielle hit the dance
floor, dancing together until they got separated by two hunks. Why
not? This was her birthday, after all. Danielle and Kenna made
their way back to the table after getting worn out from a couple of
crazy dances.

"Damn!" Kenna guessed the look of
dismay was easy to read on her face because she knew the music was
too loud for Danielle to hear. Danielle raised an eyebrow to her as
if to see what was wrong.

Having to raise her voice over the
music, she yelled to Danielle, "I left the Lawrence file at the
office. I need to take it home with me tonight so I can start work
on it tomorrow. That means I have to go back to the office
tonight." She stuck out her lip in a pout and for dramatic measure
she stomped a foot. She broke out laughing, not being able to keep
the facade going.