Bluegrass State of Mind (8 page)

"Oh, I got that one too!" Paige said.
"Is that enough of an example? I am sure we could continue for
hours," Paige asked her.

"No, I see your point. She doesn't
seem like a nice person," Kenna said.

"The worst part," Miss Daisy said, "is
that no one will stand up to her. Her daddy is a Senator and Will
is a local boy who coaches high school football for free. His farm
brings in the tourists which helps the local economy. But, mark my
words; someday she'll get what's coming to her. Karma's a bigger
bitch than she is," Miss Daisy announced.

Paige scooted her chair back and stood
up. "As much as I would love to continue this, I need to get back
to the shop. Kenna, it was such a pleasure seeing you again. I am
sure you will ace your interview tomorrow." When Kenna looked at
her strangely, Paige said, "Yes, we all know about your interview,
too. Keeneston grapevine and all. Anyway, I am hoping you'll agree
to have dinner with me after your interview to celebrate you new
job. We could meet here at six?"

"That would be great. Thanks Paige. I
guess I better get going too." She paid Miss Daisy and headed back
to Miss Lily's. The Keeneston grapevine, as it was called, was
something that would definitely take time getting used to. Thinking
about Will being married brought her down. It was wrong to cheat,
even though his wife was apparently the devil. And Kenna especially
disliked being kept in the dark. But, as much as that brought her
down, the fact that she had a new friend in Paige brought her up.
It would be nice to talk to someone again.

Kenna started the short walk back to
the bed and breakfast. She couldn’t help thinking of her best
friend. Paige and Dani would get along great. The last time she had
seen Danielle, her face had been twisted in fear. She had been near
panic as she raced out of the parking garage. Her life changed
forever. All because of what Kenna had seen. The situation Dani was
in was her fault. But she had no choice. After looking over that
cubicle there was no other option.

She thought of Danielle and wondered
where she was now. Everything had been quiet for a month now. She
decided to risk a quick email to her to see if they could make
contact. She hoped like hell that Danielle had found a place to
hide.

Chapter Five

Kenna sat in her room studying until a
knock on her door interrupted her. Kenna had nearly worked her way
to the end of Kentucky's Criminal Law book. She marked her place in
the book and said, "Come in," as she tried to stack the books into
what resembled neatness. June opened the door and floated in, her
blonde hair pulled back into a sleek pony tail and a navy Ralph
Lauren cocktail dress. It fit her curves and hung loose from her
hips to her ankles, which were outfitted with silver spiked heels
to finish off the outfit. Kenna was pretty sure that even though
June was from Florida, she must spend a lot of time shopping in New
York City.

"We were hoping to see you at dinner,
but Miss Lily said you were studying. I just had to stop by and
tell you all the horse world gossip before we hit the club to
celebrate," June said, sweeping into the room.

"What are you celebrating?" Kenna
asked.

"We bought the most beautiful colt.
He's the perfect addition to our stable. Oh, and Will sold one for
one point one million today." Before Kenna could even comment, June
continued, "And that wasn't even his best horse. He's raking it in
this year, that's for sure. But the poor dear, one of his stable
hands had some kind of accident on the farm and Will had to leave
right away. I guess it was kinda serious since he said he wouldn't
be able to go out with us tonight. I think he said the man broke a
leg, or was it an arm? I can't remember, but it really upset him.
Oh, and I have to tell you about the drama today. Whitney Ashton
showed up and caused such a stir. She wore the most outrageous
white pantsuit to the sale. I mean, who wears white in March? And
who wears it to a horse sale? Hay, dirt, and horse poop do not cry
out for an all white outfit. I am sure Whitney was there to see how
the sale went to see how much money she could get her grubby little
paws on,” June laughed as she remembered the day.

“
You wouldn’t believe what
happened to her. I can’t even say I feel sorry for her! She had on
these white peep toe shoes and she was walking with some poor
Keeneland employee, chewing him out for something, when squish, she
stepped in a fresh pile of horse manure!”

Kenna’s mouth fell open and she
covered the laugh with her hand. She shouldn’t laugh at someone’s
misfortune, really she shouldn’t.

“
But that’s not all! She
picked up her foot and started screaming. She’s jumping around on
one foot and loses her balance. She fell flat on her ass, the leg
with manure on the shoe dangling in the air. And then, splat! A big
glob of manure fell right in the middle of her white suit coat! Oh,
it was priceless. But, enough of that," June waved her hand through
the air as if clearing out a bad smell. “I wanted to see if you
would to go to the sales with us tomorrow?"

"Normally, I would love to, but I have
my interview and dinner plans with a friend. Are the sales still
going on the day after tomorrow?" Kenna asked, still laughing over
the Whitney story.

"Sure are. We'll be here all week.
We'll just go in two days, what is that, Thursday? That will be
perfect. The sale ends on Sunday. Well, I am sure Julius will be
wondering what's taking so long. I never tell him though, it keeps
the mystery alive! Toodles!" June said with a wiggle of her
fingers, and disappeared out the door in a flash of navy and
silver.

Kenna shook her head. It was as if she
had been hit by a perfectly coifed Ralph Lauren tornado. As she
opened her book, she hoped she wasn't making a mistake by going to
the sales again. It was so interesting the first time that she
really wanted to go. She had no claim to Will, and thought him a
snake for making a move on her behind his wife’s back. But Kenna
had to admit, she was curious about his wife.

Some hours later Kenna woke with a
page of the criminal procedure book stuck to her face. She had
fallen asleep face first into the book and then drooled, making the
page stick to her cheek. Too tired to walk across the room, she
stripped and climbed under the covers in nothing but her panties.
With a sigh, she fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Kenna stood in front of the courthouse
and straightened the knee-length, black pencil skirt and matching
fitted black jacket. She wore an ivory satin shell underneath and
had almost killed herself getting into her pantyhose this morning.
She wore simple black pumps and her long auburn hair was in a
French twist. A car honked and she ignored it until it honked
again. Thinking it was probably some idiot, she turned to give the
driver the finger. She caught herself just in time from flicking
off Pam Gilbert.

"Good Luck, McKenna!" Pam shouted as
she drove by and they exchanged waves. That was a first, Kenna
thought.

She turned back to the courthouse,
walked up the steps, and pulled open the heavy front doors. She
found the building directory and took the stairs to the second
floor District Attorney Office, consisting of three rooms and the
Keeneston Law Library. She entered a room that was a mix of old
school attorney with a hint of criminal. The leather seats in the
waiting room were bolted down and a chest high desk separated the
secretary from the waiting room. Overall, the room looked warm, but
not so warm that the people swearing out warrants wanted to hang
out. A woman who looked no-nonsense in khakis and a light blue
sweater sat with a pinched face, probably from the tight bun she
had pulled her hair back in. Her age could be anywhere from
twenty-five to fifty-five.

She looked up from the computer, "Can
I help you?" she snapped at Kenna.

"Yes, I am McKenna Mason. I have an
appointment with Mr. Burns," Kenna answered with a slight smile on
her face. She was pretty sure if she used charm, this woman would
toss her out on her ass before she could even interview. The lady
held up a finger to indicate she should wait, but didn't offer her
to sit down. So McKenna stood waiting while the lady picked up the
phone and told the person on the other end of the line that “A Miss
Mason is here for her appointment.”

Kenna must have passed the first
round. Because when the happy greeter looked up after putting the
phone down, she pointed to a door behind the desk, "Go on in," and
went back to her typing.

McKenna pushed through the swinging
half door attached to the desk and walked to the back office. She
knocked on the door and took one final deep breath to calm herself.
She heard a gruff voice call for her to come in. She opened the
door and walked in to meet her potential boss.

Very old school, Kenna thought, as she
took a quick glance on her way across the room. She made her way to
a set of leather chairs in front of an old massive legal desk. Mr.
Burns was a man in his early fifties and had thinning brown hair
turning gray. As he stood to greet her, Kenna realized he was
actually much shorter than she thought. He probably stood at only
five foot, eight inches and it looked like he had worked hard on
the pot belly that hung out over his belt. He had huge round
glasses and a neatly trimmed gray mustache and looked to be
friendly enough now, but Kenna could definitely tell he'd be a
monster in the courtroom. Between him and his secretary, it was no
wonder they had the lowest deadbeat parent standing in the state.
Everyone paid because no one wanted to come pay child support to
Miss Sunshine in the office, or go up against an aggressive Mr.
Magoo in the courtroom.

"Miss Mason, it's nice to meet you. I
am Tom Burns," he said as he held out his hand over his desk. Kenna
shook it and they both sat in their respective corners. He eyed her
over his massive desk and she sat as tall as possible in the old
chair.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I have
been looking forward to this since I received your email setting
the date for our interview," Kenna smiled. She knew better than to
use her fake happy smile. She figured both Miss Sunshine and Mr.
Magoo saw enough bullshit to know when to spot it.

"I'll cut right to the point. You have
an impressive resume. Top 25% of your class from Syracuse
University. An elite job at one of the biggest firms in New York
City. An impressive amount of wins and large settlements during
your time there. But, here is what bothers me. There are two
things. First, why you stated in your letter that I could not call
and check your resume with your boss at GTH. And the second, why I
should give you a job whose focus is on criminal law when your main
area of practice has been in civil litigation and public
relations?"

Boy, Mr. Magoo really could cut to the
chase, she thought. She took a deep breath and answered, focusing
on half truths to make the answer believable. "To address your
first question, I don't know how things are done in smaller firms
and I don't know how they are done in Kentucky, but GTH was very
much a good ol’ boys system. Women did not advance past associate.
I was the first woman to make it to junior partner and that was
only after bringing in a five million settlement fee in a class
action. It was made very clear to me that I would never be part of
the club and that I would never advance any higher. I had a hard
time accepting that sort of sexual discrimination and decided to
start looking for a different avenue where my day wouldn't just
repeat itself."

"I didn't want to be stuck in civil
litigation all my life, I wanted to branch out to other areas of
the law. But because I was good at it, the partners refused me any
cases in a different field. I asked for you not to contact my boss
as I was still working there. And if this didn't work out, I knew I
would be fired on the spot. When I resigned and moved down here
with the intent of taking this job, if offered, I knew it wouldn't
do any good for you to call GTH. The partners were furious I left
and are not above telling you lies," Kenna finished. She kept it
very close to the truth, but left out that the main reason they
were enraged was because she had evidence that implicated them in a
crime. She disappeared before they could make sure she didn't say a
word to anyone ever again.

"To answer your second question, I
have always been interested in criminal law. I received A's in my
criminal law, criminal procedure, federal criminal law and federal
criminal procedure classes when in law school. Although I have no
courtroom experience, I was published in the law review for my
research on the Brady Rule, which focused on the ethical versus
legal duties of the prosecutor to turn over evidence to defense
counsel if it helps the defense's case. Further, I have studied
Kentucky's criminal law and criminal procedure and believe I will
be able to pass the Kentucky part of the bar exam in two weeks. And
very quickly after that, I will be prepared to handle the duties of
an Assistant D.A. in the courtroom and outside of it." Kenna had
her hands clasped lightly together in her lap and was afraid to
even re-cross her legs. It seemed to be a delicate time in Mr.
Burns' contemplation period. He sat staring at her. The only noise
in the room was the drumming of his thick fingers on his polished
desk.