Taking Chances: Kayla's Chance

“What do you mean something’s wrong?” I demanded a few mornings later, right before I got into my silver truck to drive to school.
From California, Bo sighed. “He was fine last night, but when Jaime went to get him this morning, he wouldn’t let her near him. He wasn’t violent like Dingo; he was just evasive and kept his ass to anyone who tried to touch him.
I didn’t need to ask whom he was referring to. “How did he work?”
“He didn’t. No one could touch him.”
“Great. Perfect,” I said sarcastically.
“Even your Dad couldn’t touch him,” Bo continued.
“My Dad was at the track?”
“He’s not banned here. And he’s an owner. Hell if we really wanted to push the envelope, he could train as long as he doesn’t get paid.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“And you’re stubborn.”
“Damn straight. What did my father say?"
"What are you doing this weekend?"
“Nothing important.”
“He wants you to fly up and work him. He breezes on Saturday and gallops on Sunday.”
“Send me the flight information.”
I could almost feel Bo smile over the phone. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

It was dark when Bo pulled up at Del Mar Friday night. It was mostly quiet except for the occasional snort and shuffle from a few stalls.
“He won’t let Jaime near him?” I asked as I stepped out of Bo’s truck.
“He won’t let anyone but me near him,” Bo corrected. “He actually kicked out at Jaime this morning.”
“Has the vet checked him over?”
“He did let the vet look at him, but he couldn’t take a blood sample. One look at the syringe and that was it.”
I frowned. “You know what that could mean.”
“That someone could have snuck in and given him something.”
We rounded the corner that led to Centerfold’s stall. I heard a loud snort and the sound of a hoof solidly hitting the wall. There was the muted sound of someone cursing, and then Centerfold’s stall creaked open.
Bo and I froze as a shadowy figure slunk out of the colt’s stall. The lights had been turned off so the person wasn’t that easy to see. The person locked the door and started down the aisle in the opposite direction before Bo sprang into action.
He put a hand to my shoulder and pressed down in a “stay here” gesture and ran down the aisle, trying to be as quiet. Both his plans failed.
I took off after him, intent on getting Centerfold’s stall to make sure the colt wasn’t hurt. And Bo’s sudden rush down the aisle spooked several of the horses and they made noise. The figure looked over his shoulder, saw Bo, and broke into a run.
I went to Centerfold’s stall and flipped on the light. His ears swept back when he saw me. He was the most alert I’d ever seen him in his stall. Along with his ears flat back, his head was up and his eyes were sparking.
“Easy,” I crooned as I opened the stall and let myself in. To my shock, Centerfold lunged at me open-mouthed. I managed to get out of the way just in time. “Calm down boy,” I scolded.
Lights were coming on in the other shedrows and there was yelling. Then, Jaime appeared at Centerfold’s stall. “Kay what’s going on?” she demanded breathlessly. “I was over checking on some horses for a friend, the next second, Bo comes running like a bat-outta-hell-”
The person in question appeared with a cell phone pressed to his ear. “Thanks we’ll be here.” He ended the call and look at me. “I lost him. I called the stewards and they’re on their way.”
“What’s going on?” Jaime asked.
“We caught someone coming out of Centerfold’s stall,” Bo said. “He ran when he saw me so he couldn’t have been doing anything good.”
Jaime paled. “Did you see who it was?”
“All the lights were out.”
“Great. They’re going to automatically pin it on me because I was on night duty tonight and I wasn’t here when it happened. I’m already a suspect because I didn’t say anything about the drug in Dingo’s food. They’ll see that and I’m screwed. My reputation will be shot-”
“Racing runs on reputations,” Bo said bitterly.
I wondered about that comment, but I was more concerned with Centerfold at the moment, who was standing in the back of his stall, butt to me.
“Come here boy,” I said, taking a cautious step towards him.”
“I wouldn’t-” Bo began just as the colt turned his powerful black hindquarters towards me and swung one hoof backwards. I ducked and it whistled past my head. I saw him take aim again and knew that this time; I wasn’t going to be able to avoid it. Then, Bo stepped in front of me. Centerfold’s hoof caught him right below the belt and he stumbled back into me.
Centerfold didn’t do anymore damage. His hindquarters stayed poised and ready, but he didn’t turn and try to attack up. It was like he was defending himself rather than just being aggressive.
Bo was bent double now, breathing hard. I scrambled to my feet and pulled him away from Centerfold’s rear end.
“Are you okay?” I knew it was a stupid question almost as soon as it came out of my mouth, but it was the first thing I could think of.
“I-might still-be able- to have-children,” he said between deep gulps of air.
Ouch.
“Just-give me-a minuet,” he said and started towards the stall door. I helped him out and sat him on a tack trunk. All the while I was adding up the similarities and differences between Centerfold’s behavior and Dingo’s.
Dino had attacked people for no real reason and had been hell on his stall. Centerfold seemed only to be defending himself, like someone had been trying to get to him and he thought we were that person. I recalled the curse as the person had come out of Centerfold’s stall minuets ago. Maybe his avoidance of everyone was because he thought we were trying to hurt him and he was on the defense. Maybe he hadn’t had Dingo’s symptoms because no one had been able to get to him.
Two stewards finally showed up and started asking questions. I fielded most of them because Jaime had been M.I.A and Bo’s voice had ridden a couple octaves and he was having a difficult time talking.
“Well there’s not much we can do tonight,” one of the stewards said. “We’ll get him if he tries to go out of the gates. But we don’t have the manpower to guard the horse.”
“Don’t worry, I’m watching him like a hawk now,” Jaime said.
“And me,” I seconded.
“No Kay. You go to the hotel and sleep.”
“I can sleep when this is over,” I argued. “I’m not on vacation.”
“Call us if you have any more problems.” With that the stewards were gone.
“Where’s Off the Record?” I demanded when the stewards were out of sight.
“Santa Anita,” Bo squeaked.
“Rosery Acers has got to be behind this. Now not only are we under suspicion for drugs; it’s interfering with his workouts.”
“No one will ever believe Al Rosery would be involved in something illegal,” Jaime pointed out. “His reputation is so clean it squeaks.”
“If we could find any evidence-”
“Someone like Al Rosery has the money to hire people to do his dirty work for him. He’d never get caught red-handed,” Jaime said.
“Even if we could cast some suspicion-”
“With what Kay? We’d have to dig a skeleton out of his closet. It’s not like he has any.”
Bo’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t speak. I wasn’t sure if he was in pain or something else.
“We don’t even know if Rosery Acers is behind this. It could be any number of barns,” Jaime pointed out.
“But Rosery Acers has the most to gain if Centerfold loses the Juvenile.”
Jaime thought a moment. “That doesn’t explain what happened to Dingo.”
“Dingo was going up against a Rosery Acers horse. A very promising one.”
“And a smart man like Al Rosery would set the stage for a bigger fall. Stopwatch is already under suspicion for drugs and suddenly another horse starts acting out of character,” Bo pointed out.
“We don’t have any evidence,” Jaime said.
“No,” Bo agreed. “Not yet anyway.”