A Little Grooming of her Own

 Part 1

I will never know if that phone call asking me to take her trail riding was genuine or not. The fact is despite her complaints that Richard had taken advantage of her on a horse deal and though she no longer worked for him, she stayed in touch. With my granddaughter working at Opus Arabians as an apprentice, this young woman certainly had access to the information that I was ill so the call could have been a ruse.

As I have said before, I really struggled with isolation. Between horse and household chores and even doctor's appointments of theirs, I spent many, many hours alone. Loneliness was my constant companion and it affected my thinking as much as my illness.

I don't know for sure why I hate being alone but I suspect it has to do with my abusive childhood. I remember being locked in closets for hours. It would be daylight when I was forced inside that dark, cramped space and nighttime when I was allowed out.

Tears often formed a puddle on the hardwood floor and stained it white. I would be punished for that too. I wasn't supposed to cry and the wetness gave me away. I think I was about two and the only reason I got out at all was my dad coming home. I doubt my mother wanted him to know her methods of parenting a toddler.

Solitary confinement for a child that triggers whenever I feel lonely, I would guess fuels this dread that comes when I am alone.  Some old wounds just never heal despite all my therapy work. Now as I struggled with recovery, the loneliness took its toll. I was desperate for companionship and mostly that only came across phone lines.

It seemed like the only time the phone rang, it was some kind of bill collector or, worse yet, those darn robo-calls trying to sell me something even though our phone is on the Do Not Call Registry. Just as when Lindsay was sick,  friends seemed too afraid to call. No one wanted to wake me or pry, etc so there were few breaks in the monotony or the loneliness.

There were few exceptions but when those calls did come, they were a great gift. That's how I saw the call from this young woman.....as a gift. It never occurred to me she might have ulterior motives.

I was so glad to hear a friendly voice, I didn't question. I just filled her in on the details of my current situation. Just like I had done with Richard Galarza all those months before and what had been done with Kelly Panowicz, I laid out a road map to my vulnerabilites and what it would take to exploit them. Believing this woman was my friend with my best interests at heart, I explained how I had been successfully scammed by Kelly and of course she had been there to watch and learn from Richard's game.

She stepped right up claiming she wanted to help and reeled me right in. The fact I already believed she needed saving sure made things easier. She beautifully played off that saying all the right things to convince me she wanted to change but just needed proper guidance.

Right to the letter she followed the game plan of those before her. She was here the first day Crystal Baker showed up so she was able to take part of those notes about the horses condition. She didn't agree with Crystal's assessments but said nothing until after I had figured out Crystal's deception, only then she spoke up. Was she telling me what she thought I wanted to hear? Only in looking back did I notice this oddity.

 She brought out some friends to fix the stall mats. She spent an extensive amount of time with me discussing the proper fix. It certainly convinced me she was doing the repairs that way but the truth is shortcuts were taken so the mats looked right but the problems underneath were still there. I didn't learn that until winter when the soft earth left beneath the mats once again turned to mush.

As it was this young woman wasn't doing this work at all.  She had these guys doing it for her. It seemed like each day it was a new crew. I was introduced to all of them but I was told they were her friends just there to help.

To be candid, I wondered who these guys were and why they were doing chores on my farm with this young woman. Something about this was odd. It would be months before I had answers.

Only part of the stalls mats got fixed. At the point I spoke up saying how grateful I was to have the help, the work came to an abrupt halt. I am not complaining more wasn't done but it has a similar component to a story I had already lived. I didn't see it at the time but it was there. One more important piece of groundwork was laid for her to exploit my circumstances.

After that she disappeared for a while. There were claims she was sick with an unknown gastric ailment and spent some time in and out of the hospital. There were clues there but they went over my head.

She had sold the mare she had bought through Richard so she wanted me to have the hay she had left. I drove her over to pick it up but considering what it had taken for me to get there, let alone move a dozen bales of poor quality hay onto my truck, it was nothing more than a gesture for points, not  anything useful. At the time I chalked it up to her wanting to help but in hindsight I believe everything had a purpose.

Afterwards she wanted to show me an abandoned horse facility that was in the area. She was hoping her aunt would buy this property for her. It was a well laid out plan to entice me to empathize with her. She claimed she wanted mentoring so she might someday achieve her dreams as I had mine.  It was all just a part of her con.

To be continued.....

The Tangled Web.......