Chapter 281 – Friday of the Show

Friday morning turned into a rush, since Jack, Doug, Nathan and the twins had not gotten up until closer to seven. When Jack got upstairs, John was waiting for him.

"We need to talk." John said.

"Is it something that you can handle and tell me about later?" Jack asked.

"If that is what you want." John said. "But I will handle it my way."

"Fine." Jack said. "I have too many other things on my mind right now. So if it is something that you can handle however you see fit, I will be fine with it. I need to go deal with the horses and then get ready for this afternoon."

"We will talk later then." John said.

"Thank you." Jack said.

Jack took his coffee mug and followed the others to go deal with the horses. After he left John looked at Margaret.

"Any word from Emily?" John asked.

"No." Gran said. "But I am assuming you know where she is."

John nodded.

"She took the card that JP had given Elizabeth." John said. "She used it at the casino to get a room and gamble. She also hit at least three different nightclubs last night. As far as I know, she is still at the casino hotel."

"How bad?" Gran asked.

"Not felony level, but close." John said. "Not including the room, because that hadn't gone through, just the hold for it. She has racked up over four hundred dollars. Depending on how much she charged to the room, it could reach felony level. Because if the charge goes through as it stands, it will be pretty close."

"What are you going to do?" Gran asked.

"I don't know yet." John said. "I mean a thousand dollars is a lot of money to most people, but it is nothing to me and JP. The point would be to teach her a lesson. Connor had already put a freeze on the card. So she will be in trouble if she tries to charge anything else, most likely when she tries to check out or order food. Connor has already talked to the manager at the casino and they apologized. They said they allowed it because they knew us and she showed them her old Coal Creek badge."

"I guess we will need to take that back." Gran said.

"Depending on her attitude." John said. "I would be fine not charging her if she apologizes and works to pay off her debt. If she has an attitude, I am more than willing to go the legal route. I don't want to destroy her life, but if she thinks that she can do whatever she wants, then maybe facing the seriousness of her actions is what is needed."

"I will let you do what you think is best." Gran said. "I love my granddaughter, but taking that card was wrong. Lying to everyone was wrong and she needs to learn that she is an adult and things will not be swept under the rug anymore."

"I agree." John said. "I told Connor to wait and see what happens. He said he was going to send Devin over this morning and have a conversation with her."

"Please keep us up to date." Gran said.

"I will." John said.

… … … …

Jack left the house wondering what his grandfather needed to talk to him about. He wondered if he had done something wrong and then it dawned on him that maybe it was business related. Either way, he knew he would learn about it later. He trusted his grandfather to handle it and that was all he could do. Jack started going over the list of things that they needed to do that morning. He knew that the people for the show would start to show up that afternoon. He also knew that vendors might be there earlier, but that was fine. He knew that they needed to be down there at some point, but there were people scheduled to be there to help people starting at eleven and he wasn't going to worry about things until after lunch. He trusted security to check all ids and keep track of who was on the ranch.

When Jack got to the stable, he took a deep breath and knew he needed to focus on the horses at the moment. The horses had already been turned out and the others were working on cleaning their stalls. Jack headed over to the twins.

"With you jumping tomorrow." Jack said. "What do you want to do as far as riding today?"

"I was thinking more of flat work." Maddie said.

"I agree." Missy said.

"Okay." Jack said. "Finish up here and then go do that. I think us guys will do much the same, even though we don't jump until Sunday. We know the horses can jump."

"Are we keeping the horses up here until tomorrow?" Maddie asked.

"Yes." Jack asked.

"We will take them down to the stable at the arena after they are ready in the morning." Jack said.

"Brushing and braiding?" Missy asked.

"Yes, please." Jack said. "Also make sure you are wearing Coal Creek gear if you go down there. If you need something, let me know and I can grab you jackets or polos from the office. Those can be worn today and Sunday. Riding gear tomorrow before going down to the arena to stay."

"Got it." Maddie said.

"We need new jackets." Missy said.

"I will go get them." Jack said. "Your tack cases are in the tack room."

"Thank you." Missy said.

Jack went and got the girls new jackets and grabbed polos as well. He put them in the tack room on their cases, knowing that they have to check those that morning. He then went to take care of his horses. The girls finished up with the stalls and then went to do some flat work. The guys got the rest of the stalls finished and then brushed out their horses and went for a short ride instead of traditional flat work.

When they got back, the girls were already gone and the horses were turned out. They brushed out their horses and turned them out. They then went up to the house because they were hungry since they had not had breakfast and it was past eight thirty at that point. When they got up to the house, they went to get cleaned up and then had a light breakfast of some toasted waffles and fruit. Once breakfast was cleaned up, Jack looked for his grandfather only to learn he was in the office and asked to be left alone.

"I am going to throw in some laundry." Jack said. "Then I need to check some stuff on the laptop. Is there anything that I need to know?"

"Do what you need." Gran said. "We are going to go about our plan. Trish and I will not be going down to the show today. We are actually getting ready to head into town. We are going to run to the farmers market and a few other things. I have spoken to Frank and Father Mark and they are going to set lunch out. Trish and I will be back after lunch."

"Are you taking the truck?" Jack asked.

"Yes we are." Gran said. "The coolers still in the back?"

"Yes." Jack said. "We just emptied them last night, except the one with drinks. That is in the garage."

"Okay." Gran said.

Jack headed downstairs where he found Elizabeth vacuuming the sitting area. She stopped when Jack came down.

"Hey, you." Elizabeth said.

"Hey, you." Jack said.

"Thank you for carrying me in last night." Elizabeth said. "I am sorry I fell asleep."

"No problem." Jack said. "It was a long day. Where is everyone?"

"Frank and Father Mark made a quick trip to town." Elizabeth said. "The twins are showering. The other guys headed to the gym."

"Any sign of Emily?" Jack asked.

"No." Elizabeth said. "But she is in trouble with your grandfather."

Jack looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"She took the card you gave me and used it last night." Elizabeth said. "I don't know the details. John asked me when the last time I saw and used the card was. I am sorry, I left it on the desk with some notes as I had ordered something."

"It is not your fault." Jack said. "She should have known better. I am sure that was what Grandpa wanted to talk to me about. I told him to handle it and talk to me about it later."

"What is going to happen?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know." Jack said. "I know that Grandpa will do what he thinks is best and a lot of it will depend on how Emily reacts."

"Okay." Elizabeth said. "Then I won't worry about it."

Jack gave Elizabeth a quick kiss and then went to his room. He grabbed his laundry and went to put it in. He then grabbed his laptop and headed upstairs. Elizabeth continued to clean. She had laundry as well and planned to clean her room.

The rest of the morning went pretty swiftly. The downstairs got cleaned, including all three bathrooms and the gym shower. Jack, Elizabeth and the guys all worked on laundry and when they sat down for lunch, the last two loads were in the washer.

The group minus Gran and Trish sat down to eat lunch just after noon that day. The conversation revolved around the show and plans to move forward with other things. After lunch, John went back to work. Jack, Elizabeth and the guys cleaned up from lunch, then changed into Coal Creek polos and headed down to the arena to see how things were going. They all had their phones on them and they were surprised at how busy it was down at the arena. Vendors were busy setting up and there were workers taking care of other things. Jack stopped and spoke to the person who was stationed on the path back up to the house. He wanted to make sure that the instructions were clear and the young worker that Jack didn't know well showed Jack the list and then pointed to his badge. Jack was glad that the instructions had been clear and they had made changes to the badges, he had a feeling that is how Emily got away with using the card.

Jack thanked him and then continued down to the arena area. Jack had a thousand things going through his head and he was a bit zoned out. Elizabeth stopped him for a moment and turned him to face her. She saw that he was stressed and worried about everything and she hoped to make him feel better.

"Take a deep breath." Elizabeth said.

Jack just looked at her.

"I am serious." Elizabeth said. "You are stressed. I trust you, Nathan and everyone else to keep me safe. You can't do anything about Emily right now. You asked your grandfather to handle it, so let him. I know you like control, but when you ask others to handle things, you need to let them."

Jack sighed.

"You are right." Jack said. "I asked Grandpa to handle it and I need to trust him that it will be done. There is just so much going on, I didn't even want to think about it. When he asked to speak, I first thought I had done something and then I thought it was business related. Either way, I asked him to handle it and I need to let him do it. I just feel bad for Nathan, because he likes/liked her. I don't want him to get hurt."

"I understand that." Elizabeth said. "But you can't control what other people do. All you can control is how you react. You and Father Mark told me that, right?"

Jack just smiled and kissed Elizabeth on the forehead before they continued down to the arena. Greg and his group were already there and they had set up the bounce houses and helped to set up the big tents with air conditioning for the riders. Jack double checked that the automatic waters were covered, but that the hoses and taps were available and was happy to see that it had been done even though they had forgotten about it yesterday.

Jack and Elizabeth walk around the vendors and thank them for coming. They also look at each of the vendors' things. Jack bought a few things that he liked as they were walking around. They also checked in with the food vendors and thanked them as well. Everyone was so grateful for the opportunity to come to the large show. After wandering through the vendors area, Jack and Elizabeth went over and greeted some of the competitors who had come. They were all happy to see Jack. Many he had competed against a few years prior. Others were new to him, but all were in a bit of awe of him, even though they were better jumpers.

Jack, Elizabeth and their group sat together and watched the advanced jumpers. They had a fun time talking about the different jumpers and how they did. It ended up being a very close round and of the twenty-three jumpers, seven ended up in the jumpoff and the top three places were separated by less than a half of a second. Jack personally handed out the ribbons on behalf of Coal Creek so he could congratulate each of the jumpers. After the awards were given out, Jack and Elizabeth headed back up the house. The other guys stayed and helped make sure that everything was ready for the next day. Jack needed a break from the people and everyone understood that.

When Jack and Elizabeth got back up to the house, they both sat down with John.

"So what happened to Emily?" Jack asked.

John looked at him questioningly.

"Elizabeth mentioned you asked her about the card I gave her and I put two and two together." Jack said. "A quick text to Devin and Connor this afternoon confirmed what I thought. I don't have details."

"She took the card." John said. "She ate and gambled at the casino. She then went to at least three different nightclubs downtown last night. When she was turned away from the gate after two am this morning, she went back to the casino and got a room. That was where Devin found her this morning. He took her and checked her out of the hotel, making sure that the bill was paid in full."

"How much?" Jack asked.

"In total." John said. "Just over nine hundred dollars. Enough that she could be charged with theft, but not felony level."

"I just want to say I am sorry." Elizabeth said. "I left the card out because I had ordered something and left everything on the desk."

"No need to be sorry." John said. "You had the right to leave things out in your room and feel that they were secure. Emily was in the wrong and will pay for it."

"What are you going to do?" Jack asked.

"For now." John said. "She is on house arrest at her parent's house. She will be dealt with on Monday. She was informed that if she leaves her parent's property without permission she will be arrested by the sheriff's department and will be dealt with through legal channels."

"I know money is not the issue." Jack said. "So what were you thinking?"

"She needs to learn that she can't have whatever she wants." John said. "Also that she is an adult and problems won't be swept under the rug anymore. I asked Devin and Connor to come up with ideas of what they think is an appropriate punishment."

"Just so you know." Jack said. "We are short a groom for the race track. Mucking out stalls might teach her a lesson."

"Are you sure you want her at the track?" John asked.

"No." Jack said. "Temporarily promote a groom from here to the track and she can muck stalls at the retirement center until she has worked to pay back what she stole."

"I will keep that in mind." John said. "But right now that might be the leading idea. We are also making sure that her Coal Creek badge is confiscated as that is what she showed as part of the deception to show she was allowed to use the card. The manager knew James, Margaret and I. He also recognized the Coal Creek badge and was the one that authorized the use of the card when the employee questioned it. He has apologized for his part in all of this."

"I agree." Jack said. "She never should have had a badge. Which is part of the reason, that I am reissuing new badges to everyone and all old will be deactivated and preferably confiscated. Once everyone has their new badge with a photo, I will let the track and other places know that any badge that has an issue date older than July of this year is not valid."

"What would the other places be?" Elizabeth asked.

"The tack shops, Primal." Jack said. "There have been times employees have been sent to pick something up since we have ranch accounts there. They need to show their work badge and sign when they pick up."

"Okay." Elizabeth said. "That helps."

"Very good plan." John said. "How long will it take?"

"All badges should be issued to current employees and be done by the twenty-fifth." Jack said. "I am also asking employees to turn in old badges. There are a few exceptions, I know that Manny needs to keep his for records, but other than that, a copy of it would be fine. We will keep a copy of all old badges for records, but the old ones will be destroyed. I already had Devin check what was needed if the badges were to be changed.

The new badges have a hire date on it so we know how long someone has been working here. With few exceptions, all badges will need to be turned in if they leave Coal Creek employment. Since we have a child living on the compound, I have asked Katie to get Opal a badge, so if there is a question if she is allowed to be somewhere, there will be no question. Opal's badge will say employee in training and only open her apartment door."

"Good idea." John said. "You really thought this out."

"It was something that I had thought about before this happened." Jack said. "I heard about something happening at one of the ranches in Kentucky and they had to reissue all badges. It was a mess because they had to shut down for several days to sort things out. I also like the idea of more information on the badges. Not only will they have their picture and hire date, but they will say what part of the compound they are assigned. I know that people move between different areas, but when they were hired, they were assigned a place and that is coded into their payroll. I am just building on that.

All badges will be color coded. Green for all access. Gold for the arena and track. Blue for the retirement center. White for the breeding facility. Red will be restricted. Badges can have multiple colors. Opal for example will be green and red. Green so she can get up here, but red to show she is not allowed to all areas of the ranch or she needs to be with someone if going to different parts. Once we have the Ipads, anyone's badge will be able to be checked with one of the Ipads that are carried. They will scan a QR code on the badge and a profile page will pop up and it will show details such as access, assigned area and immediate supervisor. I am looking to be able to have the app on phones if people want. It might just take a bit longer."

"I like that." John said. "Would we be able to do that for the horse facility in Ocala?"

"Yes." Jack said. "You could actually do it for any Thornton Inc facility. We have the technology to print the cards. The magnetic strips can be programmed to any facility."

"I will look into it." John said. "I like the increased security on them."

"Thank you." Jack said. "Sorry that it had to come to this, this fast. I had planned to implement it over a fall when it wasn't so busy, but Emily made me see that it was needed sooner. It is the QR codes that are tricky right now. It was what was holding me back. I think we can issue those later as a sticker, but I liked the idea of them printed on the badge."

"We are constantly learning." John said. "I never thought someone would do this. I was completely correct in saying that Elizabeth has the right to think that her stuff was safe in her room."

"I take it that Emily's stuff had been removed from the house." Elizabeth said.

"Yes." John said. "Father Mark and Gran searched everything that had come inside before Father Mark took it all to his parents home. They aren't happy, because having Emily there has put a damper on their plans with those staying there. Margaret did offer to let the extra couple stay here, but they turned it down and decided to just borrow the air mattresses for the kids."

"I know that it will be supper soon." Jack said. "But I need to decompress a bit. I will be up in the music room."

"Have fun." Elizabeth said.

"Thank you." Jack said. "You are free to join me."

"I want to read for a bit." Elizabeth said. "Besides, I think you need the alone time to think."

"Okay." Jack said. "Thank you."

Jack got up and gave Elizabeth a quick kiss before going upstairs.

"John, again I am sorry for everything." Elizabeth said.

"Like I have said, you had a right to assume that your things were safe in your room." John said. "Like JP said, money is not the problem. I have told Connor not to fight the charges for now and everyone will get paid. I have dropped more on dinner, so like it has been said the money is not the issue. The issue is Emily took something that didn't belong to her and thought she could get away with it."

Elizabeth nodded. She knew what John was saying, but she still felt bad.

… … … …