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****
Our first stop was fortunate because our first phone call identified who we needed to talk to and the second informed us where he was right now.
Our quarry was one of the county’s few full-time fire district employees. If it weren’t for volunteer firefighters, this county would be an ash pit. And he was at the fire department offices, the next door down from the sheriff’s department.
We wanted him not because he served the fire department, but because he volunteered for the all-volunteer search and rescue group. He’d led the group that went to Elk Rock Ranch to bring in Robin Kenyon last year.
We were doubly fortunate because he wasn’t at the sheriff’s department, which oversees the search and rescue group, and thus potentially under Shelton’s ever-watchful eyes.
As it was, Diana and I looked around for any sign of Shelton before parking in their shared lot and walking with dispatch past the sheriff’s department.
Miller Fernard had an impressive mustache and salt-and-pepper hair. He made me think of my grandfather’s expression that someone was as brown and tough as a nut.
We told him we were doing the piece on Keefer Dobey and wanted to include Robin’s accident and his response — both true. He immediately agreed, saying Keefe deserved it and the search and rescue group could use the mention and possible donations.
We got plenty of good footage on those topics.
Not until the end, with Diana occupying far more time than usual in putting away her equipment, did I bring the conversation to Robin Kenyon’s reaction.
“We were warned going up that she could be a handful. But she was quiet as could be. Although by that time, she had to be in a lot of pain,” he said.
“Adrenaline worn off by then,” I suggested.
“Yup. Along with a bunch of other chemicals your body pumps out trying to protect you — sending more blood here, less blood there, heightening some nerve-endings, speeding up the brain. Gets a lot of people through that first stretch. Then those chemicals start ebbing away and that’s when the fun really starts.” His voice went dry. “That’s often about the time we show up. Was the case for her, for sure. Even when we resplinted her, she held on. And the trip down was no pool slide, unless your slide’s made out of rocks. But she held it together. Pretty impressive, really.”
“Did she talk at all?”
“Not much. She did say thank you. And she wanted us to thank Keefe.” His brows quirked slightly. “And Suzie Q, Keefe’s dog.”
****
A red door, white trim, and dark gray roof set off the Wild Horses Bed and Breakfast’s light gray siding.
We skipped the red front door for the back door, where we knocked lightly. If a guest was in a public area, coming in this way made it easier to catch them unaware... if anyone was back here and willing to let us in.
Krista Seger, the owner along with her somewhat-but-how-much-estranged husband, was there in the kitchen and did let us in. Though her feeling of indebtedness to us for previous consideration might be wearing thin, considering her slight eye-roll.
Still, she let us in and murmured, “Front room.”
She didn’t look up from placing some sort of dough in pans, presumably for the next day’s breakfast. Judging by other prepared pans it had lots of cinnamon. I might find a reason to return tomorrow to see if there were leftovers.
Randall Kenyon also didn’t look up immediately when we entered the sunroom. His lowered chin tucked under the upper fold of the neckerchief he still wore, reestablishing the masked-outlaw vibe.
Eventually recognizing that ignoring didn’t make the new arrivals go away, he looked up.
I smiled warmly. He did not. “I’m not talking to you.”
It was presumptuous of Randall Kenyon to assume we’d come to see him. True, but presumptuous.
“We come in peace.”
“No camera,” Diana added, showing both her hands.
Both of our phones were recording, however. Mine with a tiny mic outside of the coat pocket that held the phone.
“We’ve heard about your daughter’s experience at Elk Rock Ranch last year. We’d like your view on it.”
Robin seemed to view it as... beneficial. But a parent could easily get hung up on the damage and pain she went through. And pain and suffering could trip off the tongue of anyone passably familiar with the civil court system, which I would suspect Randall was.
