The last thing 37 year old Kurt Sandridge thought he would be doing when he watched his now 10 year old daughter come into the world back in 1992 was that he would be the girl's prime caregiver before she would be old enough to finish elementary school.
A sales rep. for a Louisville based paint company, Kent's grand plan early on during his marriage with his now ex wife Lisa was that she would be home to raise their daughter Melanie while he took every project that he could to help climb the corporate ladder and make a better life for his young family.
When Lisa began suffering a series of physical ailments combined with her subsequent addiction to prescription pain killers, wine and barbiturates, Kent steadily came to realize his dream marriage and dream life for his only child wasn't going to work out.
A few weeks after Melanie's 6th birthday, Kent served Lisa with divorce papers.
That had been almost 4 years earlier and with the mountain of evidence related to Lisa's dependency and bad health, Kent was awarded primary care over his daughter. One of the conditions over his custody agreement however was that Kent wouldn't be able to take some of the extended business trips he otherwise would have with his company because he needed to be home to look after Melanie on a regular basis. While it certainly halted some of the advancement opportunities within his company, it was a trade Kent gladly made in order to spend time with his daughter and to be there everyday to watch her grow up.
One of the greatest blessings and strokes of luck Kent encountered with his parental agreement was the seemingly never ending supply of teenage girls in his suburban neighborhood who were looking for a way to make extra money babysitting on the rare occasions he did have to stay late at work or go out of town on a short business trip.
One of the girls that had built up Kent, as well as Melanie's trust was a 18 year old named Doreen Campbell. Doreen was the oldest daughter of Bob and Gloria Campbell, Kent's neighbors five doors down.
Kent and Bob had been occasional deer hunting buddies and one late evening upon returning from the woods, Kent had dropped off Bob back at his house and met Doreen. When Doreen's mother had mentioned her then 16 year old daughter was looking for some babysitting work, an instant partnership was struck.
Over the year and a half that she had looked after Melanie, she had developed a rather close bond with the child. A bond that was causing her a very heavy heart that Summer because Doreen knew that she was about to start her Freshman year at college and would have to vacate her treasured role of looking after Kent Sandridge's 10 year old daughter.
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The first thing that struck Kent when he initially met Doreen Campbell was just how much she looked like her Mother. Having been a dutiful and busy single father for the better part of a half decade, Kent's social calendar had all but dried up. There had been a few rare occasions on business trips that he did solicit the use of a prostitute to get him through the night, but when it came to a real date with a real woman, Kent couldn't remember the last time he had that pleasure and burden.
Left to his own devices, Kent kept a keen eye on several of the women who lived in his neighborhood, and Doreen's mother Gloria was one such woman.
And with Doreen, the apple of beauty didn't fall far off the family tree. Doreen had the same long, sandy blonde hair as her Mother to go with the exact same seemingly fluid frame as Gloria. Even though she was still a teenager, Doreen was already a full inch or two taller than her Mother as well.
Doreen also had the same haunting dark blue eyes as her Mom, along with something deeply embedded within them that spoke to a weakness of need that could never be touched.
Those eyes, along with the girl's long blonde hair and neat row of freckles that lined her chest, often kept Kent awake at night, laying in the dark guiltily bathing himself in an innocent fantasy that he would never admit to in the light of day.
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More than any other babysitter Melanie had over her short life, she had bonded with Doreen better than any of them. The close-knit relationship the two girls had forged had thus given Kent Sandridge the option of accepting some of the more lucrative work assignments that required him to travel a little further from home. With Doreen now 18, Kent was even able to take a few overnight trips with the full and utmost confidence that Melanie was in good hands.
Even Kent had began to wax nostalgic a little as that Summer progressed knowing Doreen would be leaving in the Fall to start college and he felt a strange but tangible inner feeling of loss knowing he and Melanie would have to find another regular babysitter.
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In early July of Doreen's final Summer at home, Kent was asked by his boss to fill in and take a coworkers place at a weekend seminar up in Cleveland, which was a solid 4 hour drive from Louisville.
Totally content in the knowledge Melanie would be safe and happy with Doreen as her caretaker for two nights, Kent agreed to take the assignment and left late that Friday afternoon with a totally clear conscience.
After arriving safely in Cleveland and going through the motions of all the stuff he was scheduled to during the Saturday session, Kent was confronted with an interesting dilemma when the people that were putting on the seminar informed the guests that the Sunday session had been cancelled.
Kent's first reaction was ecstatic joy, much the same way a kid feels when he hears that school has been shut down for the day. Knowing he had an entire hotel suite to himself, on the company's credit card, Kent hastily thumbed through his black book for the number of the escort agency he had used in Cleveland several years before on a similar trip.
Halfway through riffling for the number, an overriding sense of guilt swept through Kent's soul.
"You're either too old...or too young to be worrying about getting a hooker for the day...you've got plenty of time to do that when you're 60," Kent told himself apologetically. "You've got a beautiful young daughter at home who you'd love to spend an unexpected Sunday with...why don't you just drive home and get a good nights sleep in your own bed and spend your day off there!"
So with that, Kent quickly packed his overnight bags, checked out and jumped into his rental car at a little after 9 that night and headed for home.
With the help of several cups of really bad convenience store coffee, Kent was able to ward off the scourge of drowsiness until he finally turned the car into his driveway at a little after 1 am Sunday morning.
Kent's senses were immediately jolted when he noticed a strange vehicle blocking in Doreen's car.
"Wonder who in the Hell that is?" he whispered to himself, suddenly more awake than he had been.
Slowly turning his head towards the house, Kent switched off the car's engine while he surveyed his residence for any sign of life.
"All dark...dead as a doornail," he mouthed.
"Remember Kent," a subtle voice of reminder echoed up from the drowsy abyss inside his head. "You told Doreen if she wanted...on these nights you stayed away all night...she could bring a friend of hers over to keep her company...its just one of her friend's cars."
His mind resting better now, safe in the knowledge that there was no one in the house that wasn't supposed to be, Kent fished for his house key as he strode towards the front door.
