The Trouble with Horses

by Susan Y. Tanner

  She sounded indignant, Avery thought, feeling as if she were caught in some nightmare. Carlee was indignant that her father hadn’t been murdered by thugs to keep her from having to do it. Avery felt sickened at the realization that she, a trained professional, had completely missed that Carlee lacked the ability to care about any human, even those closest to her.

  “On top of all that, you and Leanne just keep pouring the ranch resources into rescue horses and then giving them away. That’s not good business. Anyway, it just makes more sense to kill you now that I’ve got it all worked out.”

  “What? What have you got worked out?”

  Carlee looked at her as if she were simple-minded. “Dad calls me for help almost every day. This time I told him to meet me here and I’d help him a little. Unfortunately, he’s going to shoot your horse out from under you and you’ll hit your head on some rock or break your neck or something. I’ll figure that out before we get to the oak grove. I’ll have to kill him trying to save you but, oh so sad, his death will be in vain as you’ll be beyond saving. Your part’s easy. All you have to do is keep riding.”

  Avery looked toward the oak trees growing ever nearer and tried her best to marshal her thoughts. She was alone and without a weapon, but she’d be damned if she’d die without a fight.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ahead of us are the oak trees that I believe to be Carlee’s destination. The site is not ominous in the least, just a small grove with only one very old, very large oak among the several younger ones. However, I remain fearful of what it portends. Nonetheless, I am rather pleased with my human. We’ve managed to arrive ahead of the villainess and our Ms. Gorgeous. Mr. Military has proven himself a man of strength and stamina. Fortunately, we could take a more direct route than the horses though it involved Mr. Military scaling a few fences and fording a few rocky streams.

  Now, Ms. Gorgeous must prove herself a woman of fortitude and ingenuity. I have no doubt that both traits will be needed in the moments ahead if all is not to end in disaster.

  * * *

  Dirks scrambled up the oddly shaped branches of the largest tree behind Trouble, praying that Avery and Carlee were too far distant to discern any real movements around the copse of oaks. His pulse thudded and he recognized the primal fear that gripped him. Avery, his woman, was in peril and every bit of strength and knowledge he could claim might not be enough to save her.

  He watched the approach of the two horses. Avery rode at the front. Carlee followed close behind. The sun glinted on the pistol in Carlee’s hand and Dirks’ gut clenched. He had not been mistaken then. Unlikely as it had seemed, Carlee - not her father - was the threat to Avery’s safety.

  Dirks had a choice to make. Ease the rifle into position and risk a distance shot with Avery riding in front of Carlee or secure the rifle and ensure his pistol was at the ready. Either carried a peril. Any animal was subject to an unexpected movement and young horses particularly so. Once he pulled the trigger, if Avery’s sorrel shifted the slightest in the wrong direction, she could be placed in the path of the bullet he released. Waiting until they were within pistol range would leave Avery at Carlee’s mercy that much longer and he had no way to be sure this small thicket of trees was even their final direction although Trouble had led the way and certainly seemed confident that it was.

  In the end, Dirks decided to trust whatever instinct or knowledge had steered the cat to this spot. The cat had been dead-on so far. Dirks held his breath and eased his pistol from its holster. Sweat that had nothing to do with the heat trickled down his forehead as he watched their slow approach. He sensed, rather than heard, Trouble shift position as the women neared their hiding place and prayed that neither woman would notice. If Avery felt their presence and glanced up, Carlee’s gaze would follow hers and Dirks had no earthly idea how she might react at that point.

  “I don’t see your father.”

  Dirks tensed. Was Craig part of this after all? Dirks couldn’t risk looking around for him. Not now when Avery and Carlee were so close upon the tree where he and Trouble waited.

  “Well, I don’t really need him here right now.” Carlee hesitated, seeming to weigh her options. “Besides, he’s such a loser I can’t even be sure he’ll show up.”

  Dirks saw her grip shift, tighten on the pistol. Avery must have seen it as well. In a move that startled Carlee as much as it did him, Avery kicked her feet free of the stirrups, slapped her mount on the neck and leapt for Carlee’s horse, all in one swift act of desperation.

  Forced to hold his shot, Dirks dropped from the tree, landing hard on his feet just as a yowling black cat dropped from the limb beside him to land squarely on the hip of Carlee’s horse.

  As her panicked mount whirled at the weight of the cat and the feel of claws digging into tender hide, Carlee’s shot went wild and she growled with rage. Before she could fire a second time, Dirks grabbed her arm, dragging her from the horse. She tumbled to the ground, and her pistol fell and discharged again. Dirks could only pray that shot, too, went far wide of any mark. With a rough twist of her shoulder, he pinned her, face down and planted a knee in her back. Only then, with heart still thudding, could he let his gaze find Avery.

  She had landed on her rear a few feet away. For long moments, they simply stared at each other as both horses bolted away from the sound and smell of gunfire and one unleashed black cat.

  That black cat sat guard between Carlee and her pistol and, at this point, Dirks couldn’t be sure the cat wasn’t capable of using it.

  “Get Carlee’s pistol, Avery.” It was all Dirks could trust himself to say for a moment.

  For answer, Avery scrambled to her feet, dusting the back of her jeans. She rubbed the fur between Trouble’s ears before scooping up the gun.

  Only when Dirks saw the pistol secure in her hand, did he ask, “Do you have your cell phone?”

  Avery gestured in the direction the terrified horses had fled. “I’d say it’s about halfway back to the barn.”

  “Then come get mine and call Tucker, then Farley.”

  As she walked toward him, Dirks let himself breathe a sigh of relief. Avery was safe. They’d sort the rest out, but – for now – that was all that was important, all that mattered.

  * * *

  The days came and went and turned into a week and then another. Avery worked and grieved and healed. Dirks had left her with a kiss and a promise that he’d be back but she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She wasn’t sure how she felt about anything. He called her each night, sent her a text each morning and still she didn’t know, wasn’t sure. They’d actually known each other such a short while, a matter of days, really, before it had been time for him to leave. Was that enough?

  “Avery?” At the sound of her name, she glanced over her shoulder. Leanne stood at the entrance of the barn, watching as she ran a brush lovingly over Jack’s gleaming neck. “Ben – Sheriff Farley – drove out to see you. Do you want me to send him in here?

  “No, I’ll come out. I’m done.” She gave Jack a hug and led him back into the stall before slipping the halter from his head. It was the horses, Leanne and Tucker, the ranch itself, the work she believed in, that brought the healing she needed.

  But she missed Dirks. Little as she liked it, as uncomfortable as it made her, she couldn’t deny the fact.

  The sheriff waited beside his truck. He’d placed his hat on the hood and the dry September breeze ruffled his silvering hair. “Avery.” He studied her closely. “You look good. Rested.”

  He’d been present, witnessed as his men had loaded a hand-cuffed Carlee into the back of a patrol car. He’d watched as tears of shock and disbelief had slid down Avery’s cheeks.

  “I’m better,” Avery said, smiling at him, “but I don’t know about rested. It’s been busy around here.” And without Carlee they were short-handed but Avery wasn’t ready to add anyone to their team just yet. Not yet, not this soon. She’d have to eventually, she knew, but bringing someone
into their day-to-day lives was an important choice and they’d make it together, she and Tucker and Leanne.

  “What brings you out this way?” Though she suspected she knew and dreaded to hear.

  “I’ve got news of Carlee. Thought it best to tell you face-to-face.”

  Avery braced herself and waited.

  Ben Farley sighed. “She waived all rights and refused a court-appointed attorney. Told the judge every detail of what she’d done and what she planned to do. And showed no remorse or shame or even a hint of emotion for any of it. It beat all I’ve ever seen, Avery.”

  “But they judged her as insane, right?”

  The sheriff shook his head. “No, Avery, they didn’t. She still might plead for that and might even get it, but for now, she’s moving through the system. She’ll have her day in court before it’s finished, but ...” He sighed. “When it’s all said and done, I expect she’ll get one life sentence for murdering her twin and another for murdering her mother.”

  “I’ll never understand,” Avery whispered.

  “No, ma’am, nor will I. She was a cool one, all along, could have been killed when she rolled that SUV.”

  Avery looked startled. “What do you mean?”

  “There was a witness, a hired heavy on a bike trailing her and thinking it was you, planning who knows what kind of threat to get a payoff for his boss. Dirks put me on to him but it took a while for me to track him down. He was willing enough to talk when I did as long as it was off the record. Said Carlee was alone on the road ahead of him. No one forced her off.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “Crazy business every bit of it,” Ben agreed. “Speaking of which, have you heard anything from her dad?”

  “Craig? No, I haven’t and don’t expect to.”

  “I heard he lit out after Carlee was arrested. Guess he’s still running from his debt, but at least you won’t be bothered over that again. Dirks Hanna and I made enough visits in uniform to be sure of that.”

  “Dirks?”

  Ben looked at her quizzically. “You didn’t know?”

  “Seems like every time I turn around there’s something I don’t know.”

  “Well, looks like I stepped my shoe in it this time, but I’ll leave the explanations to him.” Ben gave her a hug before getting into his truck. “You call if you need me, Avery, any time day or night.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Ben smiled as he closed his door. “I expect you will, at that.”

  She watched the sheriff pull out of the drive before turning back to her work, nearly stepping on the sleek black cat in the process. She scooped him up and rubbed her face against his soft fur. “You saved my life. I’ll never forget that.”

  * * *

  Well, yes, I did. Me and Mr. Military, who is long over-due for return. And that needs to be soon as I’ve been gone from my Tammy Lynn long enough. But though the danger has passed, Ms. Gorgeous is still in need of my attention. She doesn’t wake us both crying out in her sleep now but her dreams are restless and her heart is in need of attention that only a human, and a human who loves her, can give. I’m a poor substitute for Mr. Military but I’m all she has for the moment.

  I’ve tried to spend time with young Tucker as well. He fancied himself in love with Carlee and he has fared poorly these past few weeks. Ms. Gorgeous has tried to comfort him but needs as much as she gives there. Such a pity. I’ve heard the term heartless and perhaps even used it upon occasion, but truly, I don’t think I’d ever before met a human who simply had no heart in the emotional sense of the word. I’d met those with an evil heart but none, like Carlee, where no heart existed at all. Neither heart, nor soul.

  * * *

  It was time to convene a meeting of her team, Avery decided. A month had come and gone since Carlee had exited their lives in a way none could have foreseen. A month since she had seen Dirks. A month to pull herself together. Now it was time to be there, to be present, for her team.

  At the end of the work day, they gathered in her garden. She with a glass of wine, Tucker with a beer, and Leanne with a tumbler of iced tea. Trouble shared the double-glider with her and she kept it moving gently because that was what he liked.

  Avery took a breath and jumped right in. “I’m doubling our part-time barn help. We’ll have one morning, one afternoon student for each barn. I contacted the school and they’re going to send us the applications and resumes of the students who are interested. I’ll need you to look through those. It’s also time to start building the clinic, Tucker. Dr. Snow is planning to retire next summer. He has someone to take on his small animal practice but would like to send his equine clients to you.”

  Tucker looked shell-shocked but only for a moment, before he grinned broadly. It was his first real smile since Carlee’s arrest.

  “Which,” Leanne inserted, “means we’ll need to start looking for someone to manage Barn Two.”

  “It does, yes, and I’ll need both of you heavily invested in that selection process. We’re a team and we’re going to want to bring in someone with that same mindset. I’m also going to begin looking for someone to take over the accounts. I do it well enough, I suppose, but it isn’t what I love and I can’t manage it and my barn as well.”

  Her gaze went to Leanne as she spoke.

  “You already know,” Leanne said accusingly.

  “Perhaps,” Avery admitted, rubbing a hand along Trouble’s back. “But you could tell us.”

  Leanne laughed. “Well, we don’t know the sex but arrival will be mid-March.”

  Tucker hooted. “We’re having a baby? Awesome! Uncle Tucker. Sounds good, right?”

  “It does.” Leanne leaned her head into his shoulder. “Uncle Tucker.”

  “And so ...?” Avery prompted.

  “And so at some point I’ll need to slow down, for a while at least, so I could take over the books then. But we’ll for sure need someone to help you out now and be ready to take my place once the baby is here. I’m not a bookkeeper at heart either.”

  “It will take a bit of juggling but we’ll work it out. I’ll start talking with some of the colleges for prospects as well as place an ad or two in some of the journals we subscribe to.”

  They talked until nearly dark and it felt good to be finally looking forward instead of behind. Leanne drove away home and Tucker drifted back to his bungalow but Avery continued to swing and sip a second glass of wine.

  It seemed almost as if she’d been expecting the headlights that turned into the long drive. Trouble seemed to be as well, purring against her hand but not bothering to come to attention as he eyed the sweep of light along the neat fences before the truck parked.

  Avery stayed where she was, watching as Dirks walked toward her. He stopped, seeming to drink in the sight of her as much as she was of him. He held an envelope toward her.

  “The acceptance of Summer Valley Ranch into the veterans’ equine rehab program.”

  She took it without speaking, turning it in her hand. The program, her acceptance, was still important to her, but not, she thought, as important as this moment. Not nearly as important as this man standing in front of her.

  Searching her eyes with his gaze, Dirks held out his hand to her and she took it. She allowed him to tug her to her feet, and – without hesitation – she stepped into his arms.

  * * *

  Ah, time now, at last, for me to make my way back to my lovely Tammy Lynn. I can leave here with a good conscience, knowing that I leave the security of Summer Valley Ranch in the very capable hands of my resourceful Avery Wilson and one Mr. Military.

  Turning for Trouble

  Book Two

  Chapter One

  I will own up - if I must - to being a bit of a romantic at heart. Perhaps more than a bit. Even so, never think that small flaw in any way undermines my inherent ability to solve any mystery placed in my path. I am, after all, my father’s son. My sire, the wondrous Familiar, passed on to me his ability to dis
cern between fact and fiction, to detect truths however skillfully buried amongst untruths. These are no small traits and are essential to my stock-in-trade of master detective.

  June has long been touted as the premier wedding month but no one could find fault in this flawless October day. And I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a bride more lovely than our Ms. Gorgeous, the intrepid Avery Wilson, momentarily to become Avery Hanna. The name has a nice ring to it and I will accept some accolades as to having ensured the likelihood of a happy outcome for the bride and groom. But that was another day and another story for my memoirs.

  It’s good to be at Summer Valley Ranch once more and without ominous clouds of danger hanging overhead. Good, too, that the sweltering humidity of summer in Alabama has been swept away on the dry, crisp breezes of earliest autumn. Now, with the afternoon fading to evening, the fairy lights twinkle to life in the soft twilight.

  And there! The deed is done. The knot is tied. Let the party commence! I shall celebrate in my own way. As the humans twirl around a dance floor constructed for that purpose, I will indulge in the fact that Ms. Gorgeous has instructed the waiters at every food station to ensure I’m given a sampling – and more if I desire! – of each of their savory offerings.

  * * *

  Cade Delaney watched the wedding couple as they danced. The bride was radiant, looking half her age and spinning in the arms of her handsome groom as if she were a teenager. The throng around him ebbed and surged trying to get a better glimpse of the two and Cade stepped back. His height gave him an advantage some didn’t have.