As had happened in his dream. He was doing the right thing, then.
“Can you stand?”
“I think so.”
Setting her on her feet, he held on to her.
“O-oh, I’m a little dizzy.”
“Someone drugged you.”
“And my stallion. He was so agitated, I was going for help. And then I felt the pain. I tried to see who…” She shook her head. “Whoever knocked me out must have put me in the stall with Dangerous Illusion. The murderer was trying to kill me, too.”
“I fear so.” Exactly what he’d dreaded. Sheelin’s curse simply wouldn’t stop with one woman he loved. He glanced back at Dangerous Illusion, who was settling down. “Let us walk a bit. It will help clear your head.”
“Bernie. He saw me…”
“Saw what?” He headed her for the open barn doors, planned on taking her straight to the SUV to get her to safety, a location where the villain couldn’t find her.
“I stepped on some glass in the aisle and Bernie saw me pick it up. He had this weird expression. I didn’t want to believe it…”
“Believe what?”
“It was a glass straw, Aidan. A pipette used for artificial insemination.”
“What?”
“I think that’s what has been going on in my barn at night. The reason George and Helen were killed. They found out about it.”
To be registered as a Thoroughbred, the foal had to be a product of a live cover. Owners of most other breeds used artificial insemination with their stock, thinking it was safer with thousand-pound-plus horses, but that didn’t apply to Thoroughbreds. If word got out that AI was being done at Clarke Acres, Cat’s business could be ruined.
“And you think Bernie would help someone with the procedure?”
“I don’t know. He never told me he was Martin Bradley’s nephew, and apparently Martin has been pressuring him to do things he didn’t want to do. And then there is the Jack connection. For whatever reason, my ex-husband has it in for me because I kicked him out and dared divorce him.”
“Bradley has been your client all along. Do you think he would be part of a conspiracy against you?”
“I hope not, but someone used that pipette to inject a stallion’s semen into a mare.”
Halfway to the vehicle, Cat stopped and frowned, her expression so intent that Aidan asked, “Are you all right? Do you need help?”
“In catching a murderer.” She went silent for another moment, then said, “I think I just figured things out. I know what happened and why, Aidan. But we have to prove it. The SUV.” She pulled him the rest of the way. “You drive.”
He’d been planning on it. But he’d also been planning on driving far enough from Woodstock to keep her safe.
“We should notify the authorities. Best to tell Detective Pierce what you think you know. Let him handle this.”
“We’re going to find out if I’m right first. If I am, then we’ll make that call. If you don’t want to come, don’t.”
Her tone had shifted subtly and there was a look of distrust in her beautiful hazel eyes. Knowing she would fight him if he tried to get her away from here now, Aidan nodded. As long as he didn’t let her out of his sight, she would be all right. And if she really had figured it all out, they might be able to stop the villain. Or call Pierce, who would. He helped her into the SUV.
“Are you really up to this after being drugged?” he asked.
“My head is clear enough. I’m up to anything I have to do to catch a murderer.”
And he was up to anything he had to do to stop a curse.
* * *
AS HER SENSE OF PURPOSE GREW, Cat felt stronger. She watched the sun sink below the horizon, and their surroundings were cast in deep shadow. “We’re going around to the other side of the forest preserve, which is a bit of a ride, since there aren’t many roads that go through.”
Her memory also returned—all of it. Her conversation with Tim Browne about his sister Pegeen’s death. Aidan’s dreams. His fetching his brother from the airport. All the things he hadn’t told her.
As Aidan turned onto the main road as she’d instructed, he cut into her thoughts. “Are you going to tell me where we’re headed?”
“You don’t like being kept in the dark. Then again, neither do I.”
“You sound angry. With me?”
“Why would I be angry with you, Aidan?”
“I would not know.”
“Because you’ve been nothing but truthful with me, isn’t that right?”
Aidan went silent for a moment before asking, “What is your point, Cat?”
So here it came. Her pulse fluttered and her breath caught in her throat. But she was determined to have it all out in the open.
“Raul told me you’d hired Tim Browne to ride Mac, and I couldn’t figure out why you’d hire an inexperienced jockey, so I went to see him myself. He told me he’d been a jockey for years and that he’d come to Woodstock to face you about his sister Pegeen’s death. Why didn’t you tell me all this on your own?”
“I would have told you. Eventually. I simply was not ready.”
“Why not?” Cat choked back the threat of tears. “Because you’re still in love with her? Or because you feel responsible for her death? Or is it both?”
“If you remember, I told you about Sheelin’s curse on the McKennas, Cat. You did not want to believe me.”
“Because I don’t believe in curses. But you do. Did you dream about me, Aidan?”
Again the silence before he said, “Aye. I dreamt about your being attacked in the barn. About the needle. About your being knocked out with a drug.”
“But you didn’t tell me. Just like you didn’t tell me about Pegeen. Or tell me about Cashel coming in from Ireland today.”
“Cashel? No. ’Twas Tiernan who flew in from South Dakota.”
That threw her. “Tiernan? Why?”
“To stand in for me as Mac’s trainer.”
“And where were you planning on being?”
“Gone. With you. I was going to take you somewhere safe until the murderer was caught.”
“What?” Cat didn’t even know how to respond to that. “Without asking me?”
“For your own good.”
Furious with him, she sank into silence until they got to the turnoff. How could she ever trust Aidan again?
“What happened to you is on my shoulders, Cat, and about that I am sorry.”
Not responding to what she considered half an apology, she guided him to a narrow road and took him onto the farm the back way. Fewer eyes to spot them. Dusk had already settled over the farm, which was a good thing. They could be invisible in the shadows. Having only been on this property once before, she had Aidan proceed carefully and park behind a small barn set a good distance away from the other buildings.
“Let’s hope there’s no night staff around.”
“What are we looking for?” he asked.
“You’ll see in a minute.”
She led the way, taking a back entrance into the barn. It was deadly quiet inside. Even so, she made no noise as she crept forward past the stalls, only three of which were occupied. Aidan shadowed her, and she had to fight not to let his nearness distract her. He’d torn her in two with his deception. She had deep feelings for him, but now she couldn’t be with him again, not with so many half-truths between them.
Hearing low voices, she stopped dead in her tracks and nearly yelped when a hand covered her mouth and Aidan pulled her back into the shadows against him.
“Shh.”
He removed his hand, but she was still pressed against his length. She swallowed hard and ignored the emotions being so close to him stirred up inside her. Instead, she concentrated on the voices that seemed to be moving away from them, getting softer and softer until they faded to nothing.
“They’re gone.”
Aidan let go of her, and she felt the separation like a physical loss.
“What a
re we looking for?” he asked in a whisper.
“You’ll see.”
The back of the barn was an open area the size of four box stalls—a large enough area for stallion sperm collection for artificial insemination. Rubber mats on the floor provided a nonslip surface. There was a door to one side, possibly the entrance to an equipment room.
She tried the handle. “Locked.”
“I wish I could tell you I know how to pick a lock. It’s a pretty flimsy door,” he said, running his hand over it. “Seems to be nothing more than plywood. I would kick it in, but the noise might alert someone.”
“A key would be easier.”
Cat was already feeling above the lintel. Not there. Nor was it under the mat on the floor before the door.
“Some farrier tools.” Stooping over a box, Aidan lifted out a clinch cutter and rot shears.
“What are you going to do with those?”
He echoed her: “You’ll see.” Within a few minutes, he’d cut the wood around the doorknob and lifted it out. Indicating the hole that remained, he said, “My hand is too large.”
Cat was able to put her hand through and unlock it from the inside. “Open Sesame.”
Swinging open the door, she turned on the light and saw that she’d guessed right. Artificial insemination equipment was the proof she’d needed. She noted everything from the AV and microscope to the glass straws and syringes. Using her cell phone, she started taking photos.
“Are you going to tell me where we are now?”
“This is Dean Hill’s farm.”
“I was thinking it would be Bradley’s after what you told me.”
“I did suspect Martin and Bernie at first. I even thought maybe Jack was in on something to ruin me, too. Then when I thought about it, I allowed that Bernie just might have been shocked seeing the pipette in my hand. Suddenly it occurred to me that Martin’s mares hadn’t conceived yet, while Dean’s conceived more quickly than normal. I thought that unusual, but I was too blind to suspect what was going on right under my nose.”
“So you think Hill has been inseminating his mares as an extra measure to make sure they conceived early?”
“Or perhaps at all.” Cat thought about the violence Dean had committed to keep what he was doing secret. “George must have caught him at it.”
“And the vet?”
“I don’t know.” Cat feared Helen had somehow been involved.
“’Tis puzzling how Hill thought he could get away with using another stallion’s semen, when foals are registered using DNA. They would know False Promise wasn’t the stud.”
“Not necessarily. Not if he had semen from a horse with matching DNA.”
“Unlikely that even a full brother would match all the same markers that are tested.”
“But an identical twin would.” The day Aidan had arrived, they’d talked about how Memory of You had broken down as a two-year-old, before he had a chance to make a name for himself.
“So Hill kept the twin?”
“I never thought about it until now. Let’s find out.”
She entered the aisle where several horses were stabled. The stallion would be kept apart from the mares, so she went straight to the far end. There he was, a blood bay with a white star on his forehead.
“I would swear that’s False Promise.”
She shook her head. “Nope. Take a look at his leg. The scars from the surgery after his breakdown.” She pulled out her cell phone and took a couple more photos.
“So now we have proof.”
“Photos. Some of that equipment with fingerprints would be better.”
“Aye. Then let’s fetch the evidence and get out of here.”
As they headed back toward the equipment room, Aidan tried to catch hold of her, but Cat shrugged him away. No matter that he was helping her now, she wouldn’t soon forget his dishonesty.
“Wear gloves so you don’t get your fingerprints on the equipment.”
While he slipped on a pair of latex gloves and lifted the microscope and fluid measuring tools, she went through drawers.
“We should leave.”
“You go, get what you have in the SUV. I’ll be right there. I’m looking to see if he kept records. If I can find them, I’ll bring them.”
“Don’t be long.”
Nothing in the drawers. If there were any records, they had to be on computer. She heard a footfall behind her.
“What did you forget?” she asked without looking up.
“You.”
Her heart lurched when she heard the voice. She whipped around to find Dean Hill blocking the doorway, an uncomfortable-looking Raul a short distance behind him.
* * *
AIDAN HAD JUST PUT THE equipment in the back of the SUV when his cell phone rang. He checked to see who was calling. The screen glowed against the dark.
Pierce.
Loving the irony, he clicked on the call. “Detective Pierce, there’s been an interesting development here.”
“Here, as well, McKenna. We retrieved fingerprints from the inside of the suitcase. Only problem—whoever left them doesn’t have a record. No match comes up.”
“Perhaps we have a match for you, along with the identity of your murderer.”
Aidan quickly explained how Cat had been drugged and left to die and how she’d refused to call Pierce until she’d followed her hunch about the murderer and how they’d found the twin stallion and AI equipment.
“So Cat’s hunch paid off,” Aidan finished. “We’re at Dean Hill’s farm now.”
“Get her out of there and wait someplace safe close by. I can use her expertise to explain all this equipment and such for my report. I’ll call when we’re within arresting distance. I’m on my way now with backup.”
Chapter Twenty
Abandoning any idea of deceiving Dean—Aidan’s cutting the handle out of the door was wickedly obvious—Cat asked, “What were you thinking, Dean? I know you’ve been using artificial insemination on your mares after I bred them with False Promise. No wonder you were having such good luck.”
“Luck? You think it’s good luck to have a champion Thoroughbred force-retired and then, when you want to breed him, he shoots blanks? Do you realize how much money I would have lost in sales and in stud fees? How much standing in the racing community?”
“So you brought False Promise and your broodmares to my barn to do your dirty work?”
“I knew I could bribe Raul to inseminate the mares.”
Cat looked over his shoulder, and to her surprise noted Raul’s discomfort. She turned her focus back to Dean. “And you know that’s fraud.”
“Only if I’m found out.” He pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it at her. “With you gone, no one will know the difference. The DNA will be perfect. As you probably realize by now, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.”
“Even murder.”
“Killing George was difficult. I didn’t plan it. He simply walked in on us and I couldn’t let him tell anyone.” With his free hand, he popped something into his mouth and chewed as he added, “Killing gets easier once you get the hang of it.”
Cat wanted to be sick. This was a man who had a sterling reputation in the racing community, and he would make a fortune off his stud fees and through the sale of his foals, unless she could find a way to stop him.
“So you did mean for me to die earlier?”
“I was trying to make it look like an accident,” he admitted. “Now you’ll simply have to disappear like George did.” He grabbed her by the arm and jerked her toward the far entrance. “Stay here, Raul, and take care of the Irishman.”
Panicked at the thought of Aidan being killed because of her, Cat fought to free herself. “He never did anything to you—”
Dean jerked her silent.
“Hey, I didn’t sign up for no murder,” Raul protested.
“You’re an accessory, Raul.”
Dean kept her marching to the front o
f the barn. His tone verging on manic, he said, “You’ll do whatever is necessary if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life behind bars.”
“What are you going to do with me?” Cat asked, hoping to figure a way out of whatever he had planned for her.
“After what happened to Helen, no one will think of the ravine again.” He shoved her into his truck. “This time we’ll dig deep enough so that no one will ever find you. You and the Irishman will simply disappear, and everyone will think you ran away together because you’re the guilty ones.”
He’d lost it, Cat thought, thinking there had to be a way she could use that to her advantage.
* * *
WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS taking Cat so long? Getting edgier by the second, Aidan decided to go back for her and carry her out to the SUV if need be. Pierce couldn’t get here soon enough to suit him.
As he ran into the barn, he heard a vehicle speed away. He rushed to the main entrance in time to see Hill’s truck drive off down the road. And Cat was in the passenger seat. His gut twisted. By the time he got to the vehicle to follow, they would be long gone.
He had to try to find them. He couldn’t wait for Pierce and his backup.
But when he turned to go back, Raul stood in his path. Aidan’s hands closed into fists as he prepared to fight.
“Get out of my way!”
“You’ll never catch them, not on the road—you’ll be too late,” Raul said to Aidan’s surprise. “A horse’ll get you there faster using the shortcut.”
“Where?”
“The ravine. Cut around the barn straight back through the property and cross the road. When you get into the preserve, go far enough to find the trail. Keep going right.”
Aidan opened the closest stall gate. “Why are you helping me instead of stopping me?” No time to tack up the mare, so he threw his leg over her bare back.
“Ain’t no killer. I helped bury George because the bastard threatened to say I killed him. And I knocked out Miss Clarke the other night so he wouldn’t kill her. Now he got himself another chance at her. He’s lost it. He thinks he can get away with anything. You better hurry.”
Already psychically connecting with the mare, Aidan felt her muscles bunch when he tangled his fingers in her mane and urged her to move off. They rounded the barn and headed straight for the back of the property.
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