Horse Sense (Dunbarton Mysteries Book 2)

by Valerie Tate

  “Hi, Janey, how are you doing?”

  The young girl still looked a little pale.

  “Hi, Mrs. Mallory. I’m OK, thanks.”

  “Call me Ali. I’m glad to hear that. It has been a horrific experience for everyone here.”

  Alicia felt guilty at having brought the subject up when she saw tears start to well up in Janey’s eyes. “You were very fond of Dean, weren’t you.”

  Janey nodded and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. “We all were. He was a great guy. Always making us laugh. I just can’t believe he did what they say he did.”

  “Did he seem down or upset that day?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “Did anything happen that morning that might have caused him to take his life?”

  “Nothing. It was just an ordinary day. Jon, Dr. Allardyce, was out doing farm calls. Brooke and I were doing the stalls. Marci and Claire were doing some work in the lab.”

  “What about Dean? What was he doing?”

  “He had helped in the lab and then Marci said there was a lump on Panda’s leg. Panda is a mare that’s in for breeding. Anyway, Marci said Dean should put some cortisone on the lump to try and bring it down. He looked at it and said it seemed pretty old and set but she said to give it a try anyway and so he did. Then Marcy left for a time and when she came back, she had brought in deli meats and buns and salads as a surprise and when Jon came back we all had lunch together. It was Dean’s afternoon off so when he finished eating he went back to his apartment. The rest of us finished eating and then Jon and Marci and Claire had an appointment to show a prospective client around and Brooke and I started bringing in the horses.”

  “Did Dean say what he was going to do?”

  “Yes, he said he was going to get cleaned up and then call his girlfriend and see if she wanted to do something.

  “After he left, Marci remembered that they were going to be collecting Woody in the morning and she asked me to call and remind Dean, so I did.”

  The tears began to well up again. Alicia put her arm around her shoulders.

  “How awful for you all. And for his girlfriend, too. Do you know her?” she asked, hating herself for pumping Janey like that when she was obviously so upset, but she couldn’t miss the opportunity to learn all she could about Dean.

  “Yes, her name’s Chelsea Lee. She lives in Aurora,” a town about thirty minutes away. “Dean invited Brenda and me to a party they gave at her place a couple of months ago. She’s really nice. She must be so upset!”

  Janey took up her shavings fork and went back to mucking.

  “Can you give me her address? I’d like to send her some flowers,” Alicia added, thinking fast.

  Janey didn’t seem to think it odd that she wanted to send flowers to a complete stranger. “Sure, I’ll get some paper and write it down for you.”

  In the office, the faces opposite Chris and Alex were pale and strained. Dr. Allardyce, motioned for them to take a seat.

  “First, let me say how very sorry we are about Dean,” Chris began in all honesty. “This is a terrible tragedy.”

  Jon nodded brusquely. “Thank you. We still can’t believe it.” Marci and Claire, stood on either side of the vet, saying nothing.

  Chris proceeded cautiously, “When we talked before, you said it was impossible for the exchange to have occurred here because of the systems you have in place.”

  Jon’s face took on a pained expression. “I certainly thought so.”

  “And yet, it seems that there is evidence that Dean might have been involved.”

  “‘Might have been involved?’ He left a note!” Marci interjected in frustration. “He all but admitted it, right?” She looked to Claire for confirmation. The latter nodded, but Chris noticed she wouldn’t meet her friend’s eyes.

  Jon looked angrily at his wife. “I believe the note was not specific,” he said icily. “We are sorry about all of this turmoil, Alex, but we will wait for the results of the police investigation into Dean’s death. It is my opinion that the clinic will be absolved of responsibility whatever those results are.”

  Privately, Chris thought differently but said nothing. That could wait for another time when and if they decided to bring legal proceedings against the clinic.

  On the way back to the farm, they shared the information they had gleaned. When Alicia related what she had learned, Chris whistled and shook his head while Alex just looked at her in awe.

  After some debate, they decided to drive straight to Chelsea Lee’s house in an older part of Aurora, pulling into the drive about a half an hour later. Chelsea answered the door of the sprawling bungalow clutching a photo of herself and Dean, her eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears. Seeing the grief plainly etched on the girl’s face, Alicia felt a moment of shame for the callous disregard they were displaying but it was too late to back out. Once again, detective fervour had over-ridden good sense and in this case, common decency.

  Apologizing for bothering her at such an unhappy time, they introduced themselves, and explained about the missing straw. As it turned out, Chelsea already knew about it because the police had questioned her shortly after Dean’s death. She related what she had told them, that he had called her that morning to ask if she was free that afternoon but she had plans to go shopping with her girlfriends. He said he would call her that evening, but he didn’t and when she called him she got his voice mail. She never spoke with him again.

  “I just can’t believe he committed suicide,” she declared, clasping the photo to her chest and wiping away fresh tears. “He was happy. He had a dream and he was working hard to make that dream come true.”

  “Dean told us about wanting to be a Show Jumper,” Alex said quietly, “and how he couldn’t afford it for now but was saving his money to buy a young prospect.”

  “Yes. He was saving every cent he made for that. He knew it might take a while but he didn’t care.

  “I was lucky,” Chelsea explained over coffee. “My mom rode, still does. She bought me my first pony when I was 3. I was competing in the Short Stirrup Division by the time I was 6. My parents paid to keep me in horses until I graduated from university and got a job. Now I’m a teacher. I make a good salary and I can afford to keep my horse at a nice training barn and go to shows.

  “Dean’s parents couldn’t afford to pay for lessons for him so he got jobs working at riding stables in exchange for lessons. He was a good student and he worked hard. He worked his way up to grooming at an A Circuit barn where he got to ride and show. But he knew if he kept working as a groom, he would never be able to afford a really good horse and all of the expenses of showing, so he quit and went to school. He wasn’t bitter or resentful, just determined.

  “He saved every penny to someday buy a promising youngster. When we went out, it was Dutch and we went to Swiss Chalet or Pizza Hut. It didn’t matter where we went so long as we were together.”

  Her eyes were welling up again. “I don’t believe he would kill himself! He had dreams and plans and he loved his family.”

  Chris had to ask, “Do you think he would have stolen the semen?”

  “I know he was supposed to have left a note saying he did and I know he needed the money but I don’t believe it. It was totally out of character. And besides, how could he have done it? It wasn’t his job to handle the semen or do the inseminations. He couldn’t sneak a mare in for breeding and if he used or sold the straw or exchanged it for a different one, someone would have noticed. He just didn’t have the opportunity.”

  It always came back to the same thing, they decided on the drive back. Opportunity.

  Alex was adamant. “It was Jon who accepted delivery and signed for it, Jon who thawed and loaded it in the syringe and Jon who conducted the insemination. He, Marci and Claire were the only ones who ever managed the straws. It must have been the one of them who made the switch. My money’s on Jon.”

  Alicia wasn’t convinced. “Everyone says Dean wouldn’t have had the op
portunity to make the switch, but if we could get in and search the office, he could certainly get into the lab and switch the labels on the straws.”

  Alex didn’t buy it. “How would he transport it to a buyer? Surely they’d miss a liquid nitrogen tank. I still think it would have to be Jon, and Marci would have been in on it, too, you can bet.”

  They continued the discussion over dinner that evening. They couldn’t leave it alone. It haunted them.

  “If Dean didn’t take it, then why suicide? And what did the note mean?” Alicia asked for the umpteenth time.

  “It must be suicide. There are no suspects that don’t have an alibi!” Chris numbered the suspects on his fingers. “Jon, Marci and Claire were showing the potential client around the lab. Janey and Brenda were bringing in the horses. Chelsea was shopping with friends. And everyone says Dean was the nicest guy in the world with no enemies.”

  “Unless Dean had a whole other life we know nothing about, there is no one left who could have killed him!” Alicia’s frustration had reached a peak.

  “And don’t forget, he was a pretty big guy – muscular and fit. It would have taken someone strong to overpower him and Detective Parker said there was no sign of a struggle.” Chris added another nail in the coffin of their investigation.

  “And no other injuries to the body.” Alex made it air-tight.

  Alicia searched for another explanation but the conflicting facts just whirled around in her brain, refusing to reveal the truth. “It must have been suicide which means he must have stolen the straw and yet it makes no sense!”

  “You know, people sometimes do things, on the spur of the moment, that are totally out of character. Someone sees an opportunity and without thinking of the consequences, grabs it and then later when they realize what they’ve done, feel terrible guilt. Perhaps Dean saw a chance to make a lot of money and took it and then felt remorse afterwards.” Even as he said it, Chris still had trouble believing it.

  “I can see that happening, but I can’t see someone killing himself over it. Own up, make amends. But commit suicide? It just seems wrong.” Alicia was still unwilling to accept the idea.

  Chris wasn’t so sure. “Suicide always feels wrong to the ones left behind. We can’t know how he felt. Perhaps he thought he’d ruined his life and that he couldn’t face his family and friends. He would lose his job and maybe even his career. His dream was dead. He might even have to go to jail.”

  As reluctant as Alicia was to admit it, he was making sense. “Well now you’re really depressing me,” she said, downcast.

  Alex agreed. “If I had ever thought that something like this could happen, I would never have asked you two to look into it. I would infinitely prefer to have taken the loss than to have that young man lose his life.”

  Chris could see they were drifting dangerously close to maudlin, which is well on the way to self-flagellation.

  “You could not have foreseen this. We are not responsible for that young man’s death! Sometimes people make mistakes that affect the rest of their lives. They have no one but themselves to blame. If Dean made a mistake that for whatever reason he couldn’t live with, we are not responsible for that.”

  “Which brings us right back to the question, ‘if’ he did it.” Alex was like a terrier with a bone. And Marci was the bone.

  Chapter 14

  They were all in the barn the next morning with the call came from Connie. Alicia had finished her lesson and had bathed Harley who was standing under the heat lamps to dry before being turned out.

  “They’re certain?” Chris asked. “There’s no possibility of a mistake? Thanks, Connie. Sure, I’ll let you know what happens.”

  “Well?” Ali asked eagerly as he put the phone back in his pocket.

  Two pairs of eyes were fixed on his, anxiously awaiting his reply.

  “The mare is definitely the foal’s dam… but the stallion is definitely not his sire!”

  “Whoopee!” Two voices shrieked in ecstatic unison, ignoring the first rule of the barn, no loud noises around the horses. It startled Harley who had been half-asleep in the warmth of the over-head lamp. He immediately went on the alert- head raised, eyes wide, nostrils flared - looking for the lurking danger he was certain threatened them.

  “I just knew it!” Alex exclaimed, giving a little hop of pure happiness and then had to stop and quiet the snorting horse who was now positive that there was some unseen menace that had to be stomped out.

  “The sire is a stallion named Rohdiamant.” Chris continued when they had calmed the skittish horse.

  “That’s who Pat Middleton used!” Alex had to stop herself from repeating the hop. “Remember, I told you how she had to send for more semen because her mare just wouldn’t take. I’d say we know what happened to all that extra semen she had to buy!”

  As they walked Harley to his paddock, Alicia was thinking about their uninvited tour of the office at King Valley. “Do you still have that list you photocopied in Jon’s office? I have an idea.”

  Back at the house, Alex retrieved the list and gave it to Alicia.

  “I thought so. You see, Rohdiamant is on this list with a 3 beside his name. The 3 has been crossed out and replaced with a 2. I’ll bet the 3 refers to the number of straws they had stored in their tanks and the one that is crossed out is the one that they used on Marci’s mare.”

  “And that means there should be two more straws in storage! We’ve got them! Now we can go to the police!” Alex could hardly contain her excitement.

  Chris shook his head, hating to disappoint them. “And tell them what? What have we got? Still nothing but gossip and suspicions not to mention DNA results obtained by illegal trespass. Sure, they may have stolen the Rohdiamant semen. But maybe they paid for it and all they are guilty of is misrepresentation.”

  “But why would they do that?” Alex asked, frustrated.

  “Possibly to get people to breed to Marci’s Stallion. Janey said his foals are so gorgeous that people will use him anyway. It would help if we knew whether they had paid for the semen. If they haven’t, then we would know for certain that they are committing both theft and fraud and it would certainly indicate that they were the ones who had stolen your straw.”

  “I can find that out,” Alex said. “I’ll e-mail Deiter and ask him to contact the agent for Rohdiamant breedings. There’ll be a record of who they sold semen to. If Jon and Marci got it legitimately, they’ll know.”

  “And if they haven’t bought it, I think I have a way to get evidence we can take to the police.” As much as they pressed her, Alicia wouldn’t say any more.

  It didn’t take long for Dieter to confirm that no Rohdiamant semen had ever been sold to Jon or Marci or King Valley Breeding but there were records that it had been shipped there for other clients. He also added that the agent in Germany would be very interested in any information they might discover that suggested semen was being used for illegal breedings.

  With that confirmation, Alex turned to Alicia and asked, “So what’s your plan?”

  Alicia sat back in her chair and smiled like a cat who just caught the canary smile. “I call it The Sting!” she said, and then hummed a few barns of The Entertainer.

  When he heard the plan, Chris couldn’t decide if it was brilliant or if Alicia had been watching too many cop shows.

  It was really very simple. “We need someone who is willing to go to Jon and Marci and pretend to want to acquire some frozen semen from them, no questions asked. I thought perhaps the friend of a friend you mentioned who had turned down the Rohdiamant semen Marci had offered would be willing to ‘reconsider’ her decision to turn it down. If they agree to do the insemination then we have hard evidence that they are committing fraud that we can take to Detective Parker!” Alicia looked triumphantly from Chris to Alex, waiting for the accolades. Alex didn’t disappoint.

  “Brilliant! I’ll go and call my friend right away and ask her to call her friend.” She stopped in mid-stride. “
What do we do if her friend says no?”

  “Plan B. Same scenario but with a different pretend mark.” This time she looked a little dubiously at Chris. “ I was thinking about Connie.”

  “Connie? Why?”

  “Well, she’s a vet so she would know all the right things to say and she already knows what’s going on. Since she is new to the profession and working in Uxbridge, there is little chance that Jon or Marci would know her.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair in a gesture that Alicia knew meant extreme conflict and then said, “OK, but only as a last resort. I would rather she wasn’t any more involved in this than she already is. I wouldn’t want to endanger her career if this blows up in our faces.”

  They agreed and Alex phoned her friend who in turn phoned her friend who, after hearing from Alex, was thrilled to be asked to be part of a sting and it was on. Rosalind Clark (Rosie to her friends) called Marci immediately and told her she had changed her mind about buying the Rohdiamant semen from them. Marci assured her that she wouldn’t be disappointed in the decision and quickly arranged to have her mare shipped to King Valley the following day for a breeding exam since she was due to go into estrus within a couple of days.

  Hearing this, Alex turned to Chris. “Now can we call the police?!”

  He nodded. “Now we call the police!”

  Detective Parker looked decidedly stony when, while sitting in Alex’s living room later that day, he heard about illegal search and clandestine trespass but forgot about his disapproval when he learned the results of the DNA testing and of Marci’s agreement to sell Rosie the semen.

  “Samuel said you were ‘useful’,” he said looking at them speculatively and then turned to Rosie. “Mrs. Clark, you’re sure you are comfortable doing this?”

  Rosie, eyes bright with excitement, assured him she was.

  “Then we will fit you up with a microphone on the day they are going to do the…”

  “Insemination,” Alex finished for him.

  He smiled sheepishly. “Yes, just so. We’ll be waiting on the road by the entrance. Once they have shown you the straws and are ready to do the, er… “