“Are you still attending the barn raiser with me?” Walter asked her suddenly.
She glanced at him in surprise, feeling annoyed again. She’d only told him she’d think about it, not that she would.
“I’m sorry Walter, I’m with Jake now and it just wouldn’t be right.” He gave her another hurt look. “I only said I’d think about going with you and as circumstances have changed, I can’t. I’m sure you’ll find someone else to take.” She smiled softly at him, trying to lessen the blow and got into her car. “I’ll see you later,” she called as she shut the door.
Walter watched her drive away, his eyes blazing in anger. Slowly he took his phone from his pocket. Oh yes, he’d find someone else to take. Someone that would raise a whole lot more than a barn! He smiled in smug satisfaction as he found the number he wanted and hit the call button.
*****
Laura was grateful to get back to the ranch that afternoon. She’d been going out of her mind wondering what was taking place and how Charger was doing. She was later than usual, having had to stay behind after the lunch service to sort plans out with Martha for the next day. She raced through the house and out into the stables. Jake was nowhere in sight, but she found Dan and Kerry with Charger.
“How is he?” she asked as she ran up to them, slightly out of breath from her mad dash.
“He’s doing really great, aren’t you boy?” Dan patted the horse on his neck. Charger did indeed look much better. Laura looped her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug of relief.
“You really scared us there for a while,” she told him softly. He whinnied in reply, nuzzling her shoulder gently with his nose.
Jake arrived at that moment, with Bill close behind. His face held a black scowl that would send most people running for cover.
“I don’t get it!” he snapped angrily, waving the list Dan had given him the day before in his face. “Are you sure you got that diagnosis right? We’ve been over this whole place and there isn’t one single plant growing anywhere that looks like any of the ones on your print out.” He flung the paper at Dan.
“Just look at Charger Jake,” Dan pointed out, refusing to be intimidated by Jake’s angry tirade. “If I was wrong, he wouldn’t be standing here now, looking this good. He’d most likely be dead.”
“Then how do you explain the complete absence of any plant that Charger could have consumed?” Jake stood with his legs wide, hands of his hips. “We’ve wasted a whole day on a wild goose chase. Was that the point? You know it’s the barn raising tomorrow. We are way behind schedule for it, after all this. Was it your way of getting back at me for not approving of you and Kerry?”
Dan’s mouth thinned with anger, his eyes blazing. “I take my job very, very seriously Jake. You should know that at least about me. I would not say that this was poisoning if it wasn’t or make you search for something I knew wasn’t there.”
“Could he have eaten it some other way?” Laura asked suddenly, her expression thoughtful.
“Like what? You think he grew wings and flew somewhere else?” Jake snapped. Laura glared at him. He looked immediately contrite. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired. This has been one hell of a few days. What were you thinking?”
Laura huffed slightly, but let it go. She knew he’d been under tremendous strain and didn’t want to add to it. “I was wondering if any of his regular food could have been contaminated. If he didn’t eat it grazing, that is the only other source of sustenance he ingests.”
“Impossible. No company could afford to let something like that get into their supplies,” Bill answered her.
“Unless it was added later,” Dan said thoughtfully. “You might be on to something there. Bill do you have any of Charger’s food still left from yesterday?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. With all this going on, I hadn’t had time to deal with it yet. Wait here, I’ll get it.” He wondered off, coming back shortly with a bag that he dumped at Dan’s feet.
Dan bent down and began to search through the feed. “Ah-ha. You were right Laura. This is where the plant was all along.” He held out his hand in which they could see what looked like chopped up petals and stalks, very finely done, so they wouldn’t be seen unless they were searched for. “I’m sorry to say that this poisoning looks like it was deliberate.”
Silence hung in the air as everyone tried to digest this latest twist. “What the hell does this mean?” Jake hissed, his hands closing into fists. “Someone snuck into my stable and tried to poison my prize horse? Why?”
“We can’t assume that it was just Charger they were after,” Dan said quietly. “We need to call the sheriff and inform him what has happened here. It is possible that someone is targeting horses at random and we need to alert other stables in the area just in case. However, it is also possible that someone is just targeting you. We can’t assume anything.”
“I’ll call Reggie now,” Kerry offered, taking her phone out. She stepped away from the others to talk to the Sheriff. After a brief conversation, she turned back to them. “He’s on his way.”
“We’re going to have to take steps to secure Charger and the other horses,” Jake said to Bill. “Lock up the feed for now and only you or I will have a key. One of us will have to be present when the horses are fed for the time being to ensure nothing can get put into the feed after it leaves the secure area. I know it means extra work for us, but I’m not willing to take any chances.”
“I would check all your feed through first to make sure nothing is already contaminated. We should be grateful none of this was fed to any of the pregnant mares. It would have most definitely killed an unborn baby horse,” Dan told them grimly.
“Do it,” Jake ordered Bill. He nodded and left the group.
“I’d best make a sweep of all the horses to make sure they are all okay. After all, they’ve all been fed today before we realised what was going on.” Dan moved away also, Kerry following him.
Jake opened his arms and Laura fell into them, very much needing to feel his strength around her at this time. “I can’t believe this has happened. It’s like some awful nightmare.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Jake assured her. “I won’t rest until I find out who’s done this. And why.” He was silent a moment before lifting her gaze to his, his finger under her chin. He stared into her eyes. “Thank you for your quick thinking. We may never have worked out where the problem lay without your help. I dread to think what might have happened if we hadn’t found that plant in Charger’s food.”
Laura blushed under his praise. “My mother always used to like reading and watching mysteries,” she confessed. “I used to sit with her for hours reading to her or watching some mystery on TV. I guess some of the ways of thinking a mystery through stuck.”
Jake laughed softly, kissing her gently on her lips. “Thank goodness for your mother.” The sound of a loud cough split them apart, Laura’s face blazing bright red as she turned to see a tall, well-built man in his early fifties. He had dark brown hair streaked with grey at the sides. A thick moustache sat on his upper lip, completely obscuring it. He had a friendly, amiable type of face, until you looked at his steely eyes. They shone with a sharp intelligence that warned any criminal that they had just met their match. It would take a lot to get one over on this man, Laura guessed.
“Came as soon as I got your sister’s call,” he said, his voice deep and gravely. “Care to fill me in?”
Jake talked the sheriff through the events of the previous night, along with what had taken place that day. He showed him the contaminated feed. The sheriff tutted, shaking his head.
“Anyone hold a grudge against you, enough that they’d want to kill your horse?”
“Not that I know of. Dan thinks it may not be just me this madman targets. He’s worried it could happen to other stables nearby.”
“Dan?” The sheriff looked shocked. “He’s here?”
“Dr Willby’s away. I had no choice!” Jake
sounded very defensive even to Laura.
“Now, now,” the sheriff said, patting him on the shoulder. “No need to get tetchy. I’m glad you could put aside your animosity for something so important. Where is he? I’d like to talk to him about this.”
“He’s checking over the other horses to make sure none of them have had any contaminated feed today.” Jake replied gruffly.
“Okay. Connor?” the sheriff raised his voice. A young man came hurrying over from the side of the stable. Laura hadn’t even seen him standing there in the shadows. “This here’s my new deputy. Still breaking him in.” He laughed as if he’d said a great joke. “Bag up some of that stuff as evidence will you, boy. We need to get it analysed and check what we’ve got here.”
The young man eagerly followed his boss’s directions. Dan and Kerry came back over, happy to report no other horses with problems. The sheriff spent some time with Dan, talking through what he knew about the incident. As they were finishing, a grim faced Bill strode over. He held a sack full of feed.
“I found another bag full of poisoned plants.” He slammed the bag down. “This food was heading for our pregnant mares when I intercepted it.”
Laura shuddered. Jake’s face went white. “What the hell is going on here?”
“I will check no other stable is experiencing this kind of problem. Either way, it would seem someone is out to get you Jake. You sure you can’t think of anyone with this kind of grudge?” the sheriff questioned.
“Nope. I’m at a total loss.”
“You’d best take measures to secure your feed. I would suggest you keep a close watch on your horses too. I could use a list of anyone that has access to your stables and food supply. We need to start looking for suspects.”
“That’s just it,” Jake said exasperated. “This place is crawling with people. We are fully booked for the barn raising tomorrow. We have extra staff to work for the event, people from town are coming and going; and the guest cabins are booked solid. There is no security stopping anyone from going anywhere. It could be almost anyone.”
“I would suggest you take extra measures or cancel your event.”
“We can’t cancel!” Kerry protested. “We’d have to refund everyone their tickets and we simply can’t afford to do that.”
“Maybe that’s the point,” the sheriff mused to himself. “The timing certainly fits disrupting the barn raising. Could be someone is trying to put you out of business.”
Jake threw his hands up in bafflement. “Why? All of a sudden this happens out of nowhere. It makes no sense.”
“I can send some men to help secure things at the barn raising, if you want?” the sheriff offered.
“Thanks Reggie, that would be welcome,” Kerry smiled her gratitude.
Before long the sheriff wrapped things up and headed back to town. Dan proclaimed his presence no longer was required.
“I’ll head back home. If you need anything, just call,” he told Kerry.
“Can you come tomorrow?” she pleaded. “I really need you there. Besides, I don’t want anyone else to take me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Dan looked at Jake who stood like an immovable force with his arms crossed over his chest.
“After everything you’ve done for us, I think he can swallow his disapproval this once and let you come,” Kerry spoke to Dan, but her eyes glared at Jake, challenging him to say no.
Laura touched Jake’s arm gently. “Please let him come, Jake. We wouldn’t have saved Charger without him and Kerry would love him to be there. There will be so many people, you won’t notice him. Honest.”
Jake sighed heavily. When had it happened that he’d lost complete control on any decisions? He glanced at Laura’s big green eyes, pleading with him. Oh yes, when he’d fallen in love with a beautiful woman he simply couldn’t say no to.
“Fine,” he growled. “But don’t read anything into it.” This last was said fiercely at Dan before he stomped off.
“I think he’s softening up!” Kerry declared, smiling happily. Dan gave her an incredulous look.
“I agree,” Laura concurred, laughing at Dan’s expression. “If we keep shoving them together, they will be back being friends again in no time.”
“Am I the only one who heard the growl?” Dan asked bewildered. Both women threw their heads back and laughed.
*****
“What are you doing here Flo?” Lotta asked as she appeared before the smaller fairy godmother, who was standing beside Charger, patting him affectionately on his silky head. “We were meant to be moving on to new assignments today. Imagine my surprise when I was informed you were still here.”
“I couldn’t,” Flo announced solemnly. “I came to check one last time after we left the waterfall and I found poor Charger in terrible pain. I couldn’t just leave him. He would have died.”
“You didn’t just magic him better did you?” Lotta asked horrified. “You know we’re not allowed to do that, no matter how much we would want to. It is a serious violation of protocol. You could have your wand snapped in two.”
“No, I didn’t,” Flo assured her. “I just made sure the poison didn’t kill him before Dan could fix him. I would have liked to have fixed him with magic, but it did occur to me that Dan saving Charger’s life might begin to heal the rift between Jake and Dan.”
“Poison?” Lotta asked bewildered, still fixed upon that word, so that she barely registered anything else.
“Someone fed him poison,” Flo said gravely for once her plump face didn’t hold any smile. Even her cheeks seemed less rosy.
“Does he know who fed it to him?” Lotta asked, eyeing Charger with teary eyes. She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt such a wonderful creature.
“No,” Flo said sadly. “I think we ought to stay until things are sorted out, Lotta. Whoever did this may want to hurt anyone of our charges. How can we turn our back on them?”
“But we aren’t meant to get involved with anything past getting our couples to fall in love and start a romance. We’ve done that.” Lotta gazed at Flo’s teary eyes. She looked at Charger, who seemed to plead with her too. Her own heart twisted at the thought of harm coming to any of the dear ones they’d been caring for. She gave up. “Oh alright!”
Flo squealed happily, fluttering off the floor and zipping round the stable, showers of sparkles trailing her. Charger whinnied in delight, stomping his great hooves on the stable floor. Lotta put her face in her hands. They were going to get into so much trouble for this!
Chapter Twelve
The day of the barn raising dawned bright and clear; the sky a beautiful soft powder blue. Laura was up before the first rays of sun cleared the horizon, her workload too big to afford the luxury of a lie in. She’d managed to get most of the preparation done the evening before, when Alfie had turned up with the ingredients Martha had ordered for their spread. He’d stayed until late to help her get things ready so she had less to do that morning. Martha had also sent a large number of containers and plates for the various foods that they would be displaying at their table.
Laura worked hard the whole morning through, barely having time to lift her head from her tasks. She ate her breakfast and a snack on the go, leaving food for the others to consume on the kitchen table, so they wouldn’t bother her. Everyone had tasks to complete before the guests all started arriving early afternoon. It was a busy, stressed out mad dash for completion, everything having been put behind from the day before.
So far nothing new had been reported regarding the poisoning incident. No other sacks had been contaminated and Bill was determined to be on horse duty throughout the day, so Jake could be on hand to host the barn raiser. The small barn had been collapsed the day before, with the specially made sides stored safely to one side. It wasn’t a technically completely accurate way for a barn to be raised, Kerry had told her, but it gave the right feeling and nobody seemed to care. It would have been impossible to raise a barn every year in t
he historically accurate way.
Finally, Laura had everything ready except herself. Kerry bustled in looking stunning in a deep blue dress, her hair done up in the most popular style from the 1800’s. Laura looked at her artfully arranged hair then fingered a strand of her own that hung limply against her cheek where it had come out of her bun. She had no idea how she was going to get her hair to look anything like Kerry’s.
Her friend eyed her with an amused smile. “You are going to have to go and take a shower now,” she insisted, her eyes sparkling with suppressed merriment. “You’re covered in flour and heaven only knows what else.”
Laura grimaced. She could just imagine what a state she must look after so long cooking. “I’m going now,” she grumbled, trudging from the room and heading for the stairs.
“Do you want me to help you dress and do your hair when you’re done?” Kerry offered.
Laura whirled back around, her face shining with gratitude. “Would you? Oh thank you Kerry.”
“You’re welcome,” Kerry laughed. “Just give me a shout when you’re done.”
Before long, Laura was showered and wore most of her old fashioned underwear. She called Kerry, who came to lace her into her corset and help her with her dress. She then sat Laura in the dressing table chair so she could fix her hair.
“How do you feel about today?” Kerry asked Laura as she brushed out her hair.
“I’m nervous,” Laura admitted. “It’s the big day for the diner. We’ve been doing really well all things considered, but this is the event that can put Martha back on the map, so to speak. I really want it to go well.”
“It will,” Kerry assured her. “I’ve seen what you’ve made and have no doubt that people will flock to it. Martha will be raking it in after this.”
“I wish I had your confidence.” Laura smoothed a hand down her stomach, trying to lessen the nervous butterflies that were flying around in it. The closer the grand opening time came, the more ill she felt. “What about you?” she asked Kerry. “Dan’s coming today. You’ll get to have your first occasion as a couple!”
Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) Page 19