by Toni Leland
Kim shook the woman’s hand. And why would my partner even be discussing me with you?
Garrett cleared his throat. “Ms. Barevsky had us all fooled. She is actually working for Interpol, chasing the same bad guys we were.”
Kim sucked in a little breath. “The theft organization? You’re kidding!”
Barevsky smiled. “Not in the slightest. I’m hoping that you and Mr. Quaid will provide some more information to make our case rock solid against Reginald Fortune.”
“Tell me more.”
Garrett interrupted. “He’s been arrested. There’s your closure.”
“Wow, that’s just amazing. So, what kind of information do you still need to put him away forever?”
Barevsky’s brown eyes darkened, all warmth disappearing from her gaze. “Our sources say that some others were involved in the connection here in Ohio. I’m hoping you can provide those names.”
Kim’s breathing slowed. This Interpol agent would have way more information than she and Garrett, so why would she be asking this question? Surely Reggie Fortune had implicated as many people as possible to save his own hide.
Kim returned Barevsky’s gaze. “One of the main players was an international fugitive named William Shank. I’m sure you know about him.”
Barevsky licked her lips and glanced away. “Yes, I understand he was arrested for murder. I believe he was a key player in the U.S. operation. We’re hoping to talk to him too.” She threw a quick glance at Garrett, as though she wished he’d take over. “Who else did you two discover?”
Kim’s radar came on. Something was terribly wrong here. This felt like a fishing trip. Why would an Interpol agent with all the right connections and permissions be asking such basic questions?
“No one, really. Just some horse owners who might or might not have been involved for insurance purposes.”
“Do you know anything about a Jasper Martin?”
Kim carefully controlled her reaction to the question. “No, only that he filed a claim for a valuable horse that was stolen.”
“We’d really like to find him and ask him some questions, so if you learn anything, please give me a call.” She rose from the chair in a single fluid movement. “I really must go now. I have a late flight back to San Francisco.”
Garrett jumped to his feet, mumbling a goodbye as she moved away from the desk. A drift of perfume followed her, and an uneasy feeling crept over Kim as she watched Garrett walk the woman to the door. This visit was no coincidence.
When he came back into the room, a frown creased his forehead. “Big surprise, eh?”
“That’s a bit of an understatement.”
~ ~
Twenty minutes later, they settled at a table in the corner of a neighborhood Italian restaurant. The two-block walk in the brisk air had cleared Kim’s head, but she was still bothered that Barevsky had made a special trip to have this conversation, one that could easily have been handled over the phone or even in an e-mail. Kim thought back to what she knew about the woman. She truly was a well-known acrobat in Ukraine, and had certainly confirmed that with her performances at the horse theater in Chicago. From Kim’s research at the time, she’d learned that Barevsky had suffered some bad publicity and disappeared for a long time. Was that part of her undercover work? And what about the horse brokering she’d done to provide performance horses for the two companies? Was that legit, or just another cover?
Garrett moved his glass aside and shook his head. “You gonna tell me why you were so evasive about Barevsky’s questions?”
“I think she’s a phony. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I’m sure as hell not going to help her.”
“Phony? Jeez, Kovak, she showed me her badge.”
“Did you really look at the credentials? Read them? Do you know for certain that it was a real badge?” Kim shook her head. “Sorry, my law enforcement instincts kicked in somewhere along the line. I mean, look – she was asking questions that she should already have answers to – not chasing down a couple of amateur sleuths.”
Garrett bristled. “I’m not an amateur!”
“Oh, you know what I mean.” He didn’t respond, so she continued. “Listen, that photo she sent you last fall – the one of her and Reggie Fortune – at the time I saw it, I suspected she was involved in the theft ring, but the case was closed, so I didn’t mention it. And, she was a horse broker for high value performance horses. How convenient. Jeez, Garrett, think about it. We don’t know anything about her. Just because she cleans up good doesn’t make her legit.”
“I think you’re overreacting.”
Kim gazed at her dinner date. What a mess. This was supposed to be a special night.
“You know, I’m not really hungry, and we’re not doing too well right now.”
He nodded. “Yeah, she kinda screwed up the evening.”
“We can try again another night.”
Garrett rose and walked with her to the door. “You said you had some news from Arizona. Care to tell me?”
She turned and looked up at the face that had been haunting her dreams for months. She really wanted to fix this, but her own obstinate view would only make it worse. Better just get out of the evening gracefully.
“I found Jasper Martin.”
Chapter 43
Quaid moved file folders around on his desktop, his thoughts far from insurance. In the four days that had passed since the uncomfortable meeting with Barevsky, he hadn’t heard a word from Kim.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “What a mess.”
Several times, he’d started to call her, then changed his mind. She was upset and distracted, again deeply involved in the extraneous aspects of a closed case. His experience with trying to reason with her effectively stopped any further attempts to change her view of the situation. The theft ring case had run its course and he couldn’t see what advantage there might be to continuing to fret about the ones that got away.
And there was still the underlying uneasiness concerning the two of them working together. Granted, she’d only been involved briefly in the Wheeler case, but the expectation was that he would bring her in on a regular basis. Again, he wondered if the whole idea was simply his subconscious desire to keep the connection between the two of them. Would they have any kind of relationship if they didn’t work together? He thought it was possible, but he’d been wrong about women before.
He scooted up to the desk and opened the Wheeler case file. Scanning the latest communication from headquarters, he shook his head. It would take weeks to determine if Vivica Wheeler had intentionally destroyed eight horses for the insurance money. He’d be poring through paperwork until his eyeballs fell out.
He stood up abruptly and pocketed his phone. Time to end the standoff.
“Gail, I’m going out for a while, but I’ll be back before closing time.”
~ ~
Kim pulled her feet up under her on the couch and gazed at Dixie. “I’m really going to miss having you right next door.”
“Yeah, me too, but I’m only moving to Sunbury. We’ll still do stuff together.”
Kim nodded, knowing the words meant little. Since Dixie and Dana had fallen in love, there’d been few times when Dixie was even home, let alone doing girlfriend stuff. Kim fought the selfish thoughts, remembering her vow to be happy for her friend.
“I know. And it’s good that you’ll be closer to your mother too.”
Dixie’s face softened. “Yeah, I guess. She doesn’t even know who I am most of the time.”
Kim’s heart wrenched with sympathy. It was sad enough to lose elderly parents, but to have Alzheimer’s rob them of those last memories seemed almost unbearable.
Dixie reached over and poked Kim’s leg. “So, tell me how you and Garrett are getting along. You haven’t mentioned him in quite a while.”
“We aren’t. Or, at least, whatever was there got lost in translation.”
Dixie’s eyes narrowed and she cocked
her head, waiting.
Kim talked about the disconnect over Barevsky’s visit.
Shaking her head, she muttered, “I can’t believe Garrett didn’t see it too. I mean, he’s a professional investigator – you’d think he’d have zeroed right in on her deception.”
“Being a private investigator and being a cop are two different things, Kim. As police officers, we hone an instinct that doesn’t always rely on nuts-and-bolts proof. We learn to read people, sense their frailties and secrets. Garrett’s skill is tracking down details and making his case from that. I’m sure he has hunches, but I don’t think it’s the same. But I might be wrong.”
She leaned closer. “You should go see him. Try to mend the fences. You’re the one who ended the evening, so you need to make the first move.”
“I don’t have anything to apologize for!”
“I didn’t say apologize – I said open the door for discussion.”
Kim unfolded her legs and sat up. “You’re probably right. I’ll try to do that before I head for Wilmington. I picked up a last minute horse show gig, thank God. I really need the money.”
“Just remember – the more time you let pass, the harder it is to take that first step.”
After Dixie left, Kim pondered the conversation. Exactly what was she going to say to Garrett? In retrospect, the thier evening together had fallen apart as a result of her own irritation over the intrusion of business. She wandered down the hall, wrestling with the thoughts that held no charity whatsoever. In her room, she stopped in front of the full length mirror on the closet door. The woman looking back at her frowned.
Turning quickly, Kim grabbed her jacket off the chair and strode out of the room.
“I’m gonna fix this right now.”
~ ~
Quaid drove slowly up the lane through the condominiums, mulling over how he would start the conversation with Kim. Perhaps it would be best to open with something about the Wheeler case, maybe get Kim involved again in some way. Quaid swallowed hard. That was chicken – he should just start with the personal stuff. Yeah, right.
As he rounded the curve just before Kim’s unit, he took his foot off the gas. Her parking space was empty. So was Dixie’s.
All his optimism disappeared and disappointment crept into his thoughts.
~ ~
Kim pulled into the office parking lot and glanced around. She didn’t see Garrett’s truck, but it might be parked around back. Climbing out of the car, she pulled her jacket closer and took a deep breath. This wouldn’t be easy, but she’d tasted crow before.
A few minutes later, she smiled thinly at Garrett’s assistant. “Okay, well just tell him I stopped by. I’ll talk to him later.”
As she drove away, Kim’s jaw ached. She wanted to talk to him, get the air cleared and tell him why she felt so strongly about the Barevsky thing. Garrett had been skeptical about Kim’s assessment of Jasper Martin, saying that the guy might be a victim, but that he also probably knew more than he was telling. Garrett’s attitude about that had further infuriated Kim and, so, several days had passed without any communication. Dixie was right – this was getting harder with time.
Kim parked in front of her condo and turned off the ignition. She’d just have to call him.
Chapter 44
Kim emptied her camera bag onto the bed where she could check to see that everything was ready for the horse show. One battery was fully charged, the other needed a boost. She plugged the charger into the wall socket and turned back to the bed. Lifting the beautiful Nikon digital camera, feeling its weight and the cool, smooth surface of the case, Kim felt a coil of melancholy circle through her chest. Once, not so long ago, this instrument had been her gateway to freedom, an eye on the world that not only earned her a living, but gave her inspiration. She gazed at her distorted reflection in the lightly curved surface of the lens. A skewed image of a skewed life.
She gently laid the camera back on the quilt and sat down on the edge of the bed. Other than a few off-the-record shots she’d taken at Scottsdale, her equine photography business had languished since the October gig in Chicago, where she’d taken photographs of a new horse ballet theater. Right now, she should be booked well into June and what did she have? A puny winter schooling show on a Sunday.
Miss Kitty leaped silently onto the bed and Kim stroked the silky fur.
“I guess I thought I really would be working with Garrett, making some money in the investigation business.”
The cat blinked and butted her head against Kim’s hand.
Kim stood up. “You’re right. I need to make some things happen.”
Gathering all her equipment back into the black leather bag, Kim mentally ticked off the shows she’d done in the past. Even though it was already late winter, some horse show committees often had trouble getting organized until the last minute. A few phone calls might generate some business.
Settling into her chair in front of the computer, she opened her work database and highlighted the horse shows for the next four months. She also highlighted those farms who’d not had photographs taken for over a year. As she scanned the list, her attention stopped on Shareen’s name and she immediately remembered the awful news of the theft. Had Shareen sent those photos yet? Checking through her e-mail, Kim found the message buried in the “junk” folder. The word “Help!” in the subject line had alerted the computer that the e-mail might be spam. Kim glowered at the screen. Recognized e-mail addresses were supposed to be automatically received, but now, with all the hackers and spammers, the process didn’t always work correctly.
She opened the message and, a second later, let out a soft breath as she gazed at the lovely young animals in the photos. Though they were obviously two-year-olds – with their gangly legs and not-quite-mature heads – the horses were still quite striking. Thinner than most Americans would keep their horses, but clearly in good condition. Of the seven theft victims, five of them were chestnut with minimal white markings. One of the remaining two was an exquisite rose-gray with a dark mane and tail, and the other was a classic bay with black points. Kim composed a contact sheet with all seven photos, printed it out, and laid it aside.
Shareen had included detailed information on each horse, so Kim set about uploading the photos to the Internet missing horses website that she’d found the previous summer while looking for photos of Talisman. As she worked, her thoughts wandered to the meeting with Sophia Barevsky. How would one go about finding out if an Interpol agent was legitimate or phony? Obviously, there wouldn’t be a list of agents posted on the website. Since Kim hadn’t seen the woman’s badge and license, she had no way of knowing if it was real or not. She suspected not, but had nothing on which to base that suspicion other than the seemingly strange questions that Barevsky had asked, and her sharp interest in Jasper Martin.
Kim frowned. Had she overreacted, as Garrett suggested? Had her cop instincts finally abandoned her?
The last photo uploaded to the missing horses database, and she sat back in the chair as her e-mail alert chimed. A message from Quaid Investigative Services appeared in the inbox. She took a deep breath and opened it.
Finalizing the Wheeler case is going to involve going through each piece of paper in each claim file. I could use some help, if you want a little office time. Let me know. –Q
Disappointment filled her head as she responded.
I’d love to, but I’m headed for a horse show tomorrow. If you still need help on Monday, let me know. –Kim
The message disappeared from the screen with a whooshing sound and Kim stared at the blank screen for a few moments, feeling totally in limbo.
Her phone rang and Garrett’s number appeared.
His voice was hesitant. “Hey, it’s me. Monday will be fine – I didn’t know you had a gig.”
“Last minute thing, no big deal, but every little bit helps.”
“I hear ya, and the office work will be a little change in your pocket too. If we can’t find evi
dence in the files that point to Wheeler’s deception, then United Equine has no recourse but to pay. I think a fresh pair of eyes will help me out.” His tone warmed. “So, where’s your horse show?”
“Wilmington, a hunter jumper schooling show.” She sighed. “I’d much rather be over at the barn with Bandit.”
“Won’t be much longer and we can ride outdoors.”
“Oh! Did you find out that Commander can be ridden?”
Garrett chuckled. “Brooks is working on that. We shall see.”
Kim relaxed. The conversation was going well, friendly with no undercurrents of unfinished business. This was probably better than a face-to-face. Should she just let it continue, or try right now to repair the rift between them over the Barevsky thing?
Garrett cleared his throat. “I got to thinking you might be right about that Barevsky woman. If I could connect with someone in law enforcement, they might be able to look her up.”
“Maybe Dixie? Or her friend, Dana?”
“Good idea, I’ll give Dix a call. Haven’t talked to her in ages.”
Kim wondered whether to share Dixie’s news with him, then decided against it. He could find out on his own and, that way, he wouldn’t tune in on Kim’s disappointment over the situation.
As she hung up, she smiled. At least the uncomfortable subject of Sophia Barevsky’s integrity had been laid to rest.
Turning off the computer, Kim looked at the contact sheet with the photos of the missing Egyptian horses. A sick feeling ran through her gut. Much as she despised the black market trade in stolen horses, ending up in someone’s show barn would be far better than the alternative.
Returning to her list of shows and clients, Kim scanned the events first. Many of the winter shows were held in warmer regions, too far to drive. A large Arabian horse show was already underway in Missouri, so that was out. Most of the upcoming shows were one-day events, so it looked as though she’d need to project into the spring months to organize any business. Her attention drifted back to the Missouri event, an A-rated show with important qualifying points. Just the sort of show that Wheeler Arabians would attend. Kim pulled up the Wheeler website and, sure enough, the Missouri show was listed as an upcoming event. Opening Mapquest, she checked the distance from the show grounds in Wilmington to Portland, Indiana. Two hours. No sweat. Especially if the schooling show didn’t last too long.