by Alison Hart
Grandfather shrugged, although only one shoulder was able to move. She touched his cheek. His face was pale with exhaustion.
“Hey, that’s enough for today. I don’t want to wear you out completely,” she said, patting his arm. Someone had dressed him in a short-sleeved dress shirt and polyester slacks. Ever since she could remember, he’d worn jeans hitched up with suspenders and a long-sleeved denim shirt.
“I need to bring you some work clothes,” she said. “That’ll make you feel more like your old self.”
He nodded in agreement. “Tell me ow you are.”
“I’m okay. Miss Hahn, my foster parent, runs this farm for rescued horses,” she said, choosing her words carefully. She didn’t want to scare her grandfather with her suspicions about Miss Hahn and Hugh. “Yesterday, we went to a killer auction and bought a horse. I’m supposed to work with him as part of my probation agreement.”
Jas’s voice rose in excitement as she talked about the big horse. “I named him Shadow, because he likes to hide in dark corners. You wouldn’t believe what a mess he is, nothing like Whirlwind or Hugh’s other horses.”
She told her grandfather about spotting Shadow and realizing he had the same illness as Pocomo Pete. Then she went on to tell him how the horse was so weak that they practically had to lift him into the trailer.
“Chase, a boy who works at the farm, he and I had to link hands behind Shadow’s hindquarters and push him into the trailer while Miss Hahn pulled. We finally got him back to the farm, and tomorrow Miss Hahn’s vet will be in to examine him and—”
“Miss Schuler?” a voice cut in.
Jas turned. A nurse with a friendly smile had come up beside Grandfather’s wheelchair. “Dr. Bindera would like to speak to you now. Besides, it’s time for your grandfather’s nap.”
“Oh, right.” Jas glanced back at her grandfather. His eyelids were drooping. “I think I wore him out.”
“No, you relieved his anxiety. He’s been very worried about you. And now that he’s seen you, I think he’ll be able to relax and concentrate on his therapy. We need to get him up and walking.”
Jas stood up. Grandfather’s chin had dropped to his chest and he was snoring softly. She touched his hand one last time, then followed the nurse into the hall.
Jas tensed up when she saw Miss Hahn sitting in the office with Dr. Bindera.
On the drive over, Miss Hahn had asked Jas if she could listen in on the conversation with the doctor, explaining that she’d gone through the same thing with her mother. Jas hesitantly answered yes. She might be able to take care of herself, but she knew she couldn’t take care of her grandfather. She didn’t know the first thing about nursing homes or strokes.
But after catching Miss Hahn listening in on her conversation with her grandfather, Jas wasn’t sure if she wanted anything from this woman.
“Your grandfather is doing well, Miss Schuler,” Dr. Bindera, a plump woman with pitch-black hair, said, gesturing to a chair. “He’s very determined, and his previous strength and good health have given him an edge in recovery. Plus, his mind was not affected by the stroke, so he was lucky.”
“Good.” Jas sat down, her hands clasped in her lap. “How long will he have to stay here?”
“That’s hard to say. It depends on his progress. His left side suffered quite a bit of paralysis. Since he is right-handed it won’t affect him quite as much. We will continue working daily on his speech and strength.”
“I guess that’s good news.” Jas hoped the doctor was being straightforward with her. If she was, then it sounded as if Grandfather was getting excellent care. Hugh had kept his end of the deal. When they left the nursing home five minutes later, Miss Hahn asked, “Did you have a nice visit with your grandfather?”
“You should know,” Jas retorted.
Miss Hahn stopped in the middle of the parking lot. “Pardon me?” she asked.
Jas shot her an angry look. She couldn’t believe the woman was going to pretend she hadn’t been eavesdropping. “Never mind.” Striding ahead, Jas yanked open the car door and slid into the seat. She wasn’t going to say another word. She wasn’t going to give Miss Hahn anything more to tell Hugh.
“Dr. Bindera seemed very competent,” Miss Hahn said a few minutes later as she started the car. “Speaking of doctors, Dr. Danvers will be at the farm tomorrow afternoon to check Shadow.”
“Dr. Danvers?” Jas repeated, turning to face her.
“Yes, he’s the farm’s veterinarian. He donates quite a bit of his time.”
Jas’s heart thumped excitedly. She couldn’t believe her luck.
“Shadow will have to stay in quarantine until Dr. Danvers gives him a clean bill of health,” Miss Hahn went on.
But Jas wasn’t listening. She was thinking about Dr. Danvers. She had been wondering how she was going to contact the vet. Calling him up to ask him questions about Whirlwind would seem too suspicious.
But now he was coming to Second Chance Farm, and all Jas had to do was just happen to mention Whirlwind. That would definitely appear pretty normal.
Jas wanted to grin, but she didn’t dare. Miss Hahn might figure something was up. This could just be the break she needed to find out why Hugh had killed Whirlwind.
Twelve
“YOU WERE RIGHT, JAS,” DR. DANVERS SAID AS he capped the vial of blood and stuck it in the pocket of his coveralls. “This horse acts just like Pocomo Pete’s twin. The blood tests will tell us for sure if he has a thyroid condition. Until then, I’m starting him on the treatment anyway.”
“Great.” Jas stroked Shadow’s neck. He hadn’t moved during the entire examination, even when Danvers pushed the needle into his neck. In fact, he was so listless that Jas was beginning to worry. Even a crisp, sweet-smelling section of alfalfa hay hadn’t tempted his appetite.
“How old is he?” Jas asked. At the auction, Miss Hahn had checked his teeth and guessed his age at twelve.
“About twelve or thirteen. He’s no spring chicken, but definitely young enough to bounce back.”
Unsnapping the lead line from Shadow’s halter, Jas followed Danvers out of the stall, almost running over Chase, who’d been hovering in the aisle. All afternoon, he’d hung around the vet, just like Tilly would tag after Miss Hahn.
Dr. Danvers walked down to Ruffles’s stall, Chase trotting beside him. “So what’s wrong with the big guy?” he asked.
“We’ll know when the blood test comes back. It will be determined by how much of the hormone thyroxin is present in the bloodstream,” Danvers explained to Chase, who bobbed his head as he hung on every word.
Opening the stall door, Danvers went in to check on Ruffles. Jas couldn’t believe the change in the Morgan horse in just one week. His ears pricked eagerly when someone came in the stall, and his ribs didn’t stick out quite so much.
“Looks good,” Danvers said as he inspected the wound on the Morgan horse’s back. “Healed completely. Tomorrow, you can start turning him out for about an hour each day. Alone, of course.”
“All right!” Chase slapped Ruffles fondly on the neck.
Oh, go away, Chase, Jas fumed to herself, impatient to talk to Danvers alone.
“How about corn oil in Shadow’s grain?” Jas asked when the vet left the stall.
Dr. Danvers nodded. “Couldn’t hurt. He needs the extra fat, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe we could try him on some grass,” Chase suggested. “That might get him to eat.”
“Good idea!” Jas thrust the lead line in his hand. “Why don’t you turn him out in one of the paddocks? It’s almost six, so it’s cool enough.”
Chase cocked one brow.
“Ple-ease,” Jas pleaded.
“All right.” When Chase went into the stall to get Shadow, Jas hurried after Danvers, who was headed to his truck parked outside the barn.
“Dr. Danvers,” Jas puffed as she caught up with him.
Turning, he handed her a bottle filled with some sort of powder. “Two scoo
ps in his grain. The corn oil might help mask the taste.”
“Thanks.”
“Shadow should thank you,” Danvers said as he wrote the horse’s name on a piece of paper. “For saving him from the killers.”
“For that, he needs to thank Miss Hahn.”
At the mention of her name, Danvers’s eyes slid to the office. “Yes, Diane’s pretty remarkable,” he said, a strangely soft expression on his weather-beaten face.
Jas’s eyes widened, and she followed his gaze toward the office. Did Danvers have a crush on Miss Hahn?
She glanced back at the vet. They were about the same age. And neither was married …
Nah. Jas quickly dismissed the idea. The two were too old to be romantic, and Miss Hahn and her baggy overalls were hardly an irresistible sight. “Dr. Danvers.” Jas went around to the back of the truck, realizing she’d better hurry if she was going to ask him about Whirlwind. Not only was he ready to leave, but at six she had to be back in the house for lockdown. “Can I ask you some questions …” Jas hesitated, then blurted out, “about Whirlwind?”
“Ummm.” He paused for a second. “I would have been surprised if you hadn’t,” he finally said. “I know her death was hard on everybody.”
“Yes,” Jas whispered as the memory of the whole awful afternoon came rushing back. She pressed her fingers to her eyelids, hoping to shut out the image of Whirlwind lying dead in the paddock.
Dr. Danvers gave her his full attention. “What did you want to ask me?”
Jas dropped her hands. “Did the yew kill her?”
“Yes. The blood test confirmed it, though technically it was the convulsions caused by ingesting the plant that killed her. Her intestines twisted and …”
Jas held up both hands. “Please stop.” Her eyes blurred. “I don’t want to hear how she suffered.”
Danvers put a comforting arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jas. I’m sorry for everything.”
She nodded silently. He handed her a tissue from the truck, and she blew her nose.
“How are the foals?” she asked when she finally collected herself. “And how’s Old Sam? Is his arthritis acting up? I haven’t been back to the farm. Well, I guess you already knew that,” she added, feeling a rush of embarrassment.
He must know everything, she realized. Hugh had probably told him the whole story.
Dropping his arm from her shoulder, Danvers turned away. “I don’t know, Jas. I haven’t been back to the farm, either.”
“Why not?”
“Hugh’s using a new vet.”
Jas caught her breath. That didn’t make sense. Danvers was the best in the area. “Why?”
“Well, part of it’s my fault. I’ve just been so busy. And you know, Hugh, he likes VIP treatment.” He smiled at Jas, but she thought it seemed forced. “If Hugh or Phil calls, the new vet drops everything and rushes out there. Then Hugh wanted me to put Sam to sleep, and I refused.”
“Put Sam to sleep!” Jas gasped. “But he can’t. Sam’s Grandfather’s dog.”
“That’s what I told him. Hugh said if I wasn’t going to do it, he’d get a vet who would.”
He started to pile boxes of worm medicine in Jas’s arms. “Diane said she needed to worm five horses.”
As if in a trance, Jas hugged the boxes. “Was there any other reason why you left?”
Danvers leveled a stern gaze at her. “I’m sorry, Jas. I can’t discuss my business with you.” Closing the cab of the truck, he walked around to the passenger side.
“Why? Because I’m just a kid?” Jas jogged after him. “Or because you know something about Whirlwind’s death!”
Opening the truck door, Danvers slid into the front seat, then turned to face her. “I signed the death certificate stating Whirlwind died from complications of poisoning. I wasn’t there when she died, so I don’t know what else might have happened.”
“But you don’t believe Hugh’s story about Grandfather accidentally putting the yew in Whirlwind’s paddock, do you?” Jas insisted.
“Let’s just say I think your grandfather is one of the finest men I know.”
Jas caught the door handle so he couldn’t close it. “Then tell me one more thing,” she pressed. “If Grandfather didn’t put the yew in there, who did?”
Danvers’s bushy brows dipped in a frown. “That’s enough, Jas. I already told you I wasn’t discussing this with you, which means I’m certainly not going to go around accusing anyone.” He pointed a finger at her. “And neither should you,” he added sternly as he turned and started the truck.
Jas stepped back, and he slammed the door shut. When he wheeled the truck around, she noticed Miss Hahn standing in the office doorway, watching. Miss Hahn waved at Danvers when the truck drove past, then looked curiously at Jas before ducking back into the office.
Spying again, Jas thought. At least she was too far away to hear what they had said.
When the truck disappeared from sight, Jas exhaled in frustration. She hadn’t learned anything from their conversation. She knew exactly what she’d already known—that Grandfather hadn’t killed Whirlwind.
Scuffing the toes of her sneakers in the dirt, she walked slowly back to the barn. She stuck the worm medicine on the shelf in the feed room, then went out to the paddock. Shadow was cropping indifferently at the grass, ignoring the chickens who milled around his legs eating crickets.
Jas couldn’t believe the horse didn’t mind the brainless birds. Whirlwind would have pranced and snorted in mock fright. Then, with a toss of her head, she would have playfully chased the squawking things from the paddock.
Sighing, Jas crossed her arms on the top of the board fence and propped her chin on her wrists. Maybe she made a big mistake saying she’d work with Shadow. He might never turn into anything but a plodding old school horse.
But, according to Chase, a plodding old school horse was just as valuable as the winner of the Triple Crown.
Jas watched as Shadow ambled over to a patch of weeds. He tore at a flowered stalk, then with a wiggle of his lips, spit it right out.
Suddenly, Jas smacked her forehead with her palm. Why hadn’t she thought of it before!
Whirlwind was fed the finest, sweetest feed available. Why would she eat something as nasty as yew?
She wouldn’t. Not unless she’d been really hungry.
But how could Whirlwind have possibly been hungry? Jas knew that she had fed her the night and morning before.
But then it all started to make sense. Phil and Grandfather had left for two days to take the stock trailer to Maryland to pick up cattle. That same night, Jas had rushed through the horse feeding at High Meadows because she’d had other horses to ride at a nearby farm for one of Hugh’s clients. Then, the next morning, she’d had to catch the bus early for school. So on the morning she left for school, Hugh had been the only one at the farm.
Jas bit her teeth into the skin of her wrist.
Hugh had set the whole thing up! He got rid of her, Phil, and Grandfather so that he could be alone in the barn. So that he could remove Whirlwind’s feed both times. Now she knew why Whirlwind was hungry enough to eat yew.
Now she knew how Hugh had killed her.
Thirteen
“YOU HUNGRY, JAS?”
Startled, she quickly spun around.
“The way you were chewing on your arm, I figured you needed a snack,” Chase said, smiling.
“Nope,” said Jas calmly, even though she was still bursting with thoughts about Hugh.
Chase tapped the face of his watch. “It’s almost six, you know.”
“Oh, shoot. I’ve got to get to the house for lockdown.” Immediately, Jas took off running.
“Hey, Cinderella!” Chase hollered after her. “You dropped a sneaker!”
Jas raced across the barnyard, scattering the geese. When she reached the kitchen, she could hear the cuckoo clock cuckooing six o’clock.
She just made it.
Miss Hahn was working at
the counter, slicing a cantaloupe. Beside her, something was sputtering and popping around in a lidded frying pan. “I was just about to holler for you,” Miss Hahn said.
Jas gasped for breath, holding her side. “No need. I made it.”
“Chase is going to stay for dinner,” Miss Hahn added. “So I’m actually cooking a decent meal for once. Fried chicken. It’ll be ready in about half an hour.”
Jas straightened and rubbed the stitch under her rib. “Doesn’t Chase have a home? On Saturday night, we all stopped for burgers on the way back from the auction, and last night he ate that takeout pizza with us in front of the TV,” Jas said, protesting.
“His folks are still at the lake,” Miss Hahn explained.
Jas feigned disgust when she heard the screen door slam and Chase sauntered into the kitchen. Reaching around Miss Hahn, he grabbed a slice of cantaloupe and took a big bite.
“Wash first, please,” Miss Hahn scolded.
“Really,” Jas muttered as juice dribbled down his chin. “You’re such a slob.”
Chase pointed at her stained T-shirt. “And what about you?”
“Oh, shut up,” replied Jas. “Miss Hahn, may I use the phone? I forgot to ask Dr. Danvers something about, uh, Shadow.”
“Sure. You better call him at home, though. He’ll probably be there for dinner before going off to the office or on another call. That man works night and day.”
Jas hurried into the living room and plopped down on the sofa next to Fluffy. Both of Dr. Danvers’s numbers were on the list of emergency numbers by the phone.
As Jas dialed, Chase came and stood in the doorway, slouched against the frame. He studied her as he ate another slice of cantaloupe. She shot him a “get lost” look that he totally ignored. Jas couldn’t decide if he was too dense or too rude. When Danvers answered, she turned her back on Chase and lowered her voice. “Hi, Dr. Danvers, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting dinner, but I need to ask you a couple more questions.”