by Ruby Loren
She clasped her hands together and fixed her gaze on a distant tree.
“I managed to get a job, as an intern. It was just data processing and making the tea but it meant I could get close to Dominic. One day I plucked up the courage and told him who I was. He was shocked and immediately demanded a DNA test. Once that was done, he took me aside and apologised.” She paused, pushing her dark hair back from her face. “I couldn’t believe it. He apologised for letting me go and said he wanted to help me. He gave me the job of PR manager and even let me handle this new project idea he had, so that no one would question how it was I got promoted so fast. He even gave me shares in the company, saying it was the least he could do after not giving my mother her fair due. At first, things were great. I worked my socks off, setting up deals with breeders and working with clients. I even got him some amazing horses at prices so good he could scarcely believe it. I was a star employee, proving to everyone that I deserved to be right where he had put me. He told me that when the time was right, he was going to tell everyone who I was and then I'd really be a part of the family business. He was meant to do it at this retreat but the first day passed without him even acknowledging me and somehow I knew… I knew he was never going to own up to me. He’d changed his mind. He just didn’t want me.”
She tugged at a strand of her dark hair. “I couldn’t sleep. Everything he’d ever done to me and my family kept running around in my mind and I even got it into my head that far from coming clean, he was acting so shadily, he might be about to get rid of me. He was going to take everything back that he’d given. I panicked. I’d noticed the gun in the boot of the minivan when Tara had unloaded the cases and picking the lock wasn't exactly a problem for me. I went into his room and saw him sleeping and before I could think what I was doing, I’d pulled the trigger and it was over. At first I thought someone would come. The noise the gun had made nearly blew my eardrums, but the thunder must have covered the shot so after a few moments I got rid of the gun and went back to bed, just in time to hear Lou when she hurt her ankle.” She raised her eyes to the group and looked around at them all. “I'm sorry I killed him, really I am. I was just afraid that the man who’d given me so much was about to take it all away again. I was angry about the past and I’ve let it ruin my future. It was a stupid, stupid thing to do and I know I’ll regret it forever.”
“Lauren Aria, you’re under arrest for the murder of Dominic Marks,” Chief Inspector Jenkins said as a police officer in uniform stepped forwards with a pair of handcuffs. The young woman stuck her hands out and willingly followed them out through the trees.
“Case closed,” Hayley said to Inspector Rouen when the resulting uproar had died down a little. Their guests were taking a little time out for the rest of the day and had been allowed to journey into town unaccompanied, now that the killer had been found.
“Is it?” He said, surprising her. His hands gripped the wooden railing of the barn and his knuckles whitened before he turned to her, unable to keep his thoughts to himself.
“It just doesn’t add up! Why was there a bottle of rum with two glasses in the room? What does the rubber glove and the jiffy bag mean? There was a mobile phone charger, but where is Dominic Marks’ mobile phone?”
“A phone he wasn’t meant to have,” Hayley observed, remembering what Tara had said about the no mobile phone rule.
“Exactly,” Shaun said, running a hand through his buttery hair. "Something just doesn't feel right about all of this.”
“That’s not the only strange thing around here," Hayley said, launching into her scary experience with Ferra’s Falcon that morning. “He’s meant to be the best of the best but everything he does is erratic and un-horselike. I’m starting to think he's either experienced some sort of extreme trauma or…” She hesitated, her forehead creasing. “Or he’s been drugged.”
Shaun shook his head.
“Well, I don’t know horses, but I’d say there’s something off about this whole thing.” He raised his hands in the air. “But we have a confession, fingerprints, the works! I mean, how can the obvious not be the right answer?” He looked to Hayley for help but she was just as lost as he was.
The silence stretched on for a second longer before Shaun’s phone started to ring.
“Hello Sir, yes? What! He was already dead? Yes sir, I understand sir. I’ll inform the witnesses they need to return.” He hung up and turned to Hayley with fresh excitement sparkling in his hazel eyes. "I knew it! I knew there was something wrong with this.”
“What is it?” Hayley asked and the Inspector stopped pacing for a second.
“The results of the autopsy finally came in and they’re pretty surprising. Dominic Marks wasn’t killed by a bullet. He was already dead when he was shot.”
***
“It was asphyxiation. A ligature around his neck. Leather fibres were found, so it looks like it was probably the reins from the bridle that was left in his room. In the interviews, James told me that the bridle belonged to the first winning racehorse that Dominic ever owned. He carried it with him everywhere he went for luck. Fingerprints didn’t take on the old leather either, so there’s nothing to be found. The mark was there for us all to see, plain as day, but when someone has a bullet in their chest, you don't tend to look for other causes of death. That’s why it’s taken us so long to find out. The post-mortem was pushed back as it seemed like an open and shut case.” He reflexively made a grab for the door handle as Hayley drove the 4x4 minivan over a pothole. “I suppose it serves us right for making assumptions, really,” he said, dropping a folder of papers to the floor.
“I wonder how hard it will be to round up everyone. I hope they’ve all only gone to Little Lockley. It’s the only town nearby and I think I remember that Tara and Lou went to pick up Dominic from there when he was late from the airport,” Hayley said as they drew close.
“Yes, well, the sooner we find them the better. I think we've only scratched the surface of this case. It’s starting to look as though more than one person wanted Dominic Marks dead and I want to know why.”
“Back to the drawing board,” Hayley said with a wan smile as they pulled into the old fashioned town, which was little more than a village.
“Isn’t that the secretary, Lou Marsden?” Shaun said as they got out of the car.
“It looks like she doesn't want to be seen,” Hayley observed as they watched the plump woman who was carrying a laptop looking around in all directions before entering the sleazy internet cafe - an archaism that could only possibly exist in such a rural location. Shaun and Hayley exchanged a significant look before following her into the shop.
“Are you hacking your boss’s email account?” Shaun said, looking over Lou’s shoulder and making her jump.
“No! No, of course I'm not,” she said, staring at the screen of the laptop and hurriedly moving to close the lid. Shaun reached out a hand and stopped her from shutting it. She sat back dejectedly as he bent down and clicked on the email she’d just closed.
“This is a notice that you’ve filed against him for inappropriate behaviour and harassment,” Shaun read and Lou slumped a little lower.
“He was always horrible to me. Whether it was comments about my weight, or telling me that I was useless, it never stopped. I’d had enough! Things had to change so I finally stood up for myself. I just… didn’t expect him to die,” she said.
“You killed him?” Shaun asked and Lou’s face morphed into shock.
“No! I couldn’t! It was hard enough for me to pluck up the courage to do this. I could never kill anybody. I wouldn’t! Anyway, we all heard Lauren admit to shooting him. Look, I just wanted to be left alone to do my job. It’s all I’ve ever asked,” she said and shook her head. “I won’t say I’m not relieved he’s gone. Even after all of this,” she gestured to the screen. “I’d hoped things would get better, but he was just as vile when he got in from America and contacted the stables, demanding that I go into town immediately and b
uy him a mobile phone charger so it was ready for him when he got into town himself, despite no one else being allowed a phone.” She shook her head. “It was one rule for Dominic, another for us mere mortals.”
“Yes, well, I’m afraid I’ll be needing that laptop. The case has been reopened as it turns out Dominic wasn’t killed by a gunshot wound after all. Someone had already strangled him when Lauren shot him,” Shaun said and Lou turned white, covering her mouth with her hand.
“You don't think that I…?” She faltered and Shaun gave her a perceptive look.
“As I say, we are reopening the case and will have officers going through the evidence a lot more meticulously. Is there anything else you can think to tell us that might help the investigation?”
Lou shook her head slowly, her eyes still wide. “Not that I can think of,” she said meekly and Hayley heard the lie echo in her voice.
“She’s still hiding something,” she said as soon as they’d left Lou with instructions for her to make her way back to the stables as soon as she could. She’d directed them as to where she thought the others had gone and they were unsurprised to find it was the bar.
“She’s scared about something all right, but I do believe her about one thing. I’m not convinced that she would have had the guts to kill Dominic Marks,” Shaun said as they walked into the bar and found it quite empty.
“Hello, have you seen a group consisting of a man and two ladies?” Shaun called over when a bearded man appeared behind the dingy counter.
“I have indeed. Glad you both came in here to look, I found this phone left behind on a table. The guy had it. He was sat away from the girls with his back to them and never stopped looking at the thing,” the bar owner said, handing across a slim black phone.
“At last, Dominic Marks’ phone,” Shaun said.
“And it sounds like his brother James had it all along,” Hayley concluded.
Shaun waved the phone in his hand thoughtfully for a moment before he pocketed it. “I’d better round up the others and make sure they get back to camp. There’s also something else I need to check before going back,” Shaun said, his eyes taking on a faraway look. “Hopefully it will clear one thing up, although I can’t say I understand what it will mean, even if it is the case.”
Hayley tilted her head questioningly at the Inspector but he just shook his head. “Hopefully the answer will pop out at me soon… or our killer may be off the hook.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Following The Footsteps
“Aha!” Shaun said from his spot on the floor, resting with his back against the stable of a fully-fledged racehorse who had decided that Shaun’s hair looked very much like hay. It was, unfortunately, the only place Shaun had managed to hook his phone up to 3G internet and access Dominic Marks’ email account.
“What is it?” Hayley asked, looking up from where she’d been rubbing down one of the Marks’ racing fillies, a liver coloured yearling named Effervescent.
“I’ve just been through Dominic’s deleted emails and there’s one here from Jenny Rue. It has all the details of a new project. There’s even a promo video.” Hayley looked over his shoulder as the video started to play. Pictures of horses and luxury tents popped up on the screen as a group of corporate business, stock photo models were shown laughing together and then celebrating winning races.
“It looks to me as though Dominic Marks was planning on borrowing your business model and launching his own brand of corporate horse retreats,” Shaun observed.
“That's pretty underhand,” Hayley observed, wondering who else knew about it. If Tara or even Miles had found out, would that give them motive to have killed Dominic Marks?
“Look, Jenny credits herself at the end of the video. It’s definitely her project, so why is it in the deleted folder? It looks like it took some serious investment to produce these promotion materials. Hang on… there’s a website,” he said, clicking on the link at the end of the video.
The professional looking site simply told them more of the same. Hayley was surprised when she saw a lot of the exercises that the Argent and Onyx stables offered were listed on the site. They even claimed to have their very own horse whisperer - a term Hayley loved to avoid.
“Company director… Lauren Aria. This must have been the project her father gave her so that people wouldn’t question how she was promoted so quickly within the company.” Shaun sucked air through his teeth as he contemplated all he knew. “I think I’d better go and talk to Jenny Rue.”
“Hey, before you go I have to ask… where is everyone else? I know you’ve sent a couple of officers up to search the woods again for anything that’s been missed but your boss hasn't come back since you found out Dominic didn’t die from a gunshot wound.”
Shaun tilted his head from side to side.
“Yes, well, there’s a reason for that. I may have acted a little self-righteously when the post-mortem result was announced because I was so sure that we were missing something big. I’m afraid that didn't go down too well with CI Jenkins so he, er, put me in charge of the case. Something about putting my money where my mouth is.” A pink blush rose in Shaun’s cheeks. “I mean, there's nothing to worry about, he'll be there to support me if I do run into any trouble but, uh, obviously, I’d rather not have to get him involved.” He pushed his blonde hair back. “I think he’s expecting me to find this to be rather more than I can handle, but I know I can do it. I know I’m close to finally understanding…” He pulled the phone from his pocket and looked at it. “It’s just finding the time for it all. I’d better look through the phone on the way up to the woods. There’s only a day left of this retreat and I must get to the bottom of this, or probably, you know... lose my job.” He cleared his throat. “But, onwards! Always onwards.”
“I think I'll come with you to the woods. I need to discuss bringing the horses up there for the final day of interaction.” She didn’t add that she suspected without her help, it was almost certain that Shaun would walk into a tree, or break his ankle in a pothole.
“Yes, yes, absolutely,” he agreed, his fingers already tapping away on the phone’s screen.
***
“Ms Rue, can I have a word?” Shaun said, approaching the group who were mind mapping some of the greatest racehorses from history and discussing what had made them into legends. Was it their inner qualities or was it their ‘against all odds’ stories that both captured the heart and gave them that winning edge?
Hayley asked if James Marks could excuse himself and left Tara with an attentive, but clearly hopeless Lou to talk racehorses with.
“I just wanted to discuss bringing the horses up here for tomorrow’s interaction day. The thing is… all of them are doing great with the exception of Ferra’s Falcon. He won't settle down and everything he does is erratic.” She bit her lip, unsure whether to share her final piece of information with him.
“Bring him up, it’s standard for a horse of his breeding to be full of beans.” James sighed. “After we re-engage with the real world, he’ll probably be our greatest hope. He cost a packet to buy but if we sell him on for more, it’ll tide the business over for a bit while we pull ourselves together.” He shook his head. “I’m not even sure who owns the company anymore. Everyone is assuming that I’m the sole inheritor but now it looks like Dominic had a kid he never told anyone about. There’s every chance he changed whatever was in his will… if he even had one,” James added with grimace. "Dominic was the kind of guy who thought he’d live forever. Only he didn’t.”
Hayley looked around, not knowing what to say to that. James shook himself. “Bring the horses. I’m sure you’ll be able to turn Falcon around. It’s your job, right?” He said and Hayley knew her lips had thinned.
“There was one more thing. We had them all do time trials without riders, just for a bit of fun. Most of them gave the kind of results we’d expect from future racing stars, but Falcon didn’t. For all of his energy, he doesn’t have anything li
ke the speed you’d expect.” She met James’ eyes, holding his gaze. “Now, perhaps it’s because he’s so wound up and unfocused but I can’t shake the feeling that something's not right here.”
James shrugged and looked back to the group where Jenny had just sat down again. “It’s probably just like you said. He’s not focussing, and from what I hear, he’s nowhere near to being broken in either. That’s another job your stables is meant to be renowned for but I’m not seeing the results. I’m tempted to suggest that the problem isn’t with Ferra’s Falcon, it’s with you. Bring the horses up here tomorrow, do your job, and I might not send this whole business of yours underground," he said, shocking Hayley.
“Well, well, it sounds like younger brother James is already following in his big brother’s footsteps,” Shaun commented when Hayley told him about the exchange.
“Yes, and he got murdered for behaving that way. You’d think there was a lesson to be learned, wouldn’t you?” She folded her arms against the autumn chill as they vacated the woods and left the less-than-happy-campers to it.
“I spoke to Jenny about the video and the site and she confirmed what we already knew and a little bit more besides. She said that Dominic told her the idea wasn't financially viable and then repackaged it and palmed it off on Lauren.”
Hayley snorted. “Well, it’s not as though it was Jenny’s idea in the first place. It’s clear that the only reason they're here is to steal ideas.”
“Yes, it does seem so. Jenny was obviously unhappy when she discovered that Lauren’s great idea that landed her the promotion was one and the same as her own, but here’s the kicker… I looked through Dominic’s text messages and discovered that they were having an affair and it looked like it ended badly, about the same time he stole her idea. The text messages show that he threatened to tell her fiancé, his brother James, exactly what the pair had been up to if she didn’t let Lauren run with the idea.”