“Oh hello there Karen, how are you doing today? Isn’t the weather just lovely this time of year? I absolutely love it.”
I heard Karen reply. “If you want to go grab Buster I’ll bring up his profile,” I told Sophie, going over to the computer in the corner where we kept the files on all our animal clients. The program was slow to load, and by the time I finally got Buster’s chart up, about two minutes later, Sophie still wasn’t back.
“Uh, Angie?” Sophie said, coming back into the room. “I think you may want to come out here and see this.”
I followed Sophie out into the waiting area, where Bee and Buster had jumped on top of the tall cabinet at the back of the clinic where we stored all the specialized dog and cat food that we occasionally sold.
“Buster, get down from there!” Gloria was scolding, one hand on her hip.
“I’m not. You can’t make me.”
“We really need to put something on top of there,” I muttered to Sophie as I walked over to the bookcase.
“Bee, I don’t know what kind of dumb joke you’re doing, but you need to stop. Buster needs me to look at his leg. He’s licking at it.”
“You don’t need to look at his leg, he’s fine.”
I glared at my cat. Obviously in front of Gloria and Karen, I couldn’t reply.
“Come on. Come on down now, this isn’t funny.”
“We’re not coming down. Tell Gloria to come back later.”
I grabbed Karen’s chair in response and stood up on it, bringing me up to eye level with the two most mischievous cats in Willow Bay.
“I have just about had it with the both of you,” I muttered, and the two of them exchanged a look. As I reached for Buster he made a leap for it, hitting the corkboard with all the photos on it and making it crash to the floor with a loud bang, then bouncing off from there and landing on the counter before swiftly running along the back of the chairs in the waiting area and jumping on top of the door leading to the exam areas. It swung towards the wall from the force of his landing on it, but of course, being a cat, Buster kept his balance perfectly. A split second later Bee also tried to jump for it, but the difference was, I knew my cat too well. I knew exactly how she jumped, and I caught her in mid-air, resisting her swipes as she hissed at me. I carried her under the armpits, at arm’s length as she struggled. This was good, I had a hostage. I couldn’t believe I was actually to the point where I was holding my cat hostage.
“Now Buster, get down from there and go into the exam room, or Bee gets it,” I told him. What exactly “it” was, I hadn’t thought of yet. I thought Buster could probably tell, since he tilted his head to the side.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about little lady.”
“She’s bluffing!” Bee told him. “She’s just bluffing! Don’t let her win!”
“No sushi for Bee for a month if you don’t go into that room right now,” I finally threatened. Bee howled and struggled once more, trying desperately to get away. She managed to scratch me on the wrist, but I held strong. Finally, Buster sighed.
“Don’t do it!” Bee cried. “I can survive without the sushi! Don’t let the humans get away with this! Don’t negotiate with the terrorists!!”
Trying hard to resist rolling my eyes at Bee’s histrionics, I gave Buster a good, hard look.
“No, Bee, it’s not worth it. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I was the reason you didn’t get any sushi for the next month.” And with that, he hopped off the door frame and went into the exam room. Sophie rushed in behind and closed the door after him, locking him in there until we were ready to look at him.
“I’m so sorry!” Gloria said. “He’s always been a little bit of a bugger, but he’s never been this naughty before! You sure have a way with animals though, getting him to go in like that.”
“It’s alright, as you can see I also have a cat, and I understand that sometimes they can be a handful,” I told her as I went and helped Karen put the corkboard back up quickly. I grabbed some of the pictures and cards off the ground and put them on the counter. Suddenly, I saw something I hadn’t noticed on the photo of Touch of Midnight. His eyes seemed lighter than they should have been. I suddenly had the feeling that there was something about that, that my brain was trying to tell me something, but before I could figure out what it was, I had to go tend to Buster’s paw.
I followed Sophie into the room, with Gloria on our heels, where Buster was now sitting on the exam table, swishing his tail softly as if nothing had happened.
“Hello,” he greeted us chirpily as we entered the room.
“Alright, Buster,” I told him. “I hear you’ve got a bit of a licking issue.”
“Yes, it’s his front left paw, there,” Gloria told me, pointing out a little patch of raw skin. “He’s been licking at it like that for a few days, and the coat’s been wilting away there.”
I had a look at Buster’s paw. Sure enough, the skin was red with irritation where he’d been licking.
“Is he on flea medication?”
“Oh yes! Every month, like clockwork.”
“Do you give him drops, or a pill?”
“A pill, definitely. My old vet recommended it.”
“Your old vet was smart, pills are the best way to give pets their flea medication,” I told her with a smile. It was unlikely to be parasites, but I still ran my hands through Buster’s coat, giving it a careful look, just to be sure.
“Has he ever had any allergies to anything?”
Gloria shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I don’t understand why he’s doing this now. For the last three days Buster’s just been licking and licking, and I haven’t been able to stop him. And yet now, he’s just sitting there.”
“Kind of like how you take your car to the shop because it’s making a weird noise, then you get there and the noise stops,” I joked with a smile.
“Exactly like that!” Gloria said.
“Hey!” Buster protested, unhappy with my comparison.
I looked at Buster, and suddenly realized. I laughed out loud.
“I know exactly why he’s licking!” I said suddenly. “Buster wanted to come here to see his girlfriend!”
“What?” Gloria and Sophie asked at exactly the same time.
“The first time Buster came here, he and Bee were hanging out together, which Bee never does. And then today they were together again, and it wasn’t until I’d caught Bee that Buster calmly came in here. I bet you a few days ago when Bee ran away for a few hours she wasn’t out terrorizing wildlife like I’d thought, she went to find Buster.”
There was silence for a minute, and then Sophie burst out laughing. “That’s amazing! It makes perfect sense. So Buster licked himself so his fur would come off so Gloria would have no choice but to bring him back here to see Bee again!”
“Well aren’t you a cheeky little fellow,” Gloria said to Buster. “Is that true?” Buster meowed and gave his best kitten-eyes to Gloria.
I laughed. I was never, ever going to let Bee live this down.
“If you’d like, or if Buster would like, you’re welcome to stop by anytime,” I offered. “If you want to bring him in when you do your groceries, for example, then come pick him up on your way back, he’s more than welcome to hang out with Bee in our lobby.”
Buster’s ears perked up at that. “Really? Awesome!” he said, and I shot him a smile.
“Well, if Buster’s girlfriend lives here, I suppose coming over for a playdate a few times a week wouldn’t be trouble, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I replied. After all, I made fun of Bee a lot, but if she legitimately had found herself a friend, well, I was happy for her. I was also going to tease her mercilessly about it, but I was definitely happy for her.
Chapter 16
The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. Bee was secretly thrilled that I was letting her boyfriend come by whenever to see her, even though she pretended she never cared about
Buster. But by the time we finally closed the clinic doors I was exhausted, and I barely remembered to grab the picture of Touch of Midnight before we left. There was something there I wanted to check when we got home.
We stopped and grabbed a veggie supreme pizza on the way to have for dinner, and as soon as we got home I went into my room to use my computer. Looking carefully at the picture of Touch of Midnight, I confirmed that the picture definitely showed that his eyes looked fairly light. It was barely noticeable. In fact, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that it wasn’t just a little bit of a glitch in the photo. But if I was right, then this could turn the whole murder case against Caroline Gibson and Corey on its face.
I looked up the name of the mare who had given birth to Touch of Midnight. Amazing Grace was her name, it turned out. Googling her, I looked at a half a dozen photos carefully. As far as I could tell, she was pure dark chestnut. Was that really enough though? I had to be sure before I said anything about my new suspicions.
Thinking back to Polly’s offer to show me around her stables, I grabbed my purse and rummaged around in it until I found the card she’d given me. I called the number and held my breath waiting for her to pick up.
“Hello?” came her chipper voice on the other end of the line.
“Hi, Polly?” I asked.
“Yes, speaking.”
“It’s Angela here, we spoke at the police station a few days ago.”
“Oh of course! Hi Angela, what can I do for you?”
“Well, this might sound kind of weird, but I’m wondering if it would be possible for you to organize for me to meet with Touch of Midnight. His father was just such an incredible race horse, and from a purely scientific point of view I’d love to be able to see his offspring, even if it’s just for a minute or two.”
“I understand completely, Angela. Once you start to learn about race horses, it’s hard to let go. I’m friends with the stable manager who runs Freidrich Suter’s horse business over here. Let me give him a call, and I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Polly. I really appreciate it,” I told her, and hung up the phone. I suddenly realized I was bursting with nervous energy. If this hunch was right, then I had maybe just uncovered one of the greatest scandals in horse racing in a long, long time. Polly called me back ten minutes later. I was welcome to join her at the stables the following day at 4:30, after the horses had finished their training for the day. Thanking her, I went out to enjoy some pizza. I couldn’t tell Sophie and Charlotte about my suspicions. Not yet, anyway. Not until I was sure. For now, we were going to have to settle for teasing Bee about her new boyfriend for a while.
* * *
The next day I told Sophie I had to head off on my own to check something out to do with the case.
“Where are you going?” Sophie asked.
“I’m going to see Touch of Midnight, the foal of Touch of Frost. I have this suspicion about his eyes, but I need to confirm it in person.”
“Really? What is it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to say until I’m sure. It’s probably nothing, but I want to check it out.”
“Oooooh, is it scandalous?” Sophie asked, her eyes widening in excitement.
“Pretty much, but I’m still not telling you,” I told Sophie, sticking my tongue out at her as I walked out the door to my car. I left my pouty best friend in the clinic to take Bee home while I focused on the directions Polly had given me.
Polly’s farm was an old-style home, painted in a dark blue colour, probably built in the 60s, with a lot more of a “real farm” look about it than the sanitized, super expensive Gibson Farms. There was a broken down tractor out to the side of the house, two chickens pecking at the dirt outside the front door, and grass that was perfectly mowed in spots and overgrown in others. This was definitely more what I thought of when I thought of farms. I went up to the front door and knocked, and Polly came out a minute later.
“Oh, fantastic, you’re here!” she said, dressed in jeans and a simple plaid blouse. “Let’s get going.”
The two of us got into her old Range Rover and Polly started driving south.
“They recently bought a small farm not far from here. The Pacific Northwest is growing in the horse racing world, since the weather here is so nice. It’s not too cold in the winter, but it’s also not too hot in the summer, like places like Phoenix are. I know a few major race horse owners who have recently bought places up here to train, mainly in the summer.”
“Interesting,” I said in reply. “And you’ve never met the owner of this place?”
Polly shook her head. “No, he’s definitely the reclusive type. I don’t know if he ever even leaves Switzerland. Me, I’m too much of a micromanager to be willing to leave an entire business on another continent in someone else’s hands, but what do I know?” she asked, laughing. “Maybe there’s a reason he’s the one with billions of dollars, and not me.”
We chatted a little bit more on the way, until finally we arrived at another farm, which much like the Gibson Farm, was perfectly manicured and taken care of. The house was a lot smaller, however; I imagined it was mainly used to house staff. It was still far more luxurious than nearly any house I’d ever seen. I imagined people must be clamouring to work here.
Polly parked the car in a little parking lot out by the front – yeah, this place had its own actual parking lot – and was quickly met by a guy who looked like he’d just stepped out a of a country music video. Cowboy hat, cowboy boots, dirty jeans, blue button-up shirt with a red bandana around his neck, this guy was the goods. He was in his late 30s, with tanned skin and a friendly smile.
“Hey ladies! Out here to look at our newest little family member?” he asked.
“Yes please! This is Angela Martin, the local vet in Willow Bay. Caroline hired her to take care of Touch of Frost when their vet was out of town, and she’s taken a bit of a liking to him. Wanted to get to know his son.”
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Martin,” the guy said, holding out a hand. “I’m Kevin. Kevin Drury.”
“Please, call me Angela,” I told him as we shook hands.
“Sure thing. Now of course, the only reason I’m letting you in here is because you’re a friend of Polly’s, and a vet. We aren’t showing Touch of Midnight to the public yet, he’s too young. There’s been a lot of interest in him though. It’s horse racing, it’s a small enough community that everyone knows everything, no matter what.”
I smiled slightly. I knew what that was like, living in Willow Bay.
“How old is he now?” I asked.
“Just over four months. We’re going to start weaning him in a few weeks.”
Kevin began to lead us towards a stable at the back of the farm. Like the Gibson stable, it had state-of-the-art security measures put in, including the fingerprint scanner.
“Amazing Grace is really good about people coming near her foal,” he told me. “There shouldn’t be any issues. I’ll give you some apple slices to bribe them with anyway, though.”
I thanked Kevin as he gave me the apples, and he led Polly and I down to a stall at the end of the stable. In there, eyeing us with a gentle curiosity, was Amazing Grace. She was tall, and obviously powerful. Her black coat shone even in the dull light, and I realized just how good of a match it was to have her be with Touch of Frost. Touch of Midnight was at the back of the stall, playing with a little bundle of hay.
“Hi there, new momma,” I told Amazing Grace, holding out one of the pieces of apple. “Do you mind if I just have a look at you and your little one for a few minutes?” I asked. “He’s really beautiful.”
Amazing Grace came over and ate the piece of apple. “That’s fine. He really is a beautiful boy. He’s really wonderful, although he’s getting a bit big.”
I smiled at her motherly love. Animals were animals; everyone just wanted the best for their young, human or not. I stroked her nose gently while I looked her over carefully. Every single inch of her was chestnut b
rown; she really was a beauty.
Glancing over at Touch of Midnight, I looked over at his eyes. From that distance though, I couldn’t tell what I was looking for.
“Hey, Touch of Midnight, want a piece of apple?” I asked with a smile, leaning over the fence to offer it to him. The promise of a treat brought him over, and I handed him the piece while looking carefully at his eyes, and at the same time, trying to look like I wasn’t looking at it at all. I didn’t want anyone to notice my suspicions. But yes, up close, it was obvious. Touch of Midnight had blue eyes.
“You’re a little cutie, aren’t you?” I asked him. I knew he’d be too young to answer; most animals didn’t figure out how to talk to me until after they were weaned. But that was ok. He happily let me stroke his mane a few times, then went back to his game.
“Thanks so much for letting me see him,” I said to Kevin. “And to you Polly, for inviting me.”
“No problem,” they both replied as we headed back to the car. My mind raced with excitement, and it took everything I had to contain it. I’d confirmed my theory, now I had to go back and tell Charlotte and Sophie as quickly as possible.
I still had no idea who had killed Corey, or Caroline Gibson. But I was fairly certain I’d just discovered a new, huge motive for someone.
Chapter 17
“You guys, I have the biggest news!” I exclaimed as soon as I got back into the house, a little after six.
“Oh sure, now you’re willing to share,” Sophie replied, sticking her tongue out at me. She was floating in the air in the middle of the living room. Sprinkles was whining at her feet, evidently not happy with this turn of events, while Bee was sitting on top of the bookshelf, watching, hoping for entertainment.
“What on earth?” I asked, looking over at Charlotte.
“Your sister seems to think that the best way to see if I actually have magical powers is to put me in strange situations and see if my body reacts. So far, it’s not working.”
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches 3) Page 10