waiting for me to leave, while Randy dug around his teeth with his toothpick. By all accounts, he looked bored. And I didn't understand it. If I wasn't mistaken, I had just found the trailer; yet the owner was clueless.
'You have any repairs made to your trailer in the past two months?' I said.
Randy shook his head. 'I hardly ever use it.'
I jerked my head toward his house. 'I got turned around in the woods. What road do you live on?'
'Mink Hollow.'
I told him I was sorry I'd bothered him, then crossed the corral and vaulted the fence.
I found Jet where I'd left her and turned her for home. She didn't need any encouragement. It wasn't until I pulled her up between the barns that I realized what I felt was no longer anger, but confusion and an overwhelming feeling of futility.
After I untacked Jet and brushed her off, I checked the barns. I was on my way out when I paused at the bulletin board outside barn A's tack room. I tore down the class schedule from the past weekend and crumpled it into a ball. Underneath was a crinkled copy of the announcement I'd tacked up weeks before, the one that described the rig used in the horse theft.
The paper was discolored from being in the barn so long, and someone had scribbled across the lower right- hand corner in red ink. As the words registered, I felt as if I'd been drenched with ice water.
'A cat has nine lives. You don't' was scrawled across my name.
An image of Boris swinging from the rafters with his throat cut crowded my mind.
No one knew about him except the cops.
And the killer.
Chapter 15
'Brian, jiggle the chain to distract him,' I said over my shoulder and hoped he'd understood what I meant. Whether he would oblige was anyone's guess.
I had the end flap of a roll of Vetrap between my teeth, a wad of sterile gauze coated with Betadine in my right hand, and the gelding's hind leg wedged between my forearm and thigh. The bandage I'd wrapped around his hoof yesterday lay on the ground beneath his tail.
Monday afternoon, he'd clipped the bulb of his heel, and he hadn't cared for my ministrations ever since. I hiked his leg higher up my thigh and placed the gauze over the gash. I felt the horse's head come up and realized that someone must have walked into the aisle and spooked him.
I anchored the end of the Vetrap in place with my thumb and got in four good wraps before the gelding tried to snatch his hoof out of my hands.
'Whoa,' I said to the horse and, with irritation, to Brian, 'Don't let him move forward.' Like you did yesterday, I wanted to add but knew better.
I unwound the last of the Vetrap, then clamped my hands over the sole of his hoof to mold the bandage to itself. When I let go of his leg, he kicked out before placing his hoof on the ground where it belonged.
I straightened. Detective Ralston was standing just inside the doorway, and he was watching Brian.
'Couple more minutes,' I said, 'and I'll be done.'
I had waited to hear from Ralston all day yesterday, but he hadn't returned my call until ten when he'd arranged to meet me at the farm in the morning. I had slept poorly and had come in early to get a head start on the day's work.
I reinforced the Vetrap with duct tape and snipped through the top margin of the bandage to alleviate pressure over the coronary band. The horse didn't like that, either.
'Okay, Brian. Put him back in his stall.' I slapped the gelding on his rump as he moved off, and he flattened his ears.
After I'd washed up in the men's room, I found Ralston standing on the grassy strip that borders the outdoor arena. Beyond the fence, a handful of riders were working their horses. As I joined Ralston, Anne pointed Chase down the outside line. The gelding flew the jumps, covering the six-stride line in a ground-eating five, clearing the fan jump with a foot and a half to spare.
I whistled under my breath.
Halfway through their approach to the next line, Anne pulled the gelding off line. They galloped past so close, I felt the vibrations from his hoof beats through the soles of my boots. Ralston stepped backward. I pretended not to notice.
Anne turned the gelding toward the center of the ring. His hooves sluiced through the footing and spattered the fence boards with sand. The instant Chase realized they were heading for the diagonal line, he pricked his ears and sailed effortlessly down the line, a streak of liquid gold.
Ralston turned and looked at me over the rims of his sunglasses.
'Can we talk in your car?' I said. 'The office is crowded.'
'Sure.'
'First, there's something I want to show you.' I led him back into barn A and stopped at the bulletin board. 'I found this the other night.'
Ralston read the scrawled words and looked at me. 'How long's this been up?'
'The beginning of March. I tacked it up as soon as I started back to work.'
'When do you think they left the message?'
I shrugged. 'I don't know. Marty stapled last weekend's show schedule over top of it Friday afternoon, and he didn't notice it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.'
'What about the boarder who told you about the trailer? She notice anything?' Ralston said.
'No, she'd read the copy I'd posted in the lounge, not this one. I've asked around, but no one noticed the writing.'
Ralston went back to his car and came back with an evidence bag and a pair of gloves. He dropped the wrinkled sheet into the bag, and I followed him back outside. He'd parked his car next to the office door. I guessed when you were a cop, you got into the habit of parking wherever you damn well liked.
Ralston turned the key in the ignition and powered down the windows. 'Okay. Tell me about it.'
I told him how I'd learned about the trailer and how I'd been caught trespassing.
He listened without interrupting, his expression unchanged, but I sensed his irritation from the stiffness in his shoulders and his overall stillness.
I told him about the Pennsylvania tags and why I thought it was the right trailer. 'But the thing is, Drake didn't act like he was guilty. Either he's an extraordinary actor, or he's not involved, which doesn't make sense.'
Ralston stared straight ahead, his gaze fixed on some point beyond the windshield. 'Your impulsiveness negates your intelligence. If it is the trailer, besides the immediate danger you put yourself in, they've more than likely moved it by now.'
I looked out the passenger window. 'I didn't think anyone would see me.'
'And you went inside?'
I nodded.
Ralston turned in his seat. 'Do you realize what you've done?'
I didn't answer.
'You've contaminated any evidence we might have retrieved.' His voice was as near to yelling as I'd ever heard it.
'How do you mean?' I said. 'I didn't touch anything.'
'Trace evidence. Proving that you were in that trailer on February the 24th was of primary importance. Now the defense will say anything we find was left behind Tuesday, not two months ago. Without that link, we don't have a case.'
'Oh.'
After a minute or two, he sighed. 'I do appreciate what you're trying to do. But if you hear something, fine, phone it in. When it comes to chasing down leads, leave it to us, all right?'
