Death By a Dark Horse

should know any horse is capable of causing severe injury to a person.'

'But -'

'Including Blackie. Furthermore, you have no proof she stole your horse. None. It is completely contrary to what she wanted. She worked hard for years for a chance to be selected for the U.S. Team, and she would not have risked her dream by stealing Blackie. I can't and I won't believe it. It simply makes no sense.'

His eyes held mine in a silent reprimand. I closed my dry mouth and swallowed. With his mouth still set in an angry line, he turned his attention to his tea cup and nudged the handle with his index finger until it lined up precisely parallel to the edge of the table.

He'd missed my point completely. Blackie's life was at stake. I raised my chin and laid my hand on the table. 'I don't care who took him. It's not important any more. What's important is that Blackie not be blamed for something he didn't do. They'll kill him if they think he's at fault. Uncle Henry, please. I need to know what to do.'

'You're losing sight of what's important. Valerie's reputation -'

My imploring hand turned into a fist. I barely restrained my impulse to pound the table. 'Valerie's dead. What's important is Blackie didn't kill her.'

'Stop it, both of you! Not one bit of this makes any sense!' Aunt Vi's voice, now that she'd found it, was half an octave higher than normal. 'Henry, you will stop trying to shoulder the responsibility for all of this. You've been blaming yourself all day and I've had enough. And you, young lady, could show a little more compassion and a little more sense. Neither one of you has given one thought to what this means. I must say it frightens me to even consider that the poor girl was murdered. And the thought of you involved in the… oh, I can't bear it!' My aunt sprang to her feet, took her cup to the sink, dumped out the contents, then refilled it from the teapot on the kitchen table.

Alarmed at the degree of her anxiety, I half rose from my chair and knocked my cup over. Milky tea spread across the table and dripped onto my leg. I grabbed a handful of napkins from the nearby holder and rushed to sop it up. Aunt Vi didn't seem to notice.

'What if the murderer is looking for you? What if he thinks you know more than you do and you're a threat to him?' She sat and set her tea cup, rattling, in its saucer. She took my free hand in both of hers, arresting my attempt to clean up the spill.

I perched on the edge of my chair, my mind struggling for something coherent to say. She was coming at this from a completely different angle than Uncle Henry and me. Anything I said was going to be wrong.

'Now, Vi -' my uncle started.

'I'll make another pot of tea.' She jumped up, snatched the kettle from the range top, and filled it from the tap.

'Vi!'

'Henry, have some sense,' she snapped. 'There's nothing that can be done for that poor girl now, and your niece may be in danger. That was Thea's horse in that pasture. You don't think he got there on his own, do you? The murderer put him there.'

You made a huge mistake burdening them with your theories, Thea. You should have asked them to help you protect Blackie and left it at that. What were you thinking?

'We don't know with any certainty how Blackie got there or what happened,' Uncle Henry said, his words clipped. 'It could have been an accident like the police think. They'll figure out what happened. Speculation won't help and will just get you more upset.'

My aunt's lips pressed together until they were white. Her bosom heaved twice before she spoke. 'Better upset than sticking my head in the sand, Henry. I don't believe we should be so naive as to let our guard down. Thea could be in grave danger. Valerie is already gone, and the circumstances are anything but clear. We can't allow anything to happen to our niece.' Little bright pink spots glowed on her cheeks.

Uncle Henry's expression made a quick change from anger to distress.

'Well, um, why don't we have Thea stay here with us?' Relief washed across his face as the bright pink spots began to fade from Aunt Vi's complexion and her mouth regained its usual appearance.

'That's more like it,' she said. Then she went to the sink, got a handful of paper towels and gave them to me. 'You go into the bathroom. Take those pants off and rinse the tea out with cold water – from the back – before that stain sets. Put them in the wash right away when you get home.'

I swallowed. 'Yes, ma'am.' And did what I was told.

In the bathroom, I stripped and rinsed, not listening to the murmur of my aunt and uncle's conversation that reached me through the closed door. At least neither sounded angry anymore, but I still felt guilty. They never got mad at each other.

I squeezed what water I could out of my pants and pulled them back on. I wanted nothing more than to go home – okay, and dry clothes, too – and stay there. But I had to come back. I opened the door in time to catch my aunt's question to my uncle.

'What are we going to do? This isn't going the way we planned.'

I stopped.

'There's nothing we can do. Remember, we weren't going to be involved past this point, anyway.'

Chapter Six

I stopped breathing and backed silently into the bathroom. What were they talking about? Please, please, not about what happened today.

Don't be a fool, Thea. Aunt Vi and Uncle Henry would never do anything to hurt anyone. This is something entirely different. Get a grip.

I flushed the toilet and opened the bathroom door with as much noise as I could manage, and clomped down the hall to the kitchen. They were still at the table. I said a hurried good-bye and assured them I'd be back soon.

By the time I got home I'd replayed my entire conversation with them a hundred times. Valerie's death truly shocked and upset them. What I'd overheard was something entirely different – something that had nothing to do with me and was none of my business. So there was no point in bringing it up. Ever.

But the fact remained I was the cause of the arguing between the three of us. I'd never witnessed them raise their voices at each other, much less at me, and as I tossed my things in an overnight bag I vowed to make it up to them.

A gear in my memory caught when I returned to my aunt and uncle's and saw Paul's car, a gray Honda, parked nose out by the apartment. The car I'd nearly collided with on Carpenter Road this morning looked just like it. So it was a Honda, not a BMW as Jorge thought. I eyed Paul's car as I parked my own, but couldn't be sure if it was that shade of gray.

The driver's face was etched in my mind forever, though, and it wasn't Paul's.

I had no interest in Paul, not really. Besides, even if I had the tiniest bit his refusal to chat on the drive home last night would have squashed it. My face heated up with the memory. How I wished I'd sat quietly and watched the scenery go by. But could I do that? No, not me. I took advantage of having a captive, silent audience and unburdened myself. Yup. It was the old strangers-on-a-bus thing, except I hadn't bothered to consider that I'd see him again. I couldn't have done a better imitation of the landlord's pain-in-the-ass niece if it'd been my goal. After listening to me whine for more than half an hour he probably went home and took a fistful of Advil.

My car knocked as I turned off the ignition, helpfully announcing my arrival. Dammitallanyway. I didn't want him to know I was here. He probably heard my stupid car and looked out the window. I grabbed my overnight bag as I got out, slammed the door, and hightailed it for the house.

Getting sidetracked again, Thea. Pull yourself together. If you aren't careful you'll say something else you'll regret.

I took a steadying breath, resolving to stay away from the topics of Jonathan's proposal and Valerie's death. The sheriff would find out soon, somehow, she'd been murdered and Blackie would be safe. No way could anyone think I had killed that horse thief, as Delores had speculated, and no way could Aunt Vi's worries be real. I slowed