the slope of his Roman nose.
Outside, the delivery truck from the feed store rumbled into the stable yard, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Leah stepped away from her horse and wiped her eyes on the tail of her black polo shirt.
A man’s voice spoke just outside the stall, making her jump.
“Excuse me? Miss? Can you help me?”
She didn’t know him, had never seen him. He was older—like forty or something, but good-looking—tanned and tall with broad shoulders. His hair was blond and tousled like a surfer dude’s. He looked at her with a smile meant to win her over, but it didn’t touch his eyes. The smile faded as she looked up at him.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “You’re crying.”
“My horse stepped on my foot,” Leah said, hoping Bacchus would forgive her the lie. “I’m fine.”
“I’m Mike” he said, reaching his hand in through the open yoke of the stall door.
Leah looked at his hand, thinking he must be some kind of salesman. They came by all the time trying to convince the Gracidas to change the feed they used or the supplements they gave their horses.
She started to raise her hand to meet his, then realized the ends of two fingers were smeared with blood. She pulled her hand back and wiped it on her shirt.
“And your name?” he asked.
“Leah,” she said reluctantly. She decided she didn’t like him. He was handsome, but his hazel eyes were narrow and hard-looking. If he had been an animal, she would have been nervous that he might bite her.
Bacchus stretched his neck to sniff at the man’s hand, his ears back.
“Hi, Leah,” the man said, still smiling. “Do you work here?”
“Yes.”
“Nice place.”
Leah said nothing. She sighed the sigh of the bored teenager, letting him know she wasn’t impressed with his phony charm.
“Do you ride, Leah?”
“Yes.”
“Is this your horse?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a handsome animal.”
“Thank you.”
“Have you been boarding here very long?”
“Do you need something?” she asked.
The phony smile faltered. He moved his jaw left, then right. He didn’t like it that she wasn’t buying his nice- guy act.
“I’m looking for the trainer.”
“She’s not here,” Leah said. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable now as she realized she was still alone in the barn. Umberto and the other grooms and ranch hands would be dealing with the feed delivery.
She thought of Leslie. She had always wondered what had happened, how it had happened. Had it been like this? Had the guy just started asking her questions like this, like he needed her help?
Leslie talked to everybody. She wasn’t afraid of people. She liked to be helpful. She would have talked to the guy who took her because she had seen him around. She knew who he was. Leah knew that the police thought he must have pulled up alongside Leslie on her bike, maybe asked her to help him with something or offered her a ride home. When they found her bike, one of the tires was flat. He might have done something to the tire at the ball field and followed her as she tried to get home afterward.
Whatever the case had been, he had grabbed her and thrown her and her bike into the van and that was that.
Leah glanced down the barn aisle now to see the stranger’s car parked at the end of the barn, away from the actual parking area. He could drag her down the aisle and throw her in the trunk and be gone down the driveway before anyone knew anything had happened.
“Do you know when she might be back?” the man asked.
“Soon,” Leah said. “Any minute.”
“I’ll just wait, then.”
“You should go,” Leah said bluntly. “You should go talk to Umberto.”
She wanted to come out of the stall and run to the feed room, which was located in a separate building between the two barns. But she would have to get past the stranger. He looked strong—stronger than she was, for sure.
“Where is he?” the man asked.
With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Leah realized her mistake. Now she would have to admit to him that the ranch manager wasn’t in the barn or even near the barn. He was in another building in the opposite direction from the stranger’s car.
She wanted to go to the window and start screaming, but she felt stupid. What if she was wrong? What if he was just somebody here to see Maria? She would make a fool of herself and embarrass the man, and embarrass Maria.
The pressure was coming back now with a vengeance. Her pulse began to roar in her ears. She felt both hot and cold as she began to sweat. Tears filled her eyes. She thought she might throw up.
“Hi. Can I help you?”
Relief poured through her at the sound of Maria Gracida’s voice. The stranger turned away and went to speak to Maria.
Leah felt light-headed, her legs like slender icicles melting into water. She pressed a hand to her stomach, still feeling like she might be sick. But as she touched herself, she pulled her hand away at the feeling of wetness, and she realized with horror that the cut had bled through the fabric of her tan breeches.
Mortified, she pulled the front of her polo shirt down over the stain, slipped out of the stall, and, head down, hurried past the stranger and Maria, making a beeline for the bathroom. She was too flushed with embarrassment to feel the stranger’s eyes follow her until she closed the door behind her.
28
