“Where’s she been since Doc died? I haven’t seen her around.”
“Why are you asking? If you’re looking to hire an assistant, I gotta tell you, Sherry isn’t your girl.”
That wasn’t Jessie’s reason for asking, but Milt’s answer stirred her curiosity. “Why not?”
Before he had a chance to reply, a tall dark-haired whirlwind in the form of Dr. Meryl Davidson blew through the exam area and settled to a stop in the office doorway. “I should’ve known I’d find you hanging out with some good-looking cowboy.”
Laughing, Jessie rounded the desk to throw her arms around her business partner and best friend. “What are you doing here? Is everything all right at the hospital?” They both knew she meant the Cameron Veterinary Hospital where Meryl was currently taking on both their caseloads.
But Meryl pulled away, her attention riveted on Milt. “Never mind that. Introduce me to your cowboy friend.”
Jessie made the introductions and stood back to watch two hopeless flirts in action, knowing full well it was all in good fun. Milt had his beautiful younger wife, Catherine, at home, and Meryl was as happily married as they came, complete with four kids. But that never stopped either of them from enjoying the game.
“Why, Jessie, if I’d ’ve known you had such a pretty thing working with you, I’d ’ve come to visit you at that animal hospital of yours instead of going to my own doctor for my last physical.”
Meryl cocked an eyebrow at him. “Mr. Dodd, are you implying you’re an animal?”
“Yes, ma’am. With the right woman, that is. And I have to say, you look like my kinda woman, all right.”
Meryl let loose a peal of laughter. “I do love sweet talking cowboys.”
“He’s no cowboy,” Jessie corrected. “He’s a blacksmith.”
Meryl seated herself on the edge of the desk and leaned languidly toward Milt. “Close enough.”
“All right already.” Jessie made the hand signal for a time out. “Cool it before I have to dump a bucket of water on you two. Meryl, why are you here?”
She snapped out of flirtation mode and glowered at Jessie. “I want to know when you’re coming back. Carrying your load is killing me. I haven’t gotten home for dinner all week.”
Jessie was about to tell her about the sixteen-hour days at the track, but Milt cut in. “Darlin’, you’re gonna have to get used to it, ’cause Jessie here’s taking over Doc’s practice permanently.”
Meryl jumped to her feet. “What?”
“No, no, no. I am not.”
“Then what’s he talking about?”
“It’s all over the backside,” Milt said, as if Jessie was the only person who didn’t know. “Daniel Shumway asked her to take over Doc’s practice.”
“I turned him down.”
“That’s not how I understand it.”
“Then you understand wrong.”
“Whatever you say.” Milt gave Jessie an ornery grin and headed for the door. “Now if you ladies’ll excuse me, I have a horse to shoe.”
“Wait,” Jessie called after him. “I need to know about Sherry Malone.”
“Who the hell is Sherry Malone?” Meryl demanded.
Milt paused, his hand on the doorknob. “I told you Sherry won’t want to work for you.”
Meryl gave Jessie a searing look that should have caused her to spontaneously combust.
“I don’t want to talk to Sherry about a job.” Jessie aimed her words at Meryl as much as Milt. “I want to talk to her about Doc.”
Meryl folded her arms. “What about Doc?”
Exasperated, Jessie flopped onto the battered sofa. “I promised Amelia I’d find out what happened last Sunday night. She wants to know why he died. So do I.”
The fire went out of Meryl. “Anything I can do to help?”
“I don’t think so.” Jessie looked at Milt. “But you might. Any idea where I can find Sherry?”
“What do you expect to find out from her?”
“I have questions, that’s all.”
He rubbed his chin. “If I was to venture a guess, I’d say check Neil Emerick’s barn.”
“Neil Emerick?”
“And don’t be expecting a warm welcome. Sherry’s a little...well...let’s say she’s rough around the edges.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Jessie didn’t mention Neil Emerick wasn’t exactly the president of her fan club either.
“I’m outta here.” Milt tipped his hat to Meryl. “I sure hope I’ll be seeing more of you now that your former partner will be working here.”
Meryl grabbed a stapler from the desk and winged it at him. It slammed into the door as Milt closed it behind him. “That man is a troublemaker.”
Jessie laughed. “Yes, he is.”
Meryl fixed Jessie with what she’d come to refer to as The Mom Look. “Out with it. What’s this about Daniel asking you to work here?”
“That much is true. He did ask.”
“And?”
Jessie hesitated.
“Oh, my God. You’re really considering it.”
“No.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Considering isn’t the same as accepting.”
“It better not be. I have no intention of being the sole owner of Cameron Veterinary Hospital. Cameron. That’s you.”
“I know. I have no intention of accepting the offer.”
“But Daniel Shumway?” Meryl made a pained face. “He’s got certain powers of persuasion. Like those blue eyes. And those dimples.” She sighed dramatically.
Jessie thought of the brunette who’d reluctantly left them to talk business at the track last night. “Those powers are deeply diminished by his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend, huh? Well, that’s good. If you don’t get back to your hospital asap, I’m going to start killing people.”
“Who’s on your hit list now?”
“That damned ditzy receptionist you hired.”
“Vanessa? She’s sweet. The animals adore her. So do the clients.”
Meryl thought about it. “She does have an incredible memory for clients’ names and phone numbers. It’s like she’s some idiot savant. But something’s gotten into her. She’s been late for work three times in the last week.”
Jessie grinned and elbowed her friend. “Are you sure you aren’t just being tyrannical?”
“Tyrannical my ass. I don’t mean she’s been five or ten minutes late. We’re talking two or three hours.” Meryl shook her head. “I’m telling you, Jessie, I’m not the diplomat. You are. And if you don’t get back soon, I’m going to kick her butt all the way to Pittsburgh.”
“I’ll be back. I promise.”
“Good. I’m counting the days. Ten, including today.”
Jessie squirmed. “About that...”
Meryl cocked her head. “Oh, don’t tell me.”
“I may not have accepted Daniel’s offer, but I did tell him I’d stay until he finds another vet.”
“Jessie,” Meryl growled. “You realize he isn’t going to try very hard.”
“I’ll help him look.” In an attempt to placate her partner, Jessie added, “You can too.”
With the same growl, Meryl said, “You bet I will.”
“And don’t fire Vanessa.”
“I won’t fire her. I may kill her.”
“Call me if you need bail money.”
A wicked smile crossed Meryl’s face. “Maybe Greg could pull some strings and get me off.”
“A murder charge isn’t like a parking ticket. Besides, I don’t have the same influence with him that I used to.”
“True. But he’s divorcing you. He still likes me.”
As usual, Meryl was being her brutally honest, pull-no-punches self. She was also right.
Meryl opened the door to leave but turned back. “What’s the deal with that Sherry Malone person?”
“She was Doc’s assistant. I figure she might be able to shed some light on ever
ything that happened Sunday night. Or some of it, at least.”
Meryl gave a thoughtful nod. “I hope you find out how it happened. And not just for Amelia. I know how much the old guy meant to you.”
With that, Meryl left Jessie alone in Doc’s office. But she didn’t feel alone. She faced the desk and could picture him behind it. “Not just for Amelia and me,” she said to the empty chair. “For you too, Doc.”
By nine thirty, Jessie had responded to half a dozen texts and another five phone calls from trainers. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.
A light drizzle speckled her windshield as she parked her pickup in the road between stables. She sipped her third cup of coffee and gazed out at Riverview Park’s backside.
The rows of barns reminded her of train cars, linked by a common roof. Each housed fifty-two stalls, twenty-six per side, facing outward. Paved roads, on which she and track personnel drove, separated the shedrows. Fire hydrants and dumpsters full of manure and dirty straw created something of an obstacle course, not to mention the horses coming from and heading to the track for their morning workouts.
Most days, there were a few horses being hand-walked in the road too. Today the chilly spring rain had driven them under the cover of the shedrows, where they passed the stalls on one side, looped around the end, and then passed the stalls on the other side, counterclockwise. Always counterclockwise.
Jessie drained the last of her coffee and added the empty Styrofoam cup to the collection behind the seat. She decided to take advantage of a lull in the action.
Milt had said she might find Sherry hanging around Neil Emerick’s barn. Jessie “just happened” to be parked next to it.
She studied the shedrow housing Emerick’s stable and realized she’d never been inside it. Twice this week, including yesterday, she’d made stops here to administer Lasix. Both times, one of Emerick’s grooms had brought the horses out to her. They’d said they were trying to do her a favor. Save her some time. But it struck her as peculiar. Especially since Emerick himself had never so much as cracked a smile in her direction.
Nor had he called about the horse that flipped in the gate last night. She didn’t expect him to but hated the idea that the gelding might suffer because his trainer and vet had a falling out. Checking on the horse sounded like a reasonable excuse should anyone, including Emerick, wonder why she was there.
So far, she hadn’t spotted him moving around inside the barn.
She hadn’t spotted Sherry either.
As Jessie entered at the gap between barns, a voice called out, “Through the middle.” She waited, and a short, stocky man with skin the texture and color of leather appeared from the other side leading a dark bay. The groom nodded to her and kept going.
She fell into step behind the pair, glancing into stalls as she went. Emerick claimed all the stalls on this side, but she wasn’t sure which one held the gelding in question. What was his name? Soldier something. Bob. That was it. Soldier Bob.
The first stall held a tall black with a flashy white star and stripe on his face. The second held a dark chestnut with his front legs wrapped, snoozing in the back corner. As she approached the third stall, a lighter chestnut with a row of neat stitches angling across his face lunged at her, straining the stall webbing. For a moment, she feared he might come through, but thankfully the heavy plastic panel held firm.
He reached over it, though, showing her a mouthful of teeth.
“Hello, Soldier Bob.” Jessie studied the stitches from safely out of range.
Behind her, a voice demanded, “What are you doing?”
Jessie spun to find the very person she’d hoped to run into. Sherry Malone. “I didn’t think anyone was around.”
“So you’re just snooping.” The young woman—Jessie guessed her to be in her early twenties—glared at Jessie with blue-gray eyes that sparkled like ice, only twice as cold. A scar marred a face that might otherwise have been pretty. Hair the color of an old bale of straw hung down her back in a thick braid, gathered at the top by a silver and turquoise barrette. She wore a white tank top, and the bulging muscles in her tanned arms and shoulders would put a body builder to shame. Jessie may have stood several inches taller, but she wouldn’t want to take on this young woman in a fight.
“I’m not snooping. I saw this colt flip in the gate last night and wanted to make sure he was okay.”
“If he wasn’t, Neil would’ve called you.”
Would he?
Soldier Bob had relaxed a bit, so Jessie leaned in for a closer look at his head. “Who stitched him up?”
Sherry rammed her hands into her jeans’ pockets. “I did.”
“I didn’t realize you were licensed.”
Sherry didn’t answer. She looked toward the road.
“You aren’t, are you?” A little thing like a license to practice veterinary medicine wouldn’t matter to Emerick. Not if Sherry could save him some money.
“I’m waiting for the results of my boards. Then I will be.”
If the stitches were any indication, she was probably right. “Nice work.”
Sherry looked down but not before Jessie caught a glimpse of a proud smile.
“Do you have a minute?” Jessie asked. “I’d like to talk to you.”
Any hint of a smile vanished. “About what?”
“The night Doc died.”
Sherry jutted her jaw. “I don’t know what there is to talk about.”
Jessie leaned against the rough concrete block wall, trying to look casual. “It’s been nagging at me. Why he would go in Clown’s stall alone. Why weren’t you with him?”
Sherry’s jaw tightened. “Because he didn’t call me. I’d worked with him all day, but he was supposed to be on vacation as of midnight.” The look she gave Jessie was vaguely accusatory. “You were supposed to be on call for him. Why weren’t you there?”
The guilt of Sunday night struck Jessie once again. It should have been me. “I came as soon as I finished up with another emergency.” She wondered if she sounded as guilty as she felt.
Sherry’s voice dropped to a growl. “But it was too late then, wasn’t it?”
This wasn’t going as planned. Jessie battled to regain her composure. “What do you know about Clown?”
Sherry gave a reserved shrug. “What about him?”
“Doc went into the stall alone. If you worked with him for any length of time, you know how careful he was. He never took unnecessary chances.”
Sherry’s expression softened. “He wouldn’t have had any qualms about Clown. We treated him all the time. Oh, he acted like a bad ass, but it was all for show.”
Just as Zelda had claimed. “It wasn’t an act on Sunday night. Do you have any idea what happened?”
Sherry’s face turned stony again. “No.”
Jessie spotted something in her eyes. Sherry knew more than she was admitting. Jessie waited, holding Sherry’s gaze. But whatever Jessie thought she’d seen had vanished.
A distant voice called, “Through the middle.” A moment later Jessie heard footsteps muffled by the sandy surface of the shedrow. She and Sherry pressed closer to the wall to let the groom and horse pass.
Discouraged, Jessie asked one last question. “Don’t suppose you know who placed the call to Doc, do you?”
“Not a clue.”
“Thanks.” Jessie made no attempt to hide her sarcasm. “You’ve been very helpful.”
Sherry gave her a snide smile. “Anytime.”
Jessie had been bested, and she knew it. Looking over Sherry’s shoulder, Jessie watched the groom and his charge striding away from them. She moved to follow, but Sherry blocked her.
“You can go out that way.” She nodded toward the gap where Jessie had entered.
Jessie eyed her. Why was Sherry trying to keep her from taking an innocent stroll down the shedrow? “I’ve never been through Emerick’s barn before.” Jessie gave what she hoped looked like an earnest shrug. “I’d like to see what kind o
f horses he’s got.”
A flush of red tinged Sherry’s face. “You have no business in this barn unless Neil calls for you. And he hasn’t.”
“What’s the problem? I’m not going to bill Emerick for it.” Jessie sidestepped again.
Sherry moved with her. “Neil doesn’t like people snooping around. Some of our stuff has been coming up missing.”
“You think I’m here to steal something?”
Sherry’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Maybe.”
“Trust me. Neil Emerick has nothing I want.”
“Why should I trust you? Besides, Neil’s given orders. No one comes in his barn without his say-so.”
Jessie gazed past Sherry, down the shedrow. The groom and his charge had circled to the other side and were out of sight. Emerick was nowhere to be seen. No horses looked out of the next six or seven stalls. Farther down, a lone gray head hung over the stall webbing. Jessie looked behind her. The black with the star and even the dark chestnut that’d been snoozing were watching the two women. But in the other direction, nothing until the gray. Odd. Were all those stalls empty? Empty stalls meant no income. More than likely, the horses were tied up in the back corners so they couldn’t look out. But why?
“Okay,” Jessie said, slowly. “I’ll go.”
Jessie left the way she’d come. As she approached her truck, she pondered a whole new set of questions. What exactly was going on in Neil Emerick’s barn? What didn’t they want her to see?
Five
The sight of Greg’s Pennsylvania State Police Interceptor waiting in front of the clinic dampened Jessie’s mood more thoroughly than the drenching rain.
The impending divorce weighed heavy on her soul. She and Greg had been college sweethearts. He was the basketball star. She was the studious introvert. He could have had any girl he wanted, with his dark hair, indigo eyes, and heart-melting smile. The fact that he’d pursued her had boggled her mind. They’d married. He’d used his criminal justice degree to get a job with the PSP. She’d opened the Cameron Veterinary Hospital on the farm they’d bought together. Life was bliss. Happily ever after.
Until four months ago when he announced he was moving out. No warning. At least none that she’d seen.
Death by Equine Page 5
