“If you’ll stay right here with Huck, Daisy and I are going to retrieve Nan. Go ahead, Polly. I’ll come find you.”
Polly and Tom took off for the back of Sycamore House. She swiped on all of the lights around the place, hoping that wouldn’t scare the horses too much. Tom began to trot and she picked up her pace to stay with him. Rather than turn to go behind the kitchen, he headed down the driveway toward the road.
“Do you know where they are?” she asked, jogging alongside him. He continued toward the highway and Polly’s stomach sank. Those black horses would never be seen in the early morning darkness until it was too late. Tom pulled and she didn’t know if she would be able to run as fast as he wanted her to go. Then, she saw Demi at the corner about to head down into the creek bed.
“Demi!” she cried. He looked up at the two of them, threw his head in the air and whinnied in greeting, then turned and walked toward her. “Oh, you wonderful boy!” He stopped in front of her and let her put his halter on. She couldn’t do anything about the tears that were ready to flow. “I’m so glad you’re okay. What are you doing out here? Let’s go back home, okay?”
She led the two of them across the back yard to the pen and saw Eliseo coming out of the barn with Rebecca. “Have you seen Nat?” she asked.
He shook his head. “He never goes very far without Nan. We need to look for him. You take Demi on in. The other two are in their stalls. I’m going to look down in the creek bed. He tossed her another halter and lead. “When you get Demi settled, you’d better check the road out front, just in case he went that way.
Polly took the horse and donkey into the barn and led Demi into his stall, removed the lead and shut the door. “You stay here, Tom. I can’t worry about you, too.” She went back out the front door and turned to the road going south. They’d been on this road quite a few times with the horses, maybe he knew where he was going and was taking a walk. She turned her phone’s flashlight app on and shone it around, looking for anything that might resemble a large black horse. There was nothing, but she continued to head south.
How long had the animals been out? What in the world had happened? Her body did a full-blown shudder and she stopped and opened her email. She’d received an email at three forty-five from ‘igotyou.’
I’m serious now, pretty girl. You have enough in your life, don’t you think? I can keep this up until you have nothing left. Let him go.
That was enough. She’d never responded to the other emails because it seemed senseless to fight with a ghost. She didn’t want to give this person the attention they were craving, but this was too much.
Come out and face me, you miserable coward. Messing with my animals was low, she replied.
“Polly!” Rebecca yelled from the back of the barn. “We found him. He’s hurt.”
“No,” Polly was deflated. She ran back up the road and into the barn. “Where did you find him?” she asked Eliseo.
He was on his knees beside the horse, checking his front leg. There was blood coming from a cut. “How bad is it?” she asked.
“I’m going to call Mark. This one might need stitches.”
“I’ll call. You do whatever you have to do to get the blood stopped.” Polly walked away and dialed her veterinarian.
“Good morning, Polly. This is kind of early. What’s up?”
“I don’t even know what time it is,” she said. “Someone let the horses out and Nat got hurt. Eliseo thinks he needs stitches.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re fine. At least I think they’re fine. Eliseo didn’t say, but I think Nat climbed down the creek bed embankment.”
“I’ll be over. Don’t worry about him.”
“Thank you, Mark. I appreciate it.” As soon as she knew he was coming, her body relaxed and then her throat closed up as she started to cry.
“I mean it, Polly. He’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She ended the call and slumped on a bench, barely missing a cat. Hansel had been sitting there watching the activity and he rubbed her arm. She picked him up and held him close, listening to his purring.
Rebecca sat down beside her. “Eliseo says he’ll be okay. He let me help him clean the blood off Nat’s leg.”
Polly started sobbing. The cat jumped out of her arms and climbed up the door into Demi’s stall to get away from her.
“He’s going to be okay, Polly. It wasn’t that bad.” Rebecca tried to reassure her.
“I know,” Polly mumbled through the tears. She reached out and gathered Rebecca close to her. “What would we have done without you here? You were a hero. Thank you so much.” She laid her face on top of Rebecca’s head. “Thank you for helping us, too. You were amazing.”
“I want to be a vet when I grow up,” Rebecca said, trying to pull back. Polly released her, but kept an arm around her back.
“That would be wonderful,” Polly said. “You haven’t met Doctor Ogden yet, have you?”
“Is he a good veterinarian?”
“He’s the best.” Polly winked down at Rebecca. “And he’s really cute, too. You’ll see.”
Rebecca giggled. “I thought you liked Henry.”
“I love Henry, but Doc Ogden is very nice to look at.”
“You’re funny,” Rebecca said. “Do you feel better?”
“I do. Thank you.” Polly stood up. “I suppose we might as well feed them and clean out their stalls.”
“Nan made a big mess in the garden. Eliseo said he nearly walked in it.”
Polly chuckled. “Oh great. There are probably several of those messes around the yard that we’ll need to find.”
“How did they get out, Polly?”
She sat back down. “Rebecca, there is someone who is trying to hurt me. You saw the message on my garage door, right?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Well, last fall, this person splattered paint on the front of Sycamore House and broke some windows, too. I don’t know why they’re doing this, but they got in here last night and let the horses out to upset me.”
“They had to have practically pushed these horses out,” Eliseo said. “The stall doors and gates were all open, but the horses wouldn’t have moved that far unless they had some help.”
“So whoever did this not only put my animals in danger, they probably scared them pretty badly too.”
“They did, but Polly, now that they’re home and safe, they’ll calm down. You can’t fret. They’ll let it go sooner than you do.”
She stood up and took a deep breath. “I’m not letting it go.” Then she sat back down. “I need to call the police.” She stood up again. “No, I’ll do that later. Since you have Nat out, I’ll start with his stall. I need to work off some of this tension.” She grabbed a muck rake and wheel barrow and headed for the open stall.
Eliseo came in behind her with fresh bedding and hay. “The horses are going to be fine, Polly. I promise.”
“I know that. I do know that. We have no idea who is doing this, though. What will they do next? It’s so random and we never know when it’s going to happen.”
“It won’t happen down here again. I must have missed something when I left last night.”
“It’s not your fault. They would have found a way in,” she said. “Thank you for coming so quickly this morning, though. All I could think was that I needed to call you.”
“I was already showered and dressed, but I didn’t get my coffee,” he said, chuckling.
They had started on Nan’s stall when Polly heard a familiar voice. “Where’s my patient?” Mark called out.
She stuck her head out of the stall door and watched as he approached Rebecca. “You’re too pretty to be my patient this morning. What’s your name?”
“I’m Rebecca,” the little girl said. She pointed at Nat. “He’s the patient. His leg is hurt. Can I watch you sew him up?”
“You want to watch?”
“I want to be a veterinarian when I grow up. Can I?�
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“Of course you can. The first thing I’m going to do is tell him how glad I am that he’s okay, though.” Nat nuzzled Mark’s shoulder. Of all the animals, Nat loved the veterinarian the most. “Buddy, you aren’t going to be happy with me today,” Mark said. “But we’ll get through it.” He walked around the horse, stroking him and looking to make sure there weren’t any other wounds.
Eliseo joined them. “I’ve checked the others, but I wouldn’t mind if you gave them a once over. They’ve had quite a morning.”
Mark nodded and then caught Polly in the stall door. “Do you want to watch too, Polly?”
“Not on your life!” She laughed and stepped away from him. “You take care of the horses and I’ll pick up their mess. Blood and I aren’t very good friends.” She slipped past them to get feed for Demi, trying to avoid seeing what was happening to her horse. Rebecca watched the whole thing with rapt attention. Hansel ventured back out into the alley and sat beside the little girl as events unfolded.
Polly fed Demi and then moved around him to clean out his stall. Gretel was tucked into a corner.
“What’s up with you, little girl?” Polly asked. “Too much excitement for one morning? Come here.” She bent over and put out a hand. Gretel ignored her. “That’s a good cat,” she laughed. “You’re doing exactly what you should be doing.” She tried to make sure she didn’t disturb the cat while cleaning, but soon Gretel skittered out of the stall and took off. Demi looked up. “I know. I’m rotten,” Polly said. “She’ll be back in a bit. She has a bit of a crush on you.”
She finished laying out fresh bedding when Mark walked in. “Nat is fine. It was just a cut, but it was deep. He ran into something out there, but we’ve cleaned and stapled it and Eliseo will keep an eye on it. How are you?”
“I’m a wreck,” she said. “I want to kill someone.”
“Does this have to do with the rest of the vandalism happening around here?”
“Yes.” She pulled out her phone and showed him the message. “Every time something happens, I get a taunting email and Aaron’s tech-goddess tells me the person is using my Wi-Fi connection to send the messages. I’m so frustrated I don’t know what to do.”
He gave her a hug. “I’m sorry. If there’s anything else I can do, you’ll let me know, right?”
“Thanks for coming right over. I appreciate it.”
“Any time. You know I love these beasts and I still feel like I owe you for taking all of this on.”
Polly put her hand on the stall door. “This whole place and everything in it is part of me now. You don’t owe me anything. I can’t imagine living without my animals and my friends.”
“It’s a little too early to be that philosophical.”
“Whatever,” she said. “So, have you talked to Sal lately?” Sal Kahane was one of Polly’s closest friends from Boston. She’d met Mark Ogden last year and the two had fallen into a strange long-distance relationship. They’d probably get married before she and Henry did, even if they didn’t see each other very often.
“We talked last night.”
“When are you seeing her again?”
“Probably not for a while,” he grimaced. “There’s too much going on for both of us.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Of course I’m not, but what am I supposed to do?”
“You need to see her. She needs to see you.”
“Did she say something?”
“No, but she sounds lonely.”
He sighed. “You’re right. I’m lonely too.”
“You two are nuts, you know. I can’t imagine doing what you’re doing and maintaining any sanity.”
“You barely maintain sanity as it is,” he laughed. “I’m going to check the other two and then start my day.” He turned to leave.
“Thanks again, Mark.”
“No problem.”
Eliseo took the rake from Polly. “You and Rebecca go back up to the apartment. I’ll take care of Daisy. I think Rebecca is looking forward to telling her mom what happened.”
“Thank you, Eliseo. I’ll make sure the coffee is ready.”
“I’ll be up in a bit.” He grinned at her. “And then I’d better travel around the property looking for horse droppings. I don’t want cars driving over that.”
“Come on, Rebecca. Let’s get cleaned up and have some breakfast.”
The two walked up to Sycamore House and Polly said. “How did you like watching Doc Ogden fix Nat’s leg?”
“That was really cool. Andrew is going to be jealous that I got to see him do that. But he gets to be around you when you find dead bodies. He’s still ahead of me.”
“I’m a terrible influence on you kids,” Polly said, holding the side door open for Rebecca to walk through.
“No, you’re awesome. Mom never let me do things like this before.”
“Hold on just a minute, I promised Eliseo I would make coffee for him.” Polly went into the office and flipped on the coffee pot. The clock read six thirty. They’d had a long morning already.
“I need to take Obiwan outside. When we get upstairs, you can take the first shower.”
“Do you want me to make breakfast? I do that when Mom isn’t feeling very good or when she worked late the night before.”
“That would be fantastic. What is your favorite thing to make?”
“Sometimes I make pancakes, but I can cook eggs and bacon and toast.”
“I have eggs and bacon in the refrigerator. I’ll slice some bread for toast and start the coffee pot before I take Obiwan out.”
“Can I feed the cats too?”
“Absolutely. They’ll love you forever. Race?”
They ran up the steps giggling until Polly put her finger over her lips. “We don’t want to wake the neighbors,” she whispered and opened the door to the apartment.
Before she went outside with Obiwan, Polly sliced bread and started the coffee pot. Her dog was thrilled to head down the back steps and when she opened the back door, he took off at a run. All of a sudden, she felt weak, like she’d run a long distance race.
She leaned on the sill, pulled out her phone and placed a call.
“Good morning, Polly. You’re up early,” Henry said.
“The vandal let my horses out. I had to call Eliseo at five o’clock to come help me get them in and Nat cut his leg. Mark has already been here to staple it and now I’m waiting for Obiwan to do his thing and Rebecca is making breakfast and …”
“Whoa. Slow down. Are you okay?”
“I’m exhausted. I know that Rebecca and I have to go to Boone, but I’m afraid I’m about to be a bad babysitter. I’m going to let Rachel watch television while I take a nap.”
“Polly, I’m so sorry. Did you get an email this time?”
“Yeah. This one was a little nastier. Henry, we have to figure out who this is. I can’t take it anymore.” She heard the whine in her own voice, but exhaustion and frustration had taken control.
“You’re right, Polly. I really haven’t given it enough thought. There isn’t anyone that I can think of who would do this. Have you called the police?”
“I’ll call them later. I just want to go back upstairs and collapse.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.”
“Eliseo came right over and even Rebecca helped. She was the one who woke me up because she heard something outside.”
“I’m surprised Obiwan didn’t hear it. He’s usually pretty good.”
“I don’t know. I’m just glad she was here.”
“Can I do anything for you today?”
“No. I’ll take Obiwan in and then get a shower. Rebecca is making breakfast and then I think we’re going to sit down on the couch until I can move again.”
“I love you, Polly and I’ll see you later.”
“I love you too.”
After they hung up, she c
alled for Obiwan. He wasn’t happy to come back, but breakfast was always a good motivator. He ran up the steps and into the kitchen to find that Rebecca had already put his food out. The little girl was in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, her hair was wet and she was singing in the kitchen. Polly smiled as she watched, then went into the bathroom, shut the door and turned on the shower.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Not wanting to push the little girl, Polly was hesitant to ask too many questions. But Rebecca’s fidgeting in the passenger seat was becoming more and more pronounced.
“What’s up, sweetie?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing seems to be bothering you a lot, but if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay.”
“I wish I had something to make Mom’s hospital room nicer. The only flowers in there are the ones you took her last week. She doesn’t have anyone to give her things.”
“What would you like to take to her?” Polly asked. “We can stop at the gift shop and get flowers. Or maybe a balloon?”
“I should have gone to our house. She’d probably like her robe and maybe one of her candles. She loves candles, Polly.”
“I don’t think she can light candles in the hospital room, but if you want to get one so she can have it later, we could do that. Would you like to buy her a pretty robe?”
Rebecca’s face lit up, “Could we? Hers isn’t very pretty, but it’s warm.”
“We’ll stop and buy one for her. How does that sound?”
“It’s probably too much money and we can’t afford it anyway. How is Mom going to work if she has cancer?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. You have enough to worry about. I can afford a robe and a nice candle.”
Rebecca got quiet again and Polly asked, “Is something else worrying you?” She drove past the corner for the hospital to the south side of town. The big department store would have everything they needed.
“Polly?”
“Yes, Rebecca.”
“What’s going to happen to me if Mom dies?”
Polly took a breath, looked around quickly, turned off onto a side street and parked her truck. This conversation needed her full attention. “That’s a tough question, Rebecca. How long have you been thinking about this?”
Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change Page 16
