Unfinished Business: Kovak & Quaid Horse Mystery Series (Kovak & Quaid Horse Mysteries Book 3)

by Toni Leland

  As the evening chores had progressed, the barn crew had stayed clear of the activities in Commander’s corner. Kim thought that was odd, so she’d made it her business to talk to every one of the people there. No one knew anything, though one of the workers mentioned a woman who was usually only called when they were shorthanded. Apparently, she had a bit of a mean streak. The morning crew would be the people who might have witnessed the accident. Kim had their names and would talk to each and every one of them.

  She thought about Brooks’s subdued-but-wary attitude when he’d come back to the barn after the vet left. The old man had been in the horse business for decades and he must have recognized his vulnerability. The whole situation could end up in a major lawsuit that might cost him his barn.

  So it came as no surprise to her that he handed over a check to reimburse her for the second half of the board for March. No comments, just the check.

  Garrett’s voice startled her out of the deep thoughts.

  “You know, I find it hard to believe that Brooks would hire a new female employee and not make sure she knew about Commander. Don’t you find that strange?”

  “Yes, I do. But maybe she was warned. Maybe she thought she could handle him. Especially if she was an experienced horse person.”

  Garrett snorted. “The way he acts around women? Are you kidding?”

  “She could have gotten inside the stall, then been trapped. She’s the only one who can tell us exactly what happened. We should go see her.” Kim sighed. “Would you like me to check out some other boarding stables?”

  “Hold off on that. I need to make a couple of phone calls.”

  He pulled his truck up next to Kim’s car in his driveway and turned off the ignition. “I’m not gonna be able to go with you to meet your friend tomorrow. Obviously, I have to get Commander squared away, and it might take some time.”

  “Oh, gosh, I forgot all about Shareen.” Kim reached into her purse and retrieved her phone, which she’d left in the truck while they were at the barn. “Two messages from her. Guess I’d better get home and call her back.”

  “Keep me posted. I’m gonna swing by the office tomorrow and see how Gail is making out. I feel bad leaving her with that mess.”

  He leaned across the seat and brushed his lips across Kim’s cheek. “G’night. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  ~ ~

  Inside his little house, Quaid walked from room to room, replaying the events of the evening. Anger surged through his chest at the memory of Commander’s wound. The poor old guy had trembled uncontrollably as the vet cleaned and stitched that tender part of the horse’s nose. How Quaid would love to know who’d inflicted that injury on his horse. He’d make them pay. Kim had mentioned that Brooks didn’t even know about it. Most likely, the perpetrator was another barn worker, and most probably a male, given Commander’s reputation with women. Quaid shook his head. He hadn’t been around Running Brook enough to meet all the staff. The only male he’d met was that young man, Chance, but he didn’t seem the type to beat a horse.

  A hard sigh. He needed to get Commander out of there before something else happened.

  He reached for the phone. He knew someone that just might be able to help him out.

  ~ ~

  The next morning, Gail looked up as Quaid came through the door. “Hey! How are ya?”

  Quaid looked around at the boxes stacked on every available surface. “I’m good. Looks like you’re making progress.”

  She pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Yeah, almost done. One more day, then I’m outta here.” She stepped over to the desk and picked up an envelope and handed it to him.

  “This came for you. And there was a phone call for you on Saturday.” She moved papers around, frowning. “Darn, I put it here. What have I done – packed it?”

  “Do you remember who it was from?”

  “No, she didn’t give her name, but said she’d try again today. I didn’t tell her you don’t work here anymore – figured she might be a future client for you.”

  He smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate that. If she turns into one, I’ll give you a finder’s fee. In fact, that applies to anyone you send my way.”

  “Sweet! I’ll get my network going.”

  “So, what are you going to do when you’re done with this?”

  “Oh, I have another job with a local insurance agent. Timing was perfect.”

  Quaid tucked the envelope into his pocket. “Excellent. Well, guess I’ll get on down the road. You take care.”

  Gail’s eyes widened as she glanced past Quaid’s shoulder. “May I help you?”

  Quaid turned and sucked in a sharp breath.

  Sophia Barevsky walked toward him, her features soft with uncertainty. “Mr. Quaid? May I speak to you in private?”

  Chapter 69

  Quaid couldn’t speak for a couple of moments, as he stared at what he thought was a dead woman.

  She shook her head and glanced toward Gail. “Please, I want to sit down. I have been up for over seventy-two hours now.”

  Quaid blinked. Her Ukranian accent was thick and rich, exactly as he remembered it in Chicago. Strange. On closer inspection, her features were drawn and pale. Her hair wasn’t as neatly coifed as before, and her clothes were a little rumpled.

  Quaid turned and opened the door to his former office and stepped aside to let her enter. Closing the door quietly, he turned and leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

  “You want to tell me what the hell is going on? And I need to see your identification again.”

  Her eyes widened. “Again? What do you mean?”

  Quaid scowled. “Don’t play dumb. We know that your previous visit was a fishing expedition to find out what we knew about the theft ring. It didn’t make sense that Interpol wouldn’t have all the details.”

  She slowly handed him her badge, then lowered herself gingerly into a chair and let out a short breath. “I am confused. I have not seen you since Chicago. Please explain.”

  Quaid examined the ID, then handed it back. “No. You explain why you are pretending that our last meeting didn’t happen.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I see ...” She sighed and shook her head. “I have a twin. Inga was always the black sheep in the family. She defied our papa’s wishes to continue performing with the troupe, going off on her own, disappearing for months at a time. She –”

  “Wait a minute. You were both acrobats?”

  “Yes, as little girls we were a big attraction, but Inga wanted other things for herself.” Sophia’s eyes darkened. “She began running with dangerous people, dark and forbidding men who treated her badly. After Inga got into trouble with some mobsters in Russia, she found a way to get out of the country and come here. Of course, she had no trouble finding work – especially with her experience with horses.”

  Quaid pushed away from the wall and moved to a chair across from her. “So, which of you performed at the Knight’s Theater in Chicago?”

  “I did, but I was also undercover for Interpol at that time, so I knew that you had been involved in a horse theft investigation. And that’s why I’m here.”

  Quaid narrowed his eyes. “Meaning ...?”

  Barevsky’s expression hardened. “My sister has evaded the law repeatedly by taking advantage of our twinning, by using my name and fake identification to get into places she shouldn’t. She and an international criminal have been at the heart of a horse theft operation with a wide reach. She would have come here to you to tie up some loose ends.” Barevsky’s dark eyes glistened. “You can’t imagine how painful it is to be tracking down my own flesh and blood like a common criminal.”

  “So, your sister posed as Interpol and came to talk to us?”

  A solemn nod. “Yes, I’m sure she was trying to stay one step ahead of my investigation and protect her partners.” Barevsky’s voice caught. “But now that’s finished. She died in a plane crash six days ago. But I am here because the one man Interpol wants was not o
n that plane. He’s still out there somewhere, pulling his strings, making millions in trafficking stolen valuable horses. He rubs elbows with kings and princes and dictators. He slithers through the system by padding the pockets of unfortunates who turn a blind eye to his activities. We believe he sabotaged the plane. He killed my sister.” She looked at Quaid, long and hard. “This man will stop at nothing to eliminate anyone who threatens his activities.”

  Quaid’s stomach sank. Sophia Barevsky had come to warn that he and Kim – especially Kim – were in mortal danger.

  He took a deep breath. “And who is this man?”

  “Charles Léon.”

  ~ ~

  Quaid’s thoughts raced as he drove home from his surprise meeting with Barevsky. The upshot of the meeting had been a solemn warning about an international criminal, and a plea from Barevsky to let her know any developing situations that might arise as a result of his or Kim’s involvement in the theft case. His chest tightened. The foiled kidnapping could only infuriate Léon, making the probability of future trouble almost a given. Quaid would absolutely have to sit down with Kim and lay out a strategy for her safety. He exhaled hard. And right now, Kim was meeting with her Egyptian friend, dabbling again in Léon’s business.

  Chapter 70

  Kim’s heart wrenched as she listened to Shareen’s despair.

  “They’re gone! I can’t believe this! Oh my God, Kim, what shall I do?”

  “What do you mean? Shareen, calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

  A sob erupted through the phone, sending Kim’s heart into a downward spiral. She waited, pulse thumping in her ears.

  Shareen finally regained her composure.

  “I met the officer in charge of the complaint. He said that when they arrived at the farm, there were no horses that matched the descriptions. They think the anonymous tip was a hoax.” She began to cry uncontrollably, her words coming in snatches. “What am I going to do?”

  Kim felt nauseated. This was all her fault. What could she do to make it right?

  “Shareen, did they tell you the name of the farm owner?”

  “No, but apparently she has a lot of money and a big reputation.”

  Kim took a deep breath. This is awful.

  “Shareen, the farm owner is Vivica Wheeler. She’s the one I was investigating in Scottsdale. I know what I saw in her barn. I took those photographs. I promise you – I will do everything in my power to find your girls and get them back to you.”

  For long minutes after the conversation, Kim paced her apartment, a jumble of thoughts connecting and disconnecting. Vivica Wheeler had become a focal point of ever-growing importance.

  I have to do something.

  She grabbed her keys and coat.

  ~ ~

  Kim pulled into the parking area at Running Brook and took a deep breath. She had to get away and think. The debacle with Shareen’s horses weighed heavily on her heart. If she hadn’t meddled and snooped around Wheeler’s barn, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened. But neither would her discovery of Shareen’s horses. Wheeler’s barn helper must have mentioned showing Kim the quarantine barn, and that had alerted Wheeler. Which meant, of course, that she had something to hide – stolen horses. Clearly, she’d whisked them away to another location before the Indiana authorities could contact her. How Kim would find those horses again was another matter.

  She climbed out of the car and strode toward the barn, putting Shareen out of her mind for the time being. One way or the other, this morning she intended to find out exactly what had happened to Commander yesterday. She looked at the staff list Brooks had given her. The four workers she’d spoken to the night before had checkmarks beside their names. That left five for the morning crew, plus the new girl – who was in the hospital – and two on-call workers, one man, one woman. Kim worked to quell her anger using the focus exercises she’d been taught at the academy.

  Inside the barn, the familiar smells and sounds further calmed her agitated thoughts, and she headed toward Bandit’s stall, calling his name.

  He whinnied loudly and banged the stall door with his front hoof. Several other horses stuck their heads out and joined the chorus. Kim looked toward Commander’s stall, but the horse was at the back with his rump toward the door. Yesterday’s disaster might have set his progress back immeasurably. Kim turned her attention back to her own horse, who nosed her jacket, searching for the treats she always brought.

  As she fed him the carrot chunks, she stroked his sleek neck, thinking about all the events that had brought her to this place. She’d rescued him. He’d rescued her. Together, they’d rescued Commander. Maybe Commander rescued Garrett. There had to be a way to smooth the path to the future for all of them. She glanced around the barn. This place wasn’t the answer. Maybe when Garrett found another barn for Commander, Kim could find a way to move Bandit too. She gave him another pat on the neck, pulled out her list, and headed across the aisle toward a woman who was filling water buckets.

  “Good morning. May I ask you something?”

  The woman looked up and smiled. “Sure. What do you need?”

  “Were you here yesterday?”

  The woman’s smile faded and she looked puzzled. “Yeah, why?”

  “Do you happen to know what happened with that horse in the corner stall? The black one.”

  “Oh, I went home early with a migraine. I only heard about it this morning when I came in.”

  “And ...?”

  The woman shifted uncomfortably. “I just heard that the new girl got hurt. I don’t know any details.”

  Kim’s gut told her that the woman knew more than she was saying, but if it were only hearsay, then there wasn’t any point in upsetting her.

  “Did you know that the horse was injured also?”

  A quick shake of the head. “There’s a sign on the door not to feed him, but none of us goes in there anyway. Too dangerous.”

  “Well, someone went in there, danger or not, and beat him across the nose with something.”

  The woman’s face went white. “Oh, my gosh, no!” She glanced toward Commander’s stall. “He’s a nasty horse, but he doesn’t deserve to be abused.”

  Kim softened her tone. “Do you know of anyone in this barn that would do something like that?”

  Something flickered in the woman’s eyes, then she sucked in a sharp breath. “Mr. Brooks must have called one of the part-timers to fill in for me.” She glanced around, then lowered her voice. “The woman is a complete bitch. She’s rough with all the horses and has a mean temper. If she was here yesterday, she’d be your first suspect.”

  Kim pulled out Garrett’s card. “If you think of anything more, please call.”

  The woman’s eyes widened. “You’re a private investigator?”

  “Yes and no, but that’s not what this is about. My partner and I own Commander and we want to know who’s responsible for hurting him.”

  An hour later, Kim had talked to the other two workers who were at the barn the day of Commander’s attack. The bottom line was that everyone had finished their chores and moved to outside work at the time the event must have occurred. No one had actually been inside the barn to witness it. One worker did say that the new girl was a little cocky, talked a lot about how long she’d been caring for horses, how much she rode, and so on. And yeah, it was possible that she ignored the warnings about Commander’s attitude toward women.

  Kim walked back to her car, pondering everything she’d learned, and it all pointed to the on-call barn worker. She dialed the woman’s number. The phone rang several times and Kim was just about to disconnect when a man’s gravely voice answered.

  Kim cleared her throat. “May I speak to Ardyth Webster, please?”

  “She ain’t here.”

  “Do you know when she’ll be back.”

  “Prob’ly never. She cleared outta here in the middle of the night. Left a note sayin’ she had a job offer in Michigan. Who is this, anyway?”
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  Kim pressed ‘END’ and tossed the phone on the seat. “Crap.”

  She stared through the windshield for a few minutes, watching some horses basking in the morning sun. Frustration burned through her head. Vivica Wheeler had not only killed unwanted colts and cheated the insurance company, her arrogant greed had spilled over into Shareen’s life.

  Kim turned the key in the ignition, speaking out loud. “Not to mention what she’s done to her own community.”

  Kim punched the gas a little too hard and gravel sprayed out behind the car as she headed down the lane.

  Chapter 71

  As Quaid pulled into his driveway, he grabbed his phone and dialed. He couldn’t wait for a face-to-face conversation with Kim – he had to let her know right now to be alert. Her phone went straight to voice mail. He disconnected and stared at his home. Or rather, the house he rented, not a home. His phone rang and he picked it up, anticipating hearing Kim’s voice.

  “Hi, Garrett. Sandy Barnes calling you back. How’ve you been?”

  “Pretty good, how about yourself?”

  “Can’t complain, especially now that the snow is gone and I can actually think about riding outside for a change.”

  “I hear you. The reason I called is there’s been a bit of a problem at the barn and I need to move Commander.”

  “Yes, I heard. What happened?”

  “We’re not completely sure yet, but I wondered if you know anyone with an available stall for a short term stay.”

  “Hmm, let me think. Oh, actually, I do. A client at the therapy facility just lost a horse to colic. They’re really good people. They might be able to help you out. Want me to call and ask?”

  “Would you? That would be terrific.”