Horse of a Different Killer (A Call of the Wilde Mystery Book 3)

by Laura Morrigan

  “Don’t look at me like that, missy. I got some questions for you.”

  I’d wanted a distraction from my impending—what? Appointment? Liaison? But asking Nelly to describe where she’d been and what she’d seen was more than I’d bargained for.

  Nelly, like most goats, explored her surroundings with her mouth.

  Which meant I sat in the living room listening while she categorized every weed, stick, and who-knew-what she’d sampled.

  Most of the time, the visual feedback was limited to shades of dull green. I had no idea what she was talking about and no clue how to use the information.

  I was offered a reprieve when my phone started playing salsa music.

  “Wes.”

  “Got a minute?”

  “Is that supposed to be funny?”

  “No, why?”

  “Sorry. Kai has me on house arrest.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Any news on Emma?”

  “My sources say the state attorney is rethinking the murder charge.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Not exactly. There’s more of a precedent for manslaughter in regards to COD being commotio cordis.”

  “What about Mr. Jingles and Cowboy?”

  “Until there’s more to go on than the testimony of Emma’s sister, the state attorney isn’t willing to hold off. She’ll be formally charged today.”

  CHAPTER 16

  “Have you caught the bad guys yet?” I asked Kai when he called a few hours later.

  “No, but Jake put out a BOLO for Dr. Simon’s car. It will take time, but if they’re in the area, we’ll find them.”

  “I know one way you could find them—”

  “Forget it.”

  “But—”

  “We are not using you as bait, Grace.”

  “But it would work, wouldn’t it?”

  “You’re not risking your life to try to catch these men.”

  “I wouldn’t be risking my life, not if you guys were there, like a setup or a sting or something.”

  “This isn’t a cop show, Grace, we don’t put civilians in danger to catch suspects.”

  “Right, I know that. I think being cooped up all day is getting to me.”

  “That’s one reason I called. I wanted to bring you lunch.”

  “Lunch sounds wonderful.”

  “What are you in the mood for?”

  Honestly, I was in the mood to get the hell out of the house, but would settle for having a hot guy bring me food.

  “They’re charging Emma today,” I told him after we’d settled on sandwiches.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I just feel so useless. I keep thinking, if I can figure out who took Heart and why, I’ll be one step closer to understanding why Mr. Jingles and Cowboy are after him. That’s the key, isn’t it? If I figure out what they want, then maybe you guys will know who to look for.”

  “And you think figuring out who they are will clear Emma?”

  “It can’t hurt.”

  “No, it can’t. But I think there’s something else you can do.”

  “What?”

  “I talked to Tammy—she’s really hung up on your involvement with Sartori.”

  “What can I do about that?”

  “She knows you asked me to help find Brooke, but she assumes it was at Sartori’s request.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You want me to tell Boyle about my ability.”

  “I can back you up, Grace. We can show her there’s an explanation for every suspicion she has about you.”

  “You really think she’ll believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  He had a lot more faith in her than I did. “Did you call and offer to bring me lunch just to butter me up?”

  “I’m offering to bring you lunch because I want to see you.”

  “Then I accept your offer. And I’ll think about it.”

  “You might want to talk to Wes. See if he wants to do his honey badger impression.”

  “Honey badger?” Wes was going to love that.

  “Just check with him and see if he has a problem with you talking to her. I know how he is about that kind of thing.”

  I talked to Wes. He didn’t have a problem with it if I didn’t.

  The thought of opening up to someone like Boyle made my lip curl. But I would do anything to help my sister.

  To make use of the time, I reexamined how I’d approached Nelly earlier. I was going to have to narrow the concept if I wanted any hope of success.

  Maybe the problem wasn’t so much how broadly I’d phrased the question, but the perspective.

  Instead of asking her to recall what she’d seen recently and weighing the question with an image of Heart as I thought of him, maybe I needed to have a goat’s-eye view.

  I went back to my laptop and watched the commercial featuring Jasmine and Heart, focusing on the segments that showed his legs. Then I combined the movement with the other full-length photographs I’d seen of him. Trying to memorize every detail of his lower half, as if seeing from a goat’s perspective.

  Holding those images in my mind, I sat on the couch in front of where the goat stood, balanced on the corner of the coffee table.

  Nelly.

  I reached out both mentally and with my hand, then offered the composition to her.

  Have you seen this horse?

  It happened in a flash. The image of Heart I’d given Nelly fluttered back and forth from desert sands to green pasture. It lasted only for a second, but I knew.

  It was Heart.

  She’d seen Heart. He stood in a pasture ringed with tall pine trees. I saw a barn, chicken coops, and even got a glimpse of the house.

  “Ha! Good girl.” I stood up, grabbed her by the horns and kissed the little star on her forehead.

  I was so excited when Kai knocked on the door a few minutes later I overwhelmed him with a flood of information before he made it into the kitchen.

  “Hold on, start over. You said Nelly knows where Heart is?”

  “Yes! She saw him.” I tried to explain the goat-vision, then noticed he was still holding bags of food. “Let’s sit out back. I’ll grab the drinks.”

  The day was bright and beautiful, the view of the Atlantic—breathtaking.

  “You sure you want to move?” Kai asked as he unwrapped his sandwich.

  “No—I love the beach. But I can’t live with my sister forever. Look at the company I keep.” I pointed at the animals lounging about.

  “A motley crew,” he agreed.

  “Tell me about what Nelly saw.”

  “It was him, Kai, I know it. Heart was standing in a pasture. With pine trees. That wasn’t coming from me.”

  He smiled.

  “Any landmarks? A place you recognized?”

  My excitement faded. “No.”

  “Well, you know Heart’s close to where you found Nelly—a goat can only go so far.”

  “Maybe if I could drive around the area . . .”

  Kai didn’t bother to respond; he just gave me a look.

  “How else am I going to find him?”

  “Why don’t you try Google Earth or one of the other online maps? You can go to the street view and see if you recognize any of the houses.”

  Having never done so before, Kai showed me how to take the little virtual man and drop him on a particular road.

  “If you start at R-n-R, which is . . . here.” He clicked back to the satellite image and pointed at an area that, when I canted my head, lined up with my idea of where the stables were.

  “Okay.”

  “Then work your way out in either a spiral or a grid pattern.”

  “Sounds very CSI-ish.”

  “It’s how
I walk crime scenes all the time.”

  His phone chirped. After glancing at the screen, he said, “Speaking of which—I’ve got to go.”

  “You’re not going to ask about Boyle?”

  “I figured you’d let me know.”

  “Set up the big reveal. She already thinks my sister and I are criminals, so what’s the worst that could happen?”

  • • •

  I began virtually combing the places around R-n-R but made little progress.

  “I’m getting nowhere,” I said to Nelly, who had curled up on one of the outside chairs to chew her cud and watch me mutter to myself as I stared at the computer screen.

  A lot of the houses were set too far back from the road to see. I was probably getting a good look at only half of the area’s homes, if that.

  I sat back and looked at the goat.

  The later it got, the less open the goat had been to chat. As it neared sunset, no amount of coaxing would convince her to focus on Heart.

  Her instincts were telling her to take advantage of the nice, raised bed the chair provided, and snooze. Roscoe, freshly finished with a rousing game of tag with Voodoo, hopped onto the adjacent seat and flopped down to rest.

  I saw how low my battery was and went inside to plug in the laptop. Then, in an attempt to distract myself from thinking about Boyle’s imminent visit, decided to clean the condo.

  Emma kept things neat and organized so it didn’t take long to straighten both the living and dining rooms. I’d already put things to rights after Boyle’s deputies ransacked the place . . .

  I froze, then rushed into the living room, lifted the couch cushions, and snatched up the yellow USB stick.

  Crap!

  With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten about it. And now Boyle was coming back.

  “Calm down,” I told myself. She couldn’t search the house again, could she?

  I still had to hide the stupid thing.

  Kai would be knocking on the door any minute.

  With a growl of uncertainty and frustration, I ran into my bedroom and stuffed the USB stick in one of my boots.

  Just as I walked back into the living area to make sure the couch cushions were straight, there was a knock at the door.

  Kai had arrived with dinner.

  “Before we eat, can we take everyone out for a potty break?”

  “Sure.”

  I asked him to act as lookout as I smuggled Nelly out of the condo.

  Having had dinner, the goat wasn’t very interested in taking more than a little nibble here and there. About five minutes later, we hurried back inside, careful to avoid making any noise that might attract Mr. Cavanaugh.

  “Thanks,” I said after getting the crew settled. “And thank you for bringing me food again.”

  “I brought you this, too.”

  Kai held up a long rolled-up tube of paper.

  I unfurled it and laid it on the dining room table. It was a copy of a huge aerial photograph. I recognized the property in the center.

  “It’s R-n-R.”

  “I calculated the probable distance a goat could travel in two weeks, given where she started and where you found her. Which makes this”—he traced his finger over a red circle—“the most likely area of travel.”

  “This is amazing.”

  “I thought it might be easier to work on both the computer and this map.”

  Kai handed me my pita wrap and a pen.

  “Let’s start eliminating properties where we know Heart isn’t.”

  We ate and marked the map. I crossed out the places I’d virtually visited, then recognized The Oaks and marked it off, too.

  Even though a good chunk of the search area was in Jennings, there were at least thirty homes on the map.

  “Well, it’s a start, at least,” Kai said.

  It was.

  “Tammy will be here soon. How do you want to do this?” Kai asked. “Should I tell her, or—”

  “No. I’ll do it. But if you can think of anything to say that might make her a little more open-minded, that probably can’t hurt.”

  “You really don’t think she’ll listen, do you.”

  There was a loud knock at the door.

  “Let’s find out.”

  I took Moss and Voodoo and put them in my bedroom. Roscoe and Nelly were on the back deck.

  Kai let Detective Boyle in and we all took a seat in the living room.

  “Thanks for coming, Tammy,” Kai said diplomatically. “I know you think I’m not very objective when it comes to Grace, and you’re right. But when it comes to what she’s about to tell you, just hear her out. Grace.”

  This was my cue. I looked from him to Detective Boyle. I’d never seen a more closed-off, unyielding face.

  “Okay.” I blew out the word on a long breath. For Emma. I would do anything I could, if there was a chance it would help my sister. I looked Detective Boyle in the eye and told her the truth.

  Boyle smirked. “You’re psychic.”

  “Yes.”

  She crossed or arms. “Okay. Prove it.”

  I shook my head. I knew it was pointless.

  She looked at Kai as if to say, See?

  “Grace, please.”

  “Fine. My dog, Moss, is in the other room, I can have him howl or—”

  “I don’t think so.” She cut me off before I could finish the sentence and looked at me like I was something that needed to be scraped off the bottom of her shoe.

  “You think I’m stupid?”

  By some miracle, I managed not to answer that.

  “First, I want you out of the room,” she said to Kai.

  “Come on, Tammy—” But his exasperated protest was useless.

  “You want me to believe this dog and pony show? We do it my way.”

  I shrugged, waved him off, and said, “The closest room is the hall bath. If that’s okay with you, Sergeant.”

  Kai didn’t wait for her to respond, just turned and disappeared down the hall. Boyle kept her unfriendly gaze on me, so I slumped back into the couch with as much nonchalance as possible and propped my feet on the block of driftwood that served as the coffee table.

  It sounds hackneyed, right? Using driftwood as anything in a beach house. But my sister made it work. Emma—talented, beautiful, brave Emma. I still wanted to be her when I grew up.

  The thought brought on a flush of tears and a wave of anger so cold it burned through my belly like a shot of cheap bourbon. I looked at Boyle, not bothering to disguise how I felt.

  “You look upset,” she said with a smirk I would have paid good money to see wiped off her face. Preferably with a porcupine.

  “Wow,” I said in a monotone. “It’s almost like you’re a detective.”

  “Sarcasm is the implement of a weak mind. A defense mechanism. You feel frightened or angry and you use sarcasm as a shield.”

  “And a psychoanalyst, too. Nifty.”

  Her smirk grew into a smile and I winced inwardly.

  Okay, so she had a point. So what?

  It was clear I wasn’t going to be able to stem the flow of sarcasm. “Clearly, you don’t understand my humor. So let’s get on with your test.”

  “The goat. Get it to come inside through the dog door. You have thirty seconds. If you speak or make any movements, you fail.”

  I started to open my mouth to tell her she was nuts but I’d be damned if I was going to give her the satisfaction.

  The problem was, the dog door, which was easily big enough for Nelly to fit through, had a proximity lock. It would disengage only if the sensor came within a foot of the door, and the sensor was on Moss’s collar.

  I thought about the one hanging outside just in case I locked myself out. It was dangling from one of the light fixtures
hanging over the table.

  Nelly was a goat. Goats were climbers—she could reach it.

  I let my eyes drift closed, pulled in a calming breath, and reached out with my mind.

  Nelly.

  The goat was happily snuggled up next to Roscoe on the chaise longue.

  Nelly!

  I felt it when she focused on me. I pictured where the sensor was hanging and encouraged her to go to it.

  It took several precious seconds but I finally heard a clunk as she jumped off the chaise, followed by the clop of dainty hooves on the deck.

  Come on, Nelly girl, don’t let me down.

  I focused more intently on the goat. For a moment, I could actually see what she was seeing. Looking at the world from her perspective in real time. It wasn’t something I did often or for long—mostly because it gave me a splitting headache—but it had its perks.

  I was sure Nelly had seen the sensor, because she was looking right at it.

  Yes! That.

  She climbed onto the chair and then the table.

  Seeing the movement while stationary brought on a wave of vertigo. I grimaced and pulled my thoughts away from the goat’s.

  There was another thunk as Nelly jumped off the table followed by a clatter when she scrambled through the doggy door.

  I opened my eyes and Nelly dropped the hard plastic disk to the floor and let out a loud “Mbaaaaaa!” Basically saying, There. Happy?

  Yes! Thank you, Nelly, you are the smartest goat ever.

  Kai came bursting into the room just as what was left of the outdoor light came crashing to the ground. Roscoe let out a flurry of alarmed barks.

  Nelly hopped back a step and toppled over.

  Kai muttered a curse followed by an apology. “I forgot about the fainting thing. Is she all right?”

  Nelly?

  Whoops.

  “She’s fine.”

  Boyle was looking from me to the door to the goat then back at me, her eyes widening the longer her gaze darted along that path.

  Moss, never one to miss out on the action, let out a short yip-howl, wanting to know what was going on.

  “It’s okay, Moss.”

  Okay?

  Everything is fine, big guy. Take care of your kitty.

  I got up to open the back door for Roscoe. The little dog darted inside, tail waving like a flag, ears pricked into twin plumes of dark, feathery hair as he sniffed at Nelly, gave her muzzle a friendly lick of encouragement, then pranced over to me and did his “pick me up” dance.