by Ruby Loren
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lost And Found
“This is it! I’m suing you. My family are lawyers!”
“Accountants, actually,” Romani corrected without humour. “I’m sorry Russell. I know I’m at fault here. I thought the barn wall was okay, but I didn’t check on the repairs and something may have been overlooked.”
Hayley felt a stab of guilt as Romani so selflessly covered for what had really been her mistake.
“You find him. Find him right now and I might not take this any further,” Russell said, his eyes bulging and his lips flecked with white droplets of saliva. The purple colour was back in full force and Hayley found herself shuddering at the thought of Charlotte Hawley-Jones considering him suitable for her daughter. His temper ruled him and she wasn't sure they’d seen the worst of it yet.
“We're going out to look right now,” Romani promised and they quickly left the cottage again, hurrying down towards the stables with torches in their hands.
"Any idea how we’re going to find a dark horse in the dark?” Romani said as they looked across the ebony expanse of fields. Their runaway could be miles away by now.
“I notice that despite all the talk, Russell isn’t down here looking himself,” Hayley commented and they both chewed on that for a bit as they began their painstaking search for signs that Darken had run this way. It seemed a hopeless task.
“We’re not going to be able to do this alone. We’ve got to call the police and tell them everything,” Hayley admitted, knowing they’d have some pretty awkward questions to answer. It would be finally admitting defeat. The riding school would be over as soon as they called, but somewhere out there, a horse could be in danger. Hayley knew that both she and Romani weren't going to let any animal suffer for the sake of keeping a business open.
“Hey, no way!” Romani said, standing up straighter and looking towards the edge of the woods. A black horse was walking towards them across the field.
Hayley slowly stepped forwards, letting her years of experience take over as she performed the age old dance with Darken until she was slipping the head collar over his ears and had him in her hands.
A flash of movement in the trees in front of her caught her eye and she was still staring when Romani arrived beside her.
“I can’t believe he came back!" She breathed. "This is the first piece of luck I’ve had in what feels like forever.”
“I can’t believe it,” Hayley echoed, but while she agreed it was fortunate, she also knew that luck had absolutely nothing to do with it.
***
Hayley didn’t have long to dwell on what she’d seen as Russell was all over them as soon as they led Darkening Dawn back towards the stables.
“You found him!” He said, rushing over and making a show of examining every inch of the exceedingly expensive horse.
“I think he just wanted to have a wander and then came back,” Romani said, far more accommodating than Hayley would have been.
There was a pause as Russell rested a hand against Darken’s neck and looked thoughtful. “Sorry if I bit your head off earlier. I was just worried,” he explained and while Hayley still wanted to punch him for his lack of help, Romani was nodding along.
"I know what it's like, Russell,” she said, even going so far as to pat him on the shoulder before turning to look at the stall that had been Darken’s.
“I suppose we could put him where Barbarossa was, but then he’s adjacent to Sandy and we know that won’t work,” Hayley said and they all scratched their heads for a bit.
“I can rope off an area of the barn walkway. It’ll do in a pinch, as long as we keep the main barn door shut,” Romani said, already getting it done.
When Hayley collapsed back down onto the hay a few minutes later she lay awake, thinking about what she knew and trying to put her finger on the big thing she was missing.
***
“Romani, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, but I’d love to know what Starling's Summer was like," Hayley said the next morning while they were working to re-patch up the hole in Darken's stall. Romani sawed a piece of board in half while she thought about it.
“Sure, I’ll just have to think of where to start. Probably at the start, right?” She pushed her mop of auburn curls back from her forehead. “When I bought this place, it didn’t leave me with much left for anything else, but I knew I had to get some horses in, riding ponies, so that the business had a chance.” She passed the board to Hayley who laid it across the void and bashed in the nails. “I went around local horse fairs and found that pretty much everything was out of my price range. It was by pure chance that I passed by a stable that was being liquidated. I saw a sign and when I drove down to investigate I found they were selling off their horses, right there and then. I took five sturdy ponies and made arrangements for them to be delivered. I was already leaving when I saw Summer for the first time.” She looked down at the fresh board and rested the saw across it. “I heard the sound of a horse in distress when I was at the gate. Then someone shouted and I turned in time to see this beautiful grey horse, its coat all dirty, racing towards me. He didn’t even blink as he took off over the gate I was about to walk through and then jumped straight over the fence into the field beyond. I think my heart must have stopped for a moment because right there and then I knew. I knew that was my horse.” Romani smiled at the memory and the saw bit into the wood again. “He belonged to the owner of the stables, who’d bought him from a traveller who'd claimed he was the accidental result of a famous racehorse getting loose. You know, the usual story to push the price up. No one really knew anything about him and with the stables going under, I managed to scrape together just enough to buy him.” She passed the plank to Hayley and accidentally smeared a line of sawdust across her sticky face. “I think even if I hadn’t been able to afford him I’d have figured out a way,” she smiled sadly. “I don't have anything against well-bred horses but I also hate that there's so much prejudice against those who don't have famous studs. I always think you should judge a horse for what it really is, not what people say it is.”
“So, yeah, I got him back here and started riding seriously and then we entered a few local competitions, nothing big time, and he won everything we entered! I’ve got to admit, I did start to wonder if the person who’d originally sold Summer had been telling the truth about the racehorse sire. He certainly did everything a hell of a lot quicker than most show jumpers. Most horses glide around the ring with grace and poise but with Summer it was like being strapped to the back of a rocket. Every jump was something to go for at full tilt. I reckon he’d have done well in western riding competitions too, the way he could turn was something else. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve nearly hit the dirt on a corner. He’d always give me that look when it happened, sort of to say ‘can’t you keep up?’” She smiled again, her eyes misting with water. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get over him,” Romani admitted, not noticing the way Hayley’s expression had gone all tight.
They heard Darken whinny from the back of the barn and immediately downed tools. Please don’t jump out! Hayley silently prayed as they raced around the front of the barn to head him off and nearly collided with Barbarossa.
“Danny! What are you…”
“Doing here?” The dark haired man toyed with his silver earring for a moment before dismounting. Hayley didn’t miss the glare he threw in the horse’s direction. “I’m asking myself that too.”
“Well, uh…” Romani faltered. Had anything changed since Danny had left?
“I need to talk to you,” Hayley butted in, her forehead creasing up. She reached out and grabbed Danny’s arm, dragging him away from a baffled Romani before the other woman could say another word.
“What?” Danny said as soon as they were round the side of the barn and hopefully out of earshot. Hayley heard a clip clopping of hooves and assumed that Romani was taking care of Barbarossa, or perhaps it was the other wa
y around.
“I had to talk to you alone because I’m not sure if I’m right about something and I do not want to get Romani's hopes up.” She bit her lip. “I’m just hoping that you already know what I'm talking about.”
Danny’s expression clouded but he didn’t speak. Hayley took it as a sign that she’d been right the first time when it came to Danny Grey - he had secrets that he still wasn’t willing to share.
“Starling’s Summer is still here, isn’t he?" She said and a moment of surprise crossed Danny's face before he half shrugged - a maybe. That wasn't what he thought you were going to say, Hayley realised but stowed that thought away for later.
“What makes you think that?” He asked and Hayley told him about her conversation with Romani and how she'd realised that Sandy and Summer had a lot in common - despite looks telling her otherwise.
“There was this brown dirt on my jodhpurs yesterday and I had no clue where it had come from but I think I do now. I think Summer’s been dyed.” She took a deep breath. “Now, I don’t want to jump to conclusions…” Danny snorted and crossed his arms.
“Jumping to conclusions - the wrong ones - is all you've done,” he said and now it was Hayley’s turn to frown.
“You haven’t exactly helped. You ran off when we were only trying to find out what was going on. That was hardly the best way to handle it and now… how long have you known about Starling’s Summer? How long have you let Romani miss her horse?”
Danny ran a hand through his curling dark hair and looked past Hayley, his eyes focussing somewhere in the distance.
“I didn’t know, I swear. Not for sure, not until now. I rode the horse because no one else would and yeah, I could see he was something pretty special but to be honest, I didn't want to draw attention to it.” He gave Hayley a pleading look. “I thought that if Romani realised Russell was giving her a really good horse, she might take him more seriously. She might start to like him.” He exhaled and his hands twitched as they balled into fists. “I swear I didn’t know that the horse was Summer. I figured there might be something off about the whole thing, because why would anyone give him away? But other than that… I suppose it was a selfish decision. I didn't want her to like Russell, not when I know exactly the kind of person he is.”
Hayley bit her tongue, sensing where this was going. Danny had been expecting her to tell him one thing and she’d surprised him. There was something else going on here.
“Barbarossa isn't Thunder In The Night, is he?” She said, trying to see through the clouds that were still fogging up her brain.
Danny shook his head.
“No, but they are related. They’ve very rare identical twins - although Barbarossa hogged the hay and is actually bigger than his brother now. You've probably noticed the bond they have,” he said, his dark eyes quietly watching her. “A bit of black dye on a white sock can’t fool Barbarossa.”
“Darkening Dawn is really Thunder In The Night,” she said.
Danny nodded. “Russell is the horse thief.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Something Special
“If you knew from the very start, why haven’t you got the police involved? Why is Russell not already behind bars?” She said, still not understanding the game that Danny Grey was playing.
“It’s because I don’t think he did it on his own. Lord Darlington suspects that the company owned by Russell’s family may be a front and that this isn’t the first time he’s pulled a disappearing act with horses. We think he might have been shipping them across seas to wealthy Arab owners.” Hayley’s mind flashed back to Russell’s talk about desert racing. It didn’t seem so farfetched now. “Lord Darlington knew Barbarossa would find his brother and he told me to do what I could to stick around and get close to whoever it was that had stolen him and hopefully learn more about the true depth of the business. The thief has been in action for years, but this was his first mistake. Especially now it’s clear that Russell couldn’t resist keeping one for himself.”
“But wait, Russell said that he bought Darkening Dawn from abroad! What if he’s just another victim in this? What if he thought he was buying an import?” Hayley said, feeling the odds stacking up all the same.
“What are the chances of Starling’s Summer returning to where he was taken from? I think Russell has got so full of himself he decided to play a joke. He wanted to see if he was really good enough to hide a stolen horse in plain sight. Even if you both had figured it out, I know he implied the horse came with the other two but he could just as easily claim he picked it up on the way after finding it at a horse fair. Then he’d just look like a hero.” Danny shook his head. “Like you, I still wasn't sure until Thunder woke me up last night. I knew someone wanted you to think he’d escaped on his own. Someone must have finally figured out that a horse like that is too hot to handle - no matter how hard you try and cover it up. They wanted to get rid of the evidence and they panicked.”
Hayley thought back to the night before when she’d seen Danny in the woods, watching as Thunder had returned across the field to them. “The stable wall repairs, I’ve been looking at them all morning and while I can’t remember if they were finished, I still don’t think Darken… that is… Thunder did it alone. The damage was too convenient.” Her mind threw forwards the image of the piece of fabric that had caught on the smashed wood.
"It proved to me that whoever let that horse go knew it was stolen property. There was no case of mistaken identity. I've tried all the time I’ve been here to catch anyone doing anything suspicious, but Jack always hovered around like a hawk and I couldn’t be everywhere at once. I think that Russell might have put him up to it,” Danny said.
Hayley hissed air between her teeth. “I can’t believe he thought he was going to ride in the competition. That’s what doesn’t make sense to me. You said it yourself, a horse like Thunder can’t be covered up with dye for long. Surely even Russell can’t have been arrogant enough to think he could ride a round on a stolen horse without anyone batting an eye?”
“Perhaps he thought it was so obvious, it would succeed,” Danny ventured but she could tell he still had reservations.
“We've got to tell Romani,” Hayley said, now she was all but certain that it was Starling’s Summer who Russell had returned to the stables as a mockery of a present. Hayley had wanted the time alone with Danny to confirm but now everything was becoming clear.
Danny reached out and grabbed her arm. Hayley looked down at his hand in surprise. “I think we should wait until the competition,” he said before releasing her.
“We are not keeping a secret from Romani!”
Danny shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. We’ll tell her everything we know, right now, but after that, what we know isn’t enough. I’ve been giving Russell enough rope to hang himself with and I think that we’ll finally know all of the answers if we just wait until tomorrow. He’s as good as caught anyway, and Lord Darlington has agreed to Thunder staying lost until the competition is over.” His dark eyes widened imploringly. “Think about it, it’ll also be a chance for Romani. She could still ride in the competition! I’ve been working with Starling's Summer, so he’s not exactly out of shape. She could ride her horse and have her shot. If we get the police involved now, there's a good chance she’ll be too busy giving evidence to compete. I like it here. I like what Romani is trying to do and,” he hesitated. “I like Romani,” he admitted and Hayley finally smiled.
“I say we talk to her and see what she says.”
***
Romani's first reaction was relief but it was swiftly replaced with white hot rage and an immediate search for a sponge.
“You can't! Not if you want this to go ahead,” Danny warned, trying to stop Romani from running down to the stables to wipe her horse clean.
“But I have to know!” She said, giving up the struggle and slumping onto the sofa. “It’s bad enough if he has been here all along and I didn’t notice. What kind of hor
sewoman does that make me?” Danny looked awkwardly at Hayley who inclined her head towards him. He should handle this one.
Hayley left them to it and was tidying up the yard at the end of a quiet day when Danny walked in.
“She said she’ll do it,” he said, leaning against the side of Barbarossa’s stall and allowing the big horse to huff his hair up and down. “I thought it might be a problem, getting her to compete, but she never cancelled her listing.”
“She was still hoping," Hayley observed.
They both glanced at the dun coloured horse across the aisle and then looked away again. Russell and Jack hadn’t been around the stables at all since that morning, choosing to rest their rides.
“So who do you think Evenfall really is?” Hayley asked, drily.
Danny shrugged. “Who knows? He might be a regular horse.”
“Jack said they imported them both, so I guess it’s likely he’s stolen property too,”
How was all of this going to reflect on the stables? When the story broke that Thunder In The Night had been spirited away, but not so very far away, would people really believe that the stable owner had no clue what was going on? Or worse, would they overlook the circumstances and think she was a fool?
“God, I hope Romani rides a good round tomorrow,” Hayley said, thinking aloud. Danny’s familiar grin jumped back onto his face.
“I’d be willing to bet on them to go all the way. You know there’s something special about Starling’s Summer. There's something special about Romani, too.”
