The Hayley Argent Mysteries, Books 1 - 4

by Ruby Loren

  ***

  Hayley hovered up in the woods for the rest of the morning. She took a break and rode Ember on the hack Miles had been intending to take the young eventing horse on, but it did nothing to clear her head. A woman had been murdered in the luxury lodge, Miles was being interviewed as though he was a suspect, and Shaun was acting as though he didn’t want her there. Her thoughts treacherously shifted to the pretty police officer who’d called him into the bathroom. How long had she been working as a part of the team?

  Hayley sighed to herself as she walked out of the woodland stables and found that the interviews were nearly over. Or at least, the guests had decided they were.

  “Why are you asking all of these questions? Are we under some sort of suspicion?” A woman with blonde hair asked, colour rising to her cheeks. Hayley tried to ignore the small stab of satisfaction she felt when she discovered it was the female police officer who had been conducting the interview. “Freya, can they do this? Can they ask us all of this stuff, or should we get a lawyer involved?” The blonde woman continued and a worried looking lady with a smattering of freckles jerked her head up. “Freya is a tax lawyer,” the blonde told them all.

  “I’m sure they're just trying to establish the facts and who's who. I’m sure we’re not under any suspicion,” the lady named as Freya said, seeking reassurance from the female police officer who immediately looked away.

  “I’m afraid you are all under suspicion,” Shaun said, approaching the group in his beige chino trousers and light blue shirt. Hayley spared a thought to wonder why he wasn’t freezing in the November chill. It was a sunny day but the temperature was unforgiving. “You see, we believe that Kali Tiana was murdered last night, around midnight,” he said, looking to the female police officer who nodded to confirm it.

  “But we were all in bed then, in the same building as well! None of us left after we turned the lights out at around eleven,” a woman with a dark bob protested and the others joined in. A flustered look crossed Shaun’s face and he turned away from the group of women before spinning back. “If you could all remain here until we've established a few more of the facts, that would be excellent. Mr Onyx informs me you still have three days left of your retreat. My advice to you is to use the time however you wish and please continue to cooperate with our investigation. We’ll be in touch if we have any further questions.”

  “But I just want to go home!” Hayley heard the woman with the bob complain but Shaun was already striding away towards where Miles was speaking to another officer.

  “There’s CCTV covering the main entrance to the lodge and the entrance to the larger cabin,” Miles told the Inspector. “But the door to Kali’s lodge was definitely locked and I saw the key by the bed. She’d have had to let whoever it was in, herself. The door is automatically locked as soon as you shut it,” he told them, falling over his words a bit. He raised a hand to his floppy, dark hair, brushing it back from his forehead. "All the promotion in the world isn’t going to sell these getaways if people keep using them as an excuse to kill each other,” he grumbled and then looked mortified. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” He sighed. “They all seemed like nice ladies. They even came down to the stables for Jude to have lessons while they were here for the first couple of days as she hadn’t really ridden before." He shrugged. “There wasn’t any tension between them at all that I noticed. They all seemed to be the best of friends. Are you sure it was one of them who did it?” He asked and Hayley noticed Shaun open his mouth before swiftly shutting it again. She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know he’d been about to tell Miles that there was one other person it could have been.

  Hayley frowned at him, hoping he wasn’t serious. Miles had only just met the ladies a couple of days ago. What on earth would give him a motive to kill one of them?

  “We should move on and interview anyone who was at the stable during the timeframe. We’ll leave no stone unturned,” Shaun said, his eyes finding Hayley. She shrugged to show she didn’t mind. She’d been tucked up in her bed and hadn’t heard a thing until Miles had returned from the woods to warn her that the police were coming.

  “I’ll need to see that CCTV please,” Shaun said and Miles nodded.

  “I’ll get it for you as soon as I’m back at the stables. It all feeds back to the main house.” Miles inclined his head to the Inspector and Hayley, before walking off towards where Ember was waiting.

  “So… we think the victim died between midnight and one o’clock last night. It’s hard to know for sure, due to the inconsistency in the water temperature of the bath affecting rigor mortis but the eight hour burn time on the candles, which flickered out when the victim was discovered, would suggest that this is the case.” Shaun pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and chewed on the end. “We’ll look at the CCTV and establish if our remaining hens are telling the truth about not leaving their cabin and to make sure the times match up. Let’s get everything to the lab, confirm how our victim died and then see what we are left with.” He clapped his hands together and the police presence in the clearing jumped to attention.

  Hayley suddenly felt very out of place as she stood, wondering what she should be doing. It wasn’t long before everyone was once more busy and Shaun Rouen was striding towards her.

  “You seem to be doing all of the right things,” Hayley said, trying to be supportive.

  “It’s the first case I’ve been assigned complete control over. I wish I could say it was due to my past merits, but actually CI Jenkins has gone on holiday for two weeks, so I’m the best there is. Well, all there is.” His eyes strayed away from Hayley’s, focusing on the distant lodges. “I really don’t know what to make of this one, but I’m sure we’ll clear it up quickly. In the mean time, I can send someone down to the stables to talk to you about last night so you don’t have to hang around here. I’m sure there are racehorses that need psychoanalysing,” he said, attempting a joke. Hayley found a half hearted smile but it didn’t reach her eyes.

  Shaun Rouen was making something very clear - he didn't want her there.

  “I’ll see you later," she said, not even bothering to kiss him goodbye.

  The worst part was, he didn’t seem to notice.

  Hayley walked back through the trees towards the track, wondering what she’d done wrong. The last time Shaun had been investigating a death at their stables, he’d been more than happy to share the details of the case with her. In fact, she’d actively helped him to solve the mystery and get himself out of hot water with his boss. This time around, he'd changed his tune.

  “I'm sure there's a good reason for it,” she said to herself, as she walked through the thinning trees and heard a twig snap. A horse snorted and she peered to her left, seeing Miles standing next to a holly bush with Ember by his side, his back turned towards her. He was holding a phone to his ear and speaking in a low voice, but in the quiet woods, Hayley could hear every word.

  “Yes, it’s done, I did it. You don't have to worry about it anymore," he said before lowering the phone and hanging up.

  Hayley ducked behind a tree as Miles remounted and geed up the black pointed, dark brown horse, galloping back towards the stables. She bit her lip as she thought about what she’d just heard. Who had Miles been talking to and what exactly had he done?

  She thought about returning to the woods and telling Shaun exactly what she’d just overheard but something stopped her. She didn't really believe that Miles had killed Kali Tiana, but something was definitely going on and that mysterious phone call would sound pretty bad to any officer of the law. She was going to have to get to the bottom of it first.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A Problem Shared…

  “Hayley, what a morning, eh?” Miles greeted her when she walked into the plush office, his usual cheery smile back in place. He stood up, two CD cases in his hand. “I've just finished taking the CCTV footage off the cameras for the Inspector. I must admit, I had a peek and no one left their cabins between the tim
es that Kali is supposed to have died. The three hens go to bed at around eleven and no one leaves after that.” He half shrugged. “Well, no one goes in through the front door anyway. I suppose there’s a chance that they went through the glass doors, but when I was in there this morning, I looked and they were shut, which means automatically locked. I can’t see the victim letting anyone in there either if she was in the bath.”

  “I’m sure the police will work it out,” Hayley said lightly before changing the subject. “Do you still want to have our meeting? I know this morning has been turned on its head.”

  Understanding crossed Miles’ dark eyes for a moment before he extended a hand towards the dark red leather chair. "Of course! The sooner we plan, the better. Especially after what has just happened.” He sucked air through his teeth as he considered the events of the previous night. “I wonder if we can persuade our visitors and the police to keep quiet about certain recent events. The last thing we need is for our retreats to be known as ‘kill off your enemies getaways’. I didn’t spend all of that money on those eco-lodges just to become a glorified horror tour." He shook his head. “That is not my target market.”

  “Well, nothing bad happened after the last time. The racing community were very discreet," Hayley reminded him but Miles was up and pacing back and forward.

  “Sure, but that was because if the truth about Ferra’s Falcon got out the whole company would be ridiculed and sink. It was in their best interests to brush the whole thing under the rug. This time around, we have three ladies who most likely love to gossip.” He rested his palms on the polished mahogany desk. “Maybe that’s unfair, I don’t know. I just have a lot on my plate at the moment and could do without all of this.”

  “We’ll work it out,” Hayley said, hoping to calm the stable owner. They were actually business partners and Hayley even had a name stake in the stables, but the truth was, Miles owned the property and wielded all the power. Hayley was there as an advice giver and as a selling point. Horse psychology was her specialism and she’d converted many sceptics during her time working at her profession. Now many horse owners chose the Onyx and Argent Stables on the strength of her presence there.

  Business had been going well since the summer, with Miles taking on yet more future racehorses and eventing stars. The luxury horse getaways had also blossomed - until the most recent development - and Hayley had hardly had a moment to think as she was rushed off her feet, teaching seminars for the holiday-makers and analysing some of the best horse stock the country had to offer. The feedback had only been good and Hayley’s sole complaint was that there simply wasn’t enough time for her to do any more. She’d even vaguely suggested to Miles that she was thinking about taking on an apprentice.

  Another reason Hayley was grateful for being so busy was that it meant she hadn’t had time to think about Miles’ unrequited feelings for her. When her relationship had progressed with Inspector Rouen, he’d shown no reaction, but Hayley often thought back to his startling declaration of love for her. It had thrown their whole business partnership into doubt and she still wasn’t convinced that he’d chosen her to be his business partner for all of the right reasons.

  “I’ve been thinking more on the retreats and was wondering if, to give us a boost through the January to March dead season, why don’t we run a themed event? I know people would love to learn more about horse psychology so perhaps you could do a training course? It would tie in with your idea for an apprentice as well. We could offer the position of your apprentice as an incentive to do well on the course. You’d be able to watch everyone and pick the best to stay on.” He smiled widely at her but Hayley felt doubt crawling inside her.

  “It could work,” she said carefully, “but the thing is, Miles, I’d feel like a cheat if we did that. The stuff I do, it can’t really be learned in a few days. It’s something you have to have an instinct for and you have to keep studying it all the time.” She took a breath. “I don’t know if it would be right to allow people to believe they could do what I do in such a short time. Even then, I’m not entirely sure how much of it is teachable and how much has to do with being the right person.” She bit her lip, wondering if that was big-headed to say.

  “Well, it’s an idea to think on,” Miles said, which meant he’d probably already had promotional material printed for the event.

  Hayley looked down at the desk, her eyes drawn to a scrawl of capital letters which read ‘rejected’. She reached out and picked up the paper, scanning it while Miles moved to the front window and looked out across the yard. “How come you turned down this application?” She asked.

  Miles turned to see what she was looking at. “Oh, it’s just Oliver Townsby. I’ve never liked his methods and I didn’t think that he'd fit in here.”

  Hayley looked down at the application and discovered that Oliver had written that he especially wanted to send his eventing hopefuls to the stable because he’d heard wonderful things about the work of Hayley Argent. “He sounds quite reasonable to me and with all of this additional stuff he’s asking for, he’d be a premium client.”

  Miles just shrugged again. “I told you, I don’t like the man. He thinks he’s it.”

  Hayley chewed her lip, her annoyance with Miles’ recent suspicious behaviour and her self-doubt over the partnership rising to the surface. “But you should have at least discussed it with me. I mean, we are meant to be partners, right? You may as well employ me like anyone else, if this is what you’re going to do.”

  Miles turned as if stung. “It's not a big deal. We have clients coming out of our ears. That’s one of the benefits of being successful - you can afford to pick and choose.” He frowned at her. “There’s a new group of racing colts and fillies arriving today. If you could take a look at them that would be great. I’d better go sort out this CCTV business and then sort out the rest of this mess.”

  He pushed his dark hair back from his forehead and shook his head, his eyes focused on something through the window. "I can’t wait for the police to get going and for things to return to normal around here. The best thing we can do is to not get involved.”

  Hayley nearly opened her mouth to ask him how his mysterious phone conversation fitted in with the whole ‘not getting involved’ idea, but she decided to bite her tongue. She was still fuming from being bypassed on a big decision and Miles was hardly in a reasonable mood either. That mystery could wait a little longer.

  It probably wasn’t even important.

  ***

  "Sorry I’m late, it was pretty hard getting out of the office on time because, well, you already know,” Shaun said, sliding into the seat opposite Hayley in the quiet little Italian place. It was the same restaurant where they’d spent their first date and they’d developed a habit of going there every second Wednesday. She’d just started to think that Shaun had forgotten about their date.

  “Have you got any further with your investigation?” Hayley asked, half wondering if she was going to be told to butt out again.

  Shaun took a swig of the white wine that Hayley had already ordered for them and some of the tension evaporated from his shoulders. “Well, we’ve mainly been pooling data. We start by comparing the facts we've been given and then look into the backgrounds of all the witnesses and potential suspects. Everything’s been sent off to the lab for examination and we should know the cause of death for sure tomorrow, although I think it’s pretty obvious.” He sat back with a sigh. “It’s just a mound of data to process, really, but hopefully, somewhere in amongst it all, we’ll find our killer.”

  “Have you spoken to her husband to be?” Hayley asked and a shadow crossed Shaun’s face.

  “Yes, that wasn’t a fun conversation, I can tell you. That poor man. It’s clear he loved her. But then…” He hesitated. “After talking to all of the hens, it seemed as though everyone loved Kali. The sun really did shine out of her, if they're to be believed, but someone decided to kill her all the same.” He shook his head. "I j
ust have no idea why, or even how! I looked through the CCTV and no one leaves their room. Of course, there are areas that the CCTV didn’t cover, so we’ll never know for sure, but at the moment, it seems to be an impossible crime. What I need is some sort of breakthrough and I have nothing.” He reached out for a breadstick, only for it to crumble beneath his too-tight grip. “Oh,” he said as Hayley reached across to dust away the remains.

  “You’ll figure it out," she reassured him, trying to ignore the voice in her head which was telling her to let him know about the phone conversation she’d overheard. As tempting as it was, given the way she was currently feeling about Miles, it was already too late to confide the truth and she could do without Shaun adding her to his list of suspects. That was never going to be healthy for their relationship.

  “How about we talk through the hens? What have you found out about them?” Hayley asked.

  Shaun hummed indecisively for a moment before tilting his head to the side. “Yes, I suppose that would be okay,” he mused before he was interrupted by the arrival of the pizzas that Hayley had ordered. “Calzone! Exactly what I needed,” he thanked her before diving into the delicious mozzarella, tomato, and barbecue chicken pizza pie.

  “So, the hens?” Hayley pressed, pretending not to notice his hesitation.

  “Yes, well, they were all going to be bridesmaids at Kali’s wedding. They booked themselves the week long retreat as an extended hen party. A rather expensive one if you ask me,” Shaun said and then cleared his throat as he remembered who he was speaking to. Hayley shrugged it away. The luxury retreats were not her idea but she did see some financial benefit from them.

  “Two of the bridesmaids have known Kali for years. Becky met Kali in university. They were both studying business and she went on to found her own greeting card business, while Kali had an exclusive boutique clothing line, which apparently does very well. Freya’s known Kali since primary school. We're still looking into her background beyond that. Then there’s Jude, the sister in law to be. She only met Kali through her brother, Chris. Jude is married with kids and is a stay at home mum.”