Chapter One #2
“But not out of the realm of possibility?” I added the last incident to my list.
“No,” Jessica conceded with a sigh as she slumped in her seat, back to defeated. She rubbed her forehead with her palm. “No, I guess not. Sorry, I have a headache developing. You don’t believe me, do you? All these things can be explained by something else. Prank, accident, incompetence. Rats.”
“I believe a series of worrying incidents have happened to you,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “I can see why you’re concerned.”
“I know you’re trying to make me feel like you’re not saying I’m crazy.”
“Has anyone said you are?”
“My aunt suggested I might need to see a therapist. My sister thinks it’s weird but not weird weird.”
“Oh.”
“They think I’m tense because the property had some financial difficulties but we’re out of the woods now. Joel, my husband, doesn’t think I’m crazy. He just thinks I’m unlucky.”
“Does he have anything else to say?”
“He’s been very supportive actually. He’s double-checking the horses I ride and he said we should get rid of my car and buy a new one just to be certain.
I know he got onto our stable team to be extra careful with pest control and to double-check all our safety equipment even though we do that regularly anyway. ”
“That’s good,” I said.
“I don’t know what else I can tell you.”
“Can you tell me if you can think of any reason why anyone would want to kill you?”
Jessica shook her head. “I’ve been trying to think for days but honestly, I’m a pretty uncontroversial person.
I don’t run around making enemies. I’m polite to people.
I congratulate my competitors. I pass on my business rivals contacts if I see something that might work for them.
I treat my employees well. I look after my horses.
I don’t screw around, either in business or my marriage.
I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt me! ”
“Who stands to gain from your death?”
“Joel. We have mirror life insurance policies and we’re each other’s inheritors.
Our paperwork is set up so one of us will own everything if, or when, the other dies.
He’s never been violent or even talked about a life without me, but do you really ever know another person?
Do you really ever know what’s going on inside their head? ” She fixed me with a sad look.
“Who else is in your life? Relatives? Friends? Employees?”
“Yvette lives and works on the farm. She has our guest cottage, next to the main house where we live. My parents have passed and the aunt I mentioned is out of town. I have a few close friends but none of them would benefit from my death. I’m so busy with the farm, I’m not even sure they benefit in life!
” Jessica added with an amused huff. “I suppose there are competitors who would like me out of the way but enough to kill me? I’m not sure about that. ”
“How about business rivals?”
“I did have to turn down a couple of people last year who wanted me to train their horses. Their ethos didn’t fit with mine.
They wanted too much, too quickly. They’re both out of state and I know they found other trainers.
I’m sorry,” Jessica said, closing her eyes and breathing in and out through her nose.
She opened her eyes after a couple of seconds and shook her head.
“I can’t think of any reason to kill me, I swear I haven’t pissed anyway off, but I’m sure someone is trying. ”
“And your fellow competitors?”
Jessica shook her head. “We all want the top spots, and the podiums, and the prize money, and all that comes with that, but no, I don’t think any of them would try and kill me. Plus, they’re spread all over. These incidents,” she said, pointing to my list, “happened mostly at home.”
“At the moment, there isn’t much to go on.”
“That’s a polite way of telling me I’m cuckoo, isn’t it?” She gave a little eye roll.
“No…”
“But you think I’ve put a few things together and come up with a crazy idea.”
“No, no, not at all,” I hurried to reassure her. “I think you’re genuinely worried and I think some puzzling things have happened to you. It’s understandable you want help but you should know that I might not find anything. Are you prepared for that?”
“Because you think it’s all in my head and you don’t want to take advantage?”
“No, because sometimes, things…”
“I’m wasting your time,” said Jessica, grabbing her purse, then her pink phone as she sprang to her feet. “Or is it money? I can pay you.”
“I’m sure…”
“Here,” she said, jabbing her forefinger on the phone’s touchscreen. “I’m going to send a payment to your firm right now. That should cover your time to come out to the farm and take a look around. There! Sent.”
“I haven’t agreed to take your case yet.”
“It’s just a preliminary payment. I can pay more!”
“It’s not about the money…”
Jessica rubbed her temples, wincing. “It’s about you not believing me?
Just like the police and everyone else! Someone hates me and I don’t know why.
Whoever’s doing this has to be planning something else and I can’t just sit around and wait for them kill me.
I need someone to make them stop!” A sob ripped from her and she clasped her hand to her mouth.
Then she turned and wrenched open the door, hurrying away along the corridor.
I scraped back my chair and darted after Jessica but she was already halfway down the stairs and by the time I reached the lobby, she was climbing into the driver’s seat of a black SUV at the curb. She peeled out before I could wave to her to stop, leaving me stood on the sidewalk.
“What’s that all about?” asked Jim, the doorman, looking at me from behind his concierge desk as the front door closed behind me and I walked across the lobby to the stairs I’d just descended.
“That lady tore out of here like the building was on fire.” He leaned across the desk and peered beyond me. “It’s not on fire, is it?”
“No,” I said, “but she feels like her world is.”
“Glad you’re on the case,” said Jim as he cracked his knuckles. “Sure she’ll feel better about that.”
“I wish.”
“Which one?” he asked. “You wish you’re on the case, or that she’ll feel better?”
I wished I knew the answer.