Chapter Eight
“Something’s come up and I’m going to be out of the office for a few days,” I said. If I could hear a frown through the phone connection, I knew I would hear one right now.
“What’s come up?” asked Solomon, a hint of regret in his voice like he didn’t want to know the answer but felt compelled to ask the question.
“I am unexpectedly undercover at Ashgrove Farms.”
“I feel like I should ask why.”
“I know that wasn’t a question but… well, it went like this,” I said, and launched into the explanation. When I finished, Solomon was quiet.
“Sounds like you’re on the case,” he said after a long moment. “The client set up your identity well and paved the way for you to investigate. Since she has paid the deposit and is no longer able to give further instruction otherwise, I think we should comply with the contract.”
“I hoped you would say that,” I said, feeling uplifted for the first time that day.
“What do you need?”
“My clothes, whatever looks like I might wear on a farm so no dresses, no skirts or cute pants. Jeans, T-shirts, my pajamas with the horse print, some kind of footwear suitable for traipsing around the stables, and riding things.”
“Riding things?”
“Those tight riding pants. A helmet.” I looked at Lily, flashing my hands for her to come up with ideas.
“A barn jacket,” she said loud enough for Solomon to hear, “and a padded vest. Riding gloves!”
“None of these can be expensed,” said Solomon. “The payment will only cover a fraction of your time.”
“I’ll figure something out,” I said. “Lily’s here too. She’s going undercover as my assistant.”
“She’s not going on payroll.”
“She’s here out of the goodness of her heart,” I said, mock-offended. “She’s here to solve a murder, not collect a pay check.”
“A pay check would be nice,” muttered Lily. She was busy texting on her phone, which probably meant Ruby had agreed to cover for her at the bar.
“Still not paying her. If she’s volunteering to tag along, that’s on both of you.” Solomon paused, then continued, “It’s probably a good thing she’s there. She can call for help when you get into trouble.”
“I’m not going to get into trouble!”
Lily snorted.
“Do you need any equipment?” Solomon asked, practicality winning over.
“Not yet. I have my phone and there’s a charger in my car. A camera could be useful and can you scan the paperwork Jessica Casey completed? It’s in a file on my desk. Garrett will want a copy too. Can you update him?”
“Done. How secure is your accommodation?”
“There’s a keypad on the door instead of a lock but I don’t know when the code was last changed or who else has it. There’s no chain and all the windows have internal locks and keys. The only other exit is through the French doors and there’s a key in the lock.”
“We’ll assume the cabin is insecure. Keep anything physical pertinent to the investigation on your person or in your car. Keep the car keys on you at all times. Otherwise, send anything digital into the agency’s network and erase it from your phone,” instructed Solomon.
“You really think there’s a threat?”
“The victim did and she’s dead. There might be nothing there but paranoia, or there might be something. We can’t interview her further to be certain. Until your investigation suggests her death was nothing but an accident, take the usual protocols. Where are you now?”
“In the staff cabin they gave us.”
“Did you sweep for cameras and bugs before making this call?”
I stilled and winced. “No.” And I hadn’t before discussing the case with Lily either. “I didn’t think it was necessary. It doesn’t sound like Jessica mentioned her suspicions to anyone here beyond her immediate family and bugging the place seems strange in a case like this.”
“It’s very unlikely but check anyway. Lightbulbs, smoke detectors, vents, pictures…”
“On it.”
“If you find anything, leave immediately. I’ll have someone on their way to you until you call them off. Do it now. Call me back when you’re done.”
“Okay.” We clicked off.
“I heard,” said Lily, leaping to her feet. “Let’s tear this place apart.”
“Let’s gently move and inspect things,” I countered.
For the next fifteen minutes, we unscrewed every lightbulb, checked every socket, uncapped the smoke detectors, peered inside vents, and ran our fingers under tables and chairs, couch, and picture frames, repeating the actions in the bedrooms and bathroom.
When I called Solomon back, I was pleased to say, “Clear! We’re not being spied on.”
“I want you to sweep periodically. How do you want to get your things?”
“Can you have someone from the agency pose as a deliveryman with our luggage?” I asked. “If anyone asks, we’ll say we shipped our stuff. I don’t know where Jessica said we’re from and so far, no one has asked.”
“What exactly are you undercover as?”
“Some kind of exclusive, hard-to-get horse trainer. I’ll figure it out. Lily will help.”
“Have you ever been around horses before?”
“Sure!”
“In your adult life?”
“I went pony trekking when I was twenty-five,” I said.
“The whole weekend?”
“Three hours. Two in the saddle!”
Solomon sucked in a deep breath. “Okay, then. I’ll pack your case and send it. The agency can pick up Lily’s too. It’ll be with you tonight.”
“Thanks.”
Lily had stepped into one of the bedrooms while I finished my call and when she returned, she was sliding her phone into her pocket.
“I called Jord and it’s all arranged. Your parents will help with Poppy when he’s on shift and he’s going to pack me a case.
He also said to tell you if anything happens to me, you’ll have to move in and help raise Poppy. ”
I relaxed. “I thought you were going to say he’ll kill me.”
“He thought raising our child was a more significant punishment. Plus, it’s in my will. You get Poppy if anything happens to both of us.”
“I am so touched.” I placed my hand on my heart. “You’d really give me your baby?”
“Literally over my dead body.”
“I will keep you alive at all costs!”
Lily blinked. “I don’t know whether to be reassured or perturbed by that.”
“We should take a look around,” I decided. “We need to find out a lot more about the farm, who works here, and who might have wished Jessica harm. If we’re training people, we need to know everything about them.”
“I thought our undercover means we’re working with the horses?”
“We are, but the people work with and ride the horses so I’m going to say we need to know everything. I want to know who exactly is on this ranch. If there’s a reason someone here might have wanted to harm Jessica, we need to figure it out.”
“What if it’s not someone here?”
“Jessica’s incidents all happened while she was here. She spent most of her time here. She lived here and worked here. If she were going to cross someone, it was probably here.”
“Let’s go.”
We headed out of the cabin, along the narrow footpath and paused at the end of the little garden.
To the left was the parking lot with my car.
To the right, a few more cabins with a slightly larger cabin at the end, forming a cul-de-sac.
The door of the big cabin was open and a couple of people sat on the veranda with mugs in their hands.
“Oooh, you know what this is like?” said Lily.
“No?”
“It’s like that really old film Dirty Dancing. We’re in the staff quarters and that’s the party cabin at the end. Do you think horsey people dirty dance or do you think the smell of manure puts everyone off getting sweaty?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” I said as the scent of burning wafted past. Not unpleasant or in dangerous need of sounding an alarm, but the smell of leaves mingled with the faint scent of gasoline. The stable hand must have gotten the bonfire going.
“All we need is a sexy Johnny,” continued Lily, “and a watermelon.”
“And a grip,” I said, pointing to the other path that led towards the stables. “Let’s go that way. It looks like all the farm buildings are over there.”
“Okay,” Lily agreed, forlornly looking back at the big cabin as we headed away from it.
“There will be horses,” I reminded her and she brightened. “And probably men in very tight trousers.”
“Lexi!” she admonished. “I. Am. Married.”
“I won’t point any of them out then,” I said.
Once we’d cleared the last cabin on the opposite side, the path widened.
The hedgerow cut us off from the parking lot and a paddock appeared on the other side, horses grazing peacefully inside.
We followed the path as it curved around the paddock, another paddock now appearing on the other side, and reached the first set of stables, set out in an L-shape.
Several horse heads lolled over the top of the gates of a dozen stables. A beautiful brown horse watched us with lazy eyes as we passed and its neighbor stuck its head over the gate to join it in observation. Halters hung on pegs outside the gates and a radio played softly, somewhere.
We wandered around, glancing in the stables and the tack and feed rooms, and found no one, so we followed the path to the next section where two rows of stables faced each other, a large concrete pad in between.
A wheelbarrow had been set down and a hose lay flopped on the ground under a rusty faucet.
The next section led into a large covered barn and as we traversed it, we stepped out to find a covered school to our right and another school in front of us.
Two riders worked their horses in circles in the covered school, their movements so fluid that I couldn’t quite work out if the horses knew exactly what to do without being told or if the riders were communicating telepathically.
Even from a distance, the horses were huge; one a sleek gray, the other a gleaming chestnut, their movements incredibly graceful as they worked the arena.
Harvey stood in the middle calling instructions, a helmet tucked under his arm.
Paths led away from the busy yard, giving us multiple directions to choose.
“I think that way leads to the farm house,” said Lily, pointing.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”