Chapter Thirty
We all dived in different directions. Lily and I went left, aiming close to the horse trailer for cover.
Yvette went right. Joel dropped where he’d been standing but Harvey made a run for it, while the other gunman fired wildly.
With a grunt, he fell to his knees, crying out in pain as he clutched his arm.
Lily and I covered our heads with our hands as we lay on the dirt. When the shots ground to a halt, I slowly moved my hands to see Lily doing the same. “What’s happening?” she asked so softly that I barely heard her.
“No idea,” I whispered back. A cautious look down my body and around me didn’t offer many more clues.
Yvette’s foot was only inches from mine so I stretched, shuffling a little, and nudging her foot with mine.
She lifted her head a fraction and her eyes caught mine, her face full of fear.
“Are you okay?” I mouthed and she nodded.
I motioned to her to stay where she was, then lifted my head cautiously.
Joel remained where he’d dropped, the gun no longer in his hand. But the other man was down on his knees, the only thing preventing him from lifting his weapon was the injury he’d sustained to his shoulder. Blood seeped through his fingers clasped over the wound.
I pushed to my knees, ran to him and pounced, wrestling for the gun. He tightened his grip, attempting to push me away so I punched the wound, causing him to scream. His grip slackened. I grabbed the gun and stepped back, keeping it trained on him.
“You bitch!” he shouted, doubling over in pain.
“You dick!” I yelled back.
“Profound,” said a calm male voice behind me.
I risked a glance over my shoulder, and smiled at Solomon approaching.
Behind him, Delgado, Fletcher and Flaherty fanned out in an arc, all with guns drawn and pointed.
Police lights flashed in the distance, punctuating the dark and illuminating their route.
“That bitch punched me in the gunshot wound,” cried the other man.
“I shot you before that,” said Solomon, stepping closer, his gun trained on the man. “What’re you going to call me?”
The gunman clamped his lips shut.
“Cover me,” I said, passing the gun to Delgado. Once I was free of it, I moved to Joel and removed the gun from where it had fallen, close enough to his fingertips to touch. As I crouched to pick it up, he opened his eyes.
“Don’t move,” I said, hoping I sounded menacing.
“I was never going to shoot anyone,” he said. His jaw shook and he sniffed, “I promise.”
“Tell that to the cops.” I stepped back, keeping my eyes on both men until I felt Solomon at my shoulder.
I passed him the second gun and he secured it, dropping it into a bag that he passed to Delgado.
“The other guy, Harvey, ran around the back of the barn,” I said.
“He passed the gun to Joel so I don’t know if he’s armed. He has a couple minutes’ head start.”
Solomon waved Fletcher and Flaherty forwards and they took off around the barn.
“Company,” said Solomon. A van, bumping across a dirt track from the opposite direction, smashed through a fence, sending wood fragments flying.
The two occupants of the cab bounced up and down, Jolene pumping from the speakers, until the van skidded to a stop, forming deep welts in the dirt.
Maddox and Farid jumped out, their weapons drawn.
“Damn!” yelled Maddox as he surveyed the scene. “Did we miss everything?”
“I couldn’t drive any faster. We would have busted an axle,” said Farid.
“You could have taken the road,” I said.
Farid shook his head. “We initially took the wrong road. Maddox said it would be faster to drive through a bush, across a field, and smash through a fence. My report will reflect that he was correct.”
“We took the road,” said Solomon. “I floored it from the city.”
“We’re lucky the Dolly Tank made it in one piece,” said Maddox. As he said it, the van groaned and the front bumper fell off.
Lily and Yvette got to their feet, dusting dirt from their clothes and hands.
“They were going to kill us,” Yvette said incredulously. Then she fixed her gaze on Joel. “You were going to kill me!” She ran over and kicked him hard between the legs. Joel squealed and curled into a ball.
“Should we have stopped her?” asked Lily as Joel rocked on the floor.
“We should have gotten popcorn.”
“Can I kick him too?”
I thought about kicking a man when he was down and decided I was okay with it, although there was probably a better idea. “Wait to see if they catch Harvey. We can’t let Joel hog all the kicking.”
Lily nodded. “That’s fair.”
There was shouting from beyond the barn before Fletcher and Flaherty appeared, Harvey struggling and kicking between them, but they held firm.
By the time the trio arrived at the horse trailer, police cars had sped into the yard, lighting up the whole area with their flashing lights.
Garrett jumped out and ran towards us, his uniformed colleagues swarming around us.
“Got your mayday call,” said Garrett to Solomon. “We got here as fast as we could.”
“They had lights and sirens,” said Maddox. “We had nothing but Dolly Parton and still made it here faster.”
“You were following us,” I reminded him. “They all came from the city.”
“I don’t know why you’re hanging on to me,” yelled Harvey.
With a final wrench, he pulled his arms free of Fletcher and Flaherty.
I figured they had no problem letting him go since we were surrounded by enough fire power to take out all three men a hundred times over.
“They lured me here. Those two had the guns. I was afraid for my life!”
“You put the gun into Joel’s hand,” I shot back.
“No, I didn’t,” Harvey lied.
“It’s true. He put the gun into Joel’s hand and told him to kill all of us,” said Yvette. “You no good, lousy jerk!”
On the ground, Joel uncurled himself, rolling onto all fours, then getting to his feet unsteadily. “It’s like Yvette said. He put the gun into my hand and ordered me to kill them, but I never would have.”
Yvette jabbed her forefinger at him. “You hesitated. You thought about it.”
With that, they were all yelling at each other, pointing fingers, and Yvette had to be held back by Delgado, preventing her from making another run at Joel.
Garrett blew a whistle, the loud and piercing shriek of it bringing everyone to a stop. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on here?” he asked, looking around. “Or do I arrest everyone?”
That started the squabbling off again until several blasts of the whistle stopped it.
“I’m going to ask again,” said Garrett, walking towards the horse trailer where he could take center stage.
“Harvey and that man kidnapped me,” said Yvette, pointing to both men in turn.
“He coldcocked me with a gun at Ashgrove Farms and when I woke up, I was in the back of the horse trailer with these two women. They’re pretending to be horse experts but they’re not.
They’re frauds and so is he,” she added, pointing to Joel.
“How did you know about us?” I asked.
“Because I took Jessica’s address book from her house.
She has the name and number of everyone she ever met in there and you two aren’t in it.
Then I asked around and no one had ever heard of you,” said Yvette.
“I told Joel he was wrong. Jessica never hired you and you were up to something. He said Jessica was determined to have you. The whole thing stank.”
Lily and I exchanged a glance. So that was what I’d witnessed Yvette taking. An address book wouldn’t be missed but it had confirmed a suspicion for Yvette.
“She did,” agreed Joel, “but I thought Yvette was wrong. Jessica had mentioned hiring you to teach and then, when you turned up and the staff cabin was reserved in your name, I figured she’d arranged everything, but I don’t get it. If you’re not riding instructors, then who are you?”
“I’m a private investigator,” I told him. “Jessica hired me before she died.”
“And I’m a private investigator’s assistant,” said Lily. “And I used to ride at Ashgrove Farms when I was a kid.”
“But why would Jessica hire you?” persisted Joel.
“Because she believed someone was trying to kill her and she believed they would succeed,” I said as Yvette’s jaw dropped open. “It turns out there were a lot of motives for getting her out of the way, for example, you two wanted to cover up your affair.”
“I… I…” Yvette stammered.
“No, that’s…” Joel started. His shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes. “How did she know?” he asked.
“We think Jessica suspected it for a while but framing your stable hand for theft just to discredit her after she saw you two together clinched it for her,” I explained.
“Yvette even tried to anonymously tip her off. Jessica suspected that you two wanted to get her out of the way so you could have the farm and each other.”
“My gosh!” Yvette’s hand flew to her mouth. “Jessica thought we would kill her?”
“There were several incidents designed to look like accidents,” I reminded her.
“You can’t arrest us! I didn’t hurt her! I swear!” pleaded Joel.
“No one’s getting arrested just yet,” I said, holding my hand up, asking Garrett to wait. “Jessica found out about your embezzlement too. She suspected you were stealing from the farm to fund the affair as well as your gambling habit.”
“I wasn’t embezzling. I just borrowed a little bit of cash,” protested Joel.
“Joel, shut up!” yelled Yvette. “He barely spent a dime on me. He’s a cheapskate through and through. If he stole money, it wasn’t because of me!”
Joel continued talking over her. “I was going to put it all back, I swear. Jessica would never have known…”
“Except she did know,” I said. “And that added fuel to her hunch that you wanted to get her out of the way, permanently. When the life insurance on her paid out, you could have paid back all the money and gotten everything you wanted. The farm, Yvette, no questions asked…”